Many Leaders Needed

 Over the weekend I included the two graphics below in two articles.

In the first I show four times a year when leaders can motivate people in their networks, or their companies, to volunteer time, talent and dollars to help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in more places.  

In the second I included this strategy map, showing a role leaders from every sector need to take, at least four strategic times each year, and for many years.   

In both articles I included example speeches/sermons that leaders could use, showing their commitment to helping kids in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives, with the help of organized, on-going, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs.  

In this article I show how Gemini described the strategy map and its goals.  I think it did a pretty good job, which is why I'm sharing it.

I hope you'll take a look at these articles and create an article sharing your own understanding, or showing your support.  While my maps focus on the Chicago region, your maps should focus on high poverty areas of your own city or state, showing all places where kids, families and schools need more help.

Finally, take a look at articles like this where I show how to collect data and share it via visualizations created using social network mapping tools.

Students in local high school and colleges could be doing the data collection needed to produce maps like these.  Without them a city might see a lot of activity but still have too few leaders involved and be reaching too few of the places where on-going support is needed.

Imagine having a map showing all faith groups in the Chicago region, with flags highlighting those who have adopted the T/MC strategy map and have given "mobilization" sermons at least four time a year.  Imagine having similar maps, showing businesses, political leaders, celebrities, etc.

That's the goal. It's been the goal for many years. 

Thanks for reading.  Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, Medium and/or Substack.  See links here.

And, if you're able to help, visit this page and contribute to help me pay the bills.

Tribute to a Larger-than-Life Leader

I've seen many tributes in local and national media this week, recognizing the life of service and leadership of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who passed away this week.  Here's one from PBS.

I met Rev. Jackson in 1997 when I was part of the Chicago delegation to the President's Summit for America's Future. I'm in the back row of this picture, between General John Borling, who was CEO of the United Way/Crusade of Mercy and the Rev. Jackson.

I was in several meetings with him following the April 1997 Summit, but never built any kind of relationship.

Between 1998 and 2000 I participated in monthly planning meetings held at Operation PUSH headquarters, along with leaders of the Illinois Judicial Council.  The goal was to develop a strategy that the Judges could take to area Black churches to influence the growth of mentoring programs in more places.

Below is part of a plan that I developed for the group, titled "Join the Minister's Mobilization".

You can view the complete plan at this link, along with some related documents. 

Then open this document to see an updated version of this plan that I created in the late 2000s. 

My latest update can be seen in this visual essay.

Unfortunately, the strategy presented at Operation PUSH never went very far.  We reached a point in our meetings when I was asking the Rev Jackson to take the role shown in the graphic below, using his powerful voice to draw volunteers AND donors to individual churches, so they would have the resources to actually start AND operate mentor-rich programs.  

I was told that this was not what the Rev Jackson did, since he was constantly raising money for Operation PUSH programs.  That's when I stopped attending the meetings at Operation PUSH.

So we're in 2026 with still too few programs, and with a lot fewer Black kids living in the Southside neighborhoods of Chicago.

However, I've continued to share that strategy for the past 25 years.

What's a message that faith leaders might be delivering?  I asked Google Gemini to look at this speech, by the CEO of a company, then create a speech, delivered by a Faith leader. It's posted below.

--- begin Gemini version ---

From Prayer to Purpose: A Unified Covenant for Chicago’s Future Presenter:
[Leader Name/Title], [Faith Community/Organization Name]
Audience: Chicago Interfaith Council & Regional Religious Leadership

The "Why": Beyond Charitable Almsgiving
Friends and fellow laborers, we are all familiar with the call to "clothe the naked" and "feed the hungry." We pass the plate, we run our food pantries, and we offer our prayers. But if we are honest, our current approach is fragmented. We are tending to the wounds, but we are not stopping the violence that causes them.

If we were building a new sanctuary, we would not lay a single brick without a sanctified blueprint. Yet, when it comes to the "living stones" of our city—the children growing up in the shadows of systemic neglect—we often operate without a shared vision.

I am here today to ask our congregations to adopt a specific strategic blueprint: The Tutor/Mentor Connection Strategy Map.

The Blueprint: A Map for Mercy and Justice
This is more than a diagram; it is a systemic path to redemption for our neighborhoods. You can view this sacred map here: http://tinyurl.com/tmc-strategy-map.

As faith leaders, we understand the "Cradle-to-Calling" journey. If a child’s path is blocked by the thorns of poverty and a lack of guidance, the divine potential within them is stifled. This map shows us exactly where the path is broken and how we, as a community of faith, can mend it.

The Sacred Site: Our Buildings as Bridges
The research is clear: relationships save lives, but relationships need a place to grow. We cannot rely on informal or school-based connections alone. We need organized, site-based programs that serve as "hubs" of social capital.

Look around at our houses of worship. These are not just buildings; they are underutilized sanctuaries for the youth in our "service deserts." By hosting organized programs, we provide a safe, consistent space where a child knows a mentor will be waiting every week. These sites become the "glue" that attracts both the child and the volunteer, offering access to technology, quiet study, and a community of peers that many cannot find elsewhere.

The Four-Part Ministry of Presence
To make Chicago "mentor-rich," we must apply the same discipline to our outreach that we apply to our liturgy:

* Bearing Witness (Data): We must map where the light is shining and where the darkness remains. We must identify the neighborhoods where organized programs don't exist and ask ourselves: Why not here?

* Prophetic Voice (Public Awareness): We must use our pulpits. I am challenging you to record a video "reading" this strategy map to your congregants. We must signal that mentoring is a core tenet of our faith, not a side project.

* Stewardship of People (Resource Distribution):
We don’t just give tithes; we give ourselves. We must drive our most valuable asset—our people—into the zip codes that have been forsaken.

* Cultivating the Vineyard (Continuous Improvement):
We must share our collective expertise in administration and stability to help small, neighborhood missions move from "surviving" to "thriving."

The "Village" Cluster: Our Sacred Role
Look at the "Village Clusters" on the map. Whether you lead a mosque, a synagogue, a cathedral, or a storefront church, you are a pillar of this village. I am calling for "Moral Signaling." When a faith community adopts this map, they are committing to a 20-year covenant of support—a "long obedience" in the same direction.

 "Enough is enough. We cannot simply pray for a better Chicago while standing still. We must adopt a strategy that matches the scale of the giants we are facing." 

The Closing Challenge: Anoint the Strategy
At the top of this map is a blue box. It is currently empty. It is waiting for the seal of your faith community.

By placing your identity alongside this strategy, you are telling the people of Chicago that your house of worship is a bridge to the future. You are vowing that a child born today in a high-poverty neighborhood will have a spiritual family and a physical "site" of support walking beside them until they reach their full, God-given potential twenty years from now.

My Next Step: I have already integrated this strategy map into our community’s mission portal and opened our doors for these sessions. I would like to show you how to do the same.

Would you like me to send you the "Leader’s Script" we use to explain this map and the use of our buildings to our members during service?

---- end Gemini ----

I was inspired to use Google Gemini by Gene Bellinger, who has demonstrate its value through articles he's posted on his Substack - click here to find his articles.  

Thanks for reading this.  I think one of the best ways to honor the memory of the Rev. Jesse Jackson would be to adopt the strategies I've shared in this post, and share your commitment at least four times a year with a sermon based on what I shared here, or that you create by using Gemini yourself. 

You can become the YOU in the graphic shown above.

Let's connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, Mastodon, etc.  Find links here.

If you value what I'm sharing, please visit this page and make a contribution to help me keep doing it.

Create Learning Group to Understand Goals of this Blog

Below is a concept map that I created many years ago to help guide people through all of the information I've shared since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in Chicago in 1993. 

You can open it at this link.  In the upper left corner I share a link to a video created in 2015 by an intern from South Korea, to guide people through this concept map. 

The goal is to help people in every place with concentrations of persistent, on-going, poverty create and sustain mentor-rich youth programs that help kids through school and into adult lives. I led one of these from 1975 to 2011 and am still connected to many who were part of these programs in the past. 

The graphic below visualizes this long-term goal and shows teens who were part of the program in the 1990s who I'm still connected with more than 20 years later. 

We created the T/MC in 1993 to collect and share ideas and draw greater attention to all volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago (including our own), to help each program get the ideas and resources needed to constantly improve how they impact the lives of kids and volunteers who become part of their programs.  

I included both of these graphics in this article. 

I studied history in college, and grew up in a church-attending family.  I'm familiar with how Jesus recruited a few Disciples, and started teaching them his message.  He died too soon for much to be taught, but inspired these Disciples to spend the rest of their lives understanding his message and sharing it with others.

I'm also familiar with how other faith groups have a core history that inspires millions of others. 

I'm now 77 and don't know how many years I have left.  What I do know is that I've probably put a whole lot more information in the public space than what Jesus was able to do in his short life.

So I invite former students and volunteers of the programs I led, and of other long-term tutor/mentor programs, to become Disciples, now, and in future years.

Go through the archives I share on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website and build and share your own understanding of this information.  Share it widely and help places throughout the world build information-intermediaries like the T/MC that not only collect and share information, but lead a constant mobilization of volunteers and donors who will help well-organized, K-12 tutor/mentor programs grow in every high poverty neighborhood throughout the USA and beyond. 

This is not a new invitation. Read this 2001 article in the Ecumenical Child Care Network newsletter. 

Be patient. Be persistent.  You can't learn this all in one day, or even one year.  People in faith communities spend their entire lives reading and reflecting on printed scripture.  People in universities spend four to eight years in obtaining degrees.

It took around 350 years after the death of Christ before Rome officially recognized the Christian religion.  I hope it does not take that long to build T/MC type intermediaries in every place with concentrations of poverty, who will do the work needed to mobilize others and build systems that help kids through school, while at the same time destroying the systems that have kept people in poverty.

As long as I draw breath I'll try to help you in this process.  

This page shows where you can connect with me on social media.    This page shows where you can make a contribution to help fund my work and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Thanks for reading!  Have a great week!

Easter - Looking Back. Looking Forward.

We all carry heavy burdens.

When Jesus was spreading his message did he understand how difficult it would be to change the hearts and habits of people throughout the world so everyone would have a sense of hope and opportunity? I'm not sure that was even his purpose, but I'm not writing with a goal of debating different religious history or philosophy.

I picked this graphic because it shows the heavy burden carried by anyone who works to provide hope and opportunity to oppressed people in the world, or who seeks to close the gaps between rich and poor, or reduce the greed and corruption in government and formal institutions of power.

Easter 2020 arrives in the middle of a global Covid19 pandemic. It affects everyone, one way, or another. But the burden is greatest on those who live in poverty. That burden has not changed. It is greater than before.

Easter 2020 also arrives in the middle of a US Presidential election cycle, where many seek to oust a corrupt and inept President, yet others follow him as though he is the second coming of Christ.

Connecting people who can help
with information, and people who
need help.

It makes no sense to me. But that's probably how many view my own ideas.

I created the graphic at the right in 2011 as I was launching the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, in an effort to visualize a goal of connecting "people who can help" with an information base that shows where help is most needed, and with lists of organizations providing help, who need help themselves.

I spend time daily trying to draw attention to this information, while also trying to maintain the technology platforms where I host the Tutor/Mentor library and Chicago Programs information. Each year the challenge seems bigger, not smaller.

I've written a blog article around EASTER Sunday every year since 2006. While scripture in the Bible, the Torah or the Koran is over 1000 years old, each has a fresh message every time it is read.

Thus, throughout the year I hope those who visit the Tutor/Mentor Institute blog will look back at past messages, like these Easter messages, and find new meaning and inspiration. As you do, carry them forth, share them, and help them multiply so more share the work that needs to be done.

Regardless of what faith you follow, I hope your burdens are not too overwhelming and that you find others to help you push them away.  I pray that #Covid19 passes you and your family, friends and co-workers without doing harm, and that all recover from the economic hardships that millions are experiencing.

After #Dan Ryan March - Do the Planning

Last week when I first read about the protest march being organized for yesterday, shutting down a portion of Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway, I posted this article, saying "Don't drive by poverty. Get involved."

Yesterday and today I'm seeing stories about the march in local and  national media. One Twitter writer posted "what's next?"

In reading about the march in today's Chicago Tribune I saw a sub head saying "Enough is Enough".  I've been using that phrase in articles on this blog for more than 10 years, as steps people could take to follow up on events like this.

If people just looked at those articles and took those steps, I'd be happy, and would write no more. However, I want to offer some more information.

First, Father Pfleger of St. Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago, has been a huge voice for anti violence and anti-poverty programs for at least 20 years. I've tried to connect with him but with no luck.  So, today, I created the maps below.

This map shows the location of St. Sabina Church, on Chicago's South Side, on 79th Street, just West of the Dan Ryan.  I created the map using the Tutor/Mentor Program Locator, which enables me to zoom in and add layers of information. I added poverty, poorly performing public schools, Catholic Churches and existing tutor/mentor programs.

Note. The information on the Program Locator has not been updated since 2010 due to my lack of talent and funds and is now only available as an archive.

see report

This second map was also created using the Program Locator. The  yellow boxes show number of high poverty youth, age 6-17, living in each Chicago community area, based on 2011 information. The blue boxes show the same information, based on newer information, provided in 2018 by the Heartland Alliance.

St. Sabina is surrounded by Englewood (2549 kids), Greater Grand Crossing (2585 kids) and Auburn Gresham (2765) kids. That's a total of 7,899 kids who would benefit if well organized tutor/mentor programs were in this area. However, that's a decline from 2011, when there were 11,333 high poverty kids in this area.

My maps also show how the Dan Ryan Expressway cuts through this area, bringing people to and through the LOOP from affluent areas in the South Suburbs. Doing a march on the Dan Ryan can draw attention. Putting a virtual sign saying "Visit my web site. Get involved" can do even more. All of these people could be part of an on-going effort to help change what's happening in high poverty areas of Chicago.

Next:  Do the planning. Follow process shown on this map:

Open map at this link

I've been encouraging faith leaders in others throughout Chicago, and in other cities, to duplicate what the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC has been doing since 1993 to help tutor/mentor programs grow in all high poverty areas of Chicago.  While I focus on the entire Chicago region, others could focus on smaller areas, such as the community areas surrounding St. Sabina Church.

This concept map shows a process that repeats year after year, with more people involved, and by learning from actions taken, and from what others are doing to solve the same problem in different places.

If someone in the map area that includes St. Sabina had been doing this since 1994 the map should show many green stars, showing a range of programs helping kids through school and into jobs.

That's not the case in 2018.

I visited the St. Sabina web site today to see what type of information it was sharing that marchers, and those interested in getting involved because of media attention,  could use to get informed and involved.  Other than pointing to programs St. Sabina operates, I don't see links to other resources or other youth programs in Chicago. I don't see geographic maps, or concept maps, like you see in many articles on my blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site.

I'm not intentionally picking on St. Sabina. I don't see very many other organizations duplicating the information sharing that I do.

Here's another map from my library of concept maps (which is freely available to anyone)  On the left side of the map I show a section of the Tutor/Mentor web library, which points to articles and research showing the root causes and history of poverty, inequality, racism and violence in America.  On the right I show some other maps with additional information that planners might use.  Click on the small box at the bottom of each node and go to other maps, or to sections of the web library.

I've been trying to motivate faith leaders (and others) to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy since the mid 1990s, with little success. Here's a pdf presentation where I outline what actions every faith group in the region could be taking every week.  Visit this page and see outlines of strategies others could take.

One simple action would be to put links on a church, synagogue or mosque web site to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site and this blog.  Another would be to form a team that helps me collect information about existing youth tutor or mentor programs in different parts of the Chicago region. Just visiting this list to see if the links work and if programs still exist would be a valuable service.

Here's an example of information in the library that Fr. Pfleger might point people to. 

On the top of this graphic is a "race poverty" concept map that I created to show the many different challenges people living in high poverty areas face.  On the bottom is a graphic showing 17 United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.  Goal number 1 is "eliminate poverty".  See both in this article.

Now most people might think the UN goals are only focused at poor countries in Africa, Asia and Central and South America.  That's where you are wrong.

Yesterday I read a 2018 report titled "Leaving No US City Behind", showing how well the largest 100 US cities are doing in reaching the UN goals by 2030.  This is one of the maps showing the cities, with color codes showing how they rank. 

Chicago is 71st.

I think that Fr. Pfleger and other faith leaders, and the Mayor, could point to this report from their web sites and create discussions that engage their communities in improving this standing.

Imagine if this were the focus of the Mayor's Summer Reading Program.

As I read the report I used the Hypothes.is annotation tool to annotate and highlight sections of the report, and to add comments in the margins showing how work I've been doing tries to mobilize people to help solve these problems in Chicago and other cities. I also added it to my web library. (2024 note. That PDF is no longer found on Hypothes.is)

Others can do the same.  In fact, until more people build web libraries like mine, then draw others together to read, reflect and discuss the information, and use maps to focus attention and resources to specific areas, not much will change and the violence will continue.

Faith leaders have been doing what I'm suggesting for a couple thousand years as they point people to different religious texts and encourage discussion and reflection. I think they just need to add some other reading materials to their web sites, pointing to the SDGs and my own "race poverty" links, and then encourage people to read a little every week, then gather together in big and small groups, to discuss and act on what they are reading.

Don't wait. The problems we face can get worse.

Don't Drive By Chicago Poverty and Violence - Get Involved.

Last night and today two Twitter posts caught my attention. One (click here) talked about Father Michael Pfleger's plan to shut down parts of Chicago's Dan Ryan Expressway on July 7th, to protest inaction about violence in Chicago.  Today's Chicago SunTimes featured this story.

A second, posted by Simon Ensor, a professor at a university in France, used a Monopoly game board in his Tweet (click here) calling attention to an article on his blog.

These prompted the following message:

Chicago transit & expressways

Don't Drive By Poverty. Get involved.

Shutting down the Dan Ryan is a great way to generate some media attention, and Father Pfleger is great at doing that.  I've written about marches in the past, going back to one of the Million Man March of the 2000s. (see links to more articles below)

I'd like to see maps on media and church web sites, showing poverty areas in Chicago, showing locations of non-profit organizations serving youth and families, and showing transit routes bringing people to the city from homes in the suburbs and more affluent areas.

Thus, while public attention is created by shutting down an expressway, leaders can use maps and on-line directories and web libraries like mine to learn more about poverty, racism, inequality and many other issues, then find youth organizations along their route that they can support with on-going contributions of time, talent and dollars.

Between 1994 and 2002 I created a printed directory that people could use to find contact information for tutor/mentor programs in different parts of Chicago. In 2002 one of our interns from India created a searchable on-line portal that enabled more people to find my list of Chicago youth programs. Then in 2008 another team created this interactive Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator. This was intended as a planning resource that leaders would use to help support existing programs and build new ones in under-served areas.

These are no longer updated due to my lack of funding, but they still work.  To find more updated information view the map and list of Chicago area youth tutor and /or mentoring programs on this page.

Yom-Polom cMap

When I opened Simon Ensor's blog the top image was a Monopoly game board. I was not sure what Simon would be writing about, but the game board reminded me of a game board I'd created a couple of years ago as a result of an on-line interaction with Simon and Connected Learning #clmooc people.

In my Yom-Polom game, each square represents a section of information in the Tutor/Mentor web library.  If you land on every square over the course of a year and read some of the articles, you build a deeper understanding of poverty and of potential ways you can be part of solutions.

Each trip around the board represents another year of learning. Thus the longer you play the game, the more you know, and the more committed you'll be to solutions that require on-going, long-term, investments of time, talent and dollars.

So in addition to pointing to transit maps and youth program directories (which can be found on the game board) Father Pflieger and media could be pointing people to places for deeper learning.

My suggestion should not be unrealistic to faith leaders. They've been  pointing people to religious texts for over 2000 years, with weekly reminders to read passage after passage, discuss with friends and family, the put the ideas to work in their lives.

I created this pdf presentation with some suggestions faith leaders could do to draw people to the on-line Bible of information I've been aggregating for 20 years.

Maybe as they prepare for this next protest march, more will point followers to this article and my list of youth programs.

Want to help make this happen? Go to the web site of a faith based institution near you and see what links they point to, if any, from their social involvement and outreach section. If they don't point to this blog, or the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web page, ask them to do so.

Here's a a few "drive by poverty" articles to read

Don't Drive By Poverty. Get involved! click here

Follow up to Chicago Violence - Map analysis example - click here

9-Year Old Shot while giving dog a bath. The REST of the STORY - click here

Are you driving by problems in Chicago? click here

I've been pointing to maps and sharing the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy since 1993.

While many have been called to view these ideas and apply them, very, very few have actually responded.

They seem to keep wanting to do their own thing, lead their own marches, etc.  Maybe this time will be different.

Easter, Passover - Another Year - Same Message

For the millions of people in the world who have strong religious beliefs Easter weekend is one of the most powerful celebrations of the year. Millions of people around the world will gather and renew their faith over the next few days. This year Passover, the Jewish religious celebration, is also this weekend.

I've written about this almost every year since 2005 so instead of writing a new story, I encourage you to read some of the articles I've written in the past.

I could have created a brand new article, but I' only be repeating the same themes that I've talked about in the past. I don't think the Christians create a new Bible every year. Jews don't create new scripture. They keep pulling out the same scroll ever year. The scripture and themes that will be in sermons this Sunday will be the same scripture and themes that faith leaders have pointed to for over 2000 years.

In 2011 I wrote an article about the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. I'm not a Biblical scholar, so I did some searching and came up with this web site that provides a number of Tower of Babel articles worth reading.

I used this theme again last year.

As I look at all of the problems facing the world, I think of my own efforts to mobilize people and resources to help kids in high poverty areas have the range of supports they need to be more successful moving safely through school and into adult lives with jobs that enable them to live free of poverty.

I keep trying to attract a few eyeballs every day to focus on this problem.

This concept map illustrates that there are many problems that challenge all families.  People living in poverty areas have fewer resources to overcome these challenges.  Each spoke on this map represents a challenge families face. Making one service available for a short period of time, in a few places, really does not work, since the other problems still persist.

The story of the Tower of Babel was written more than 2000 years ago. It's a story about how people tried to work together to solve a complex problem. And they failed.

This is the text from Genesis 11:1-9

"Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 

Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.' Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9)

I highlighted nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them because this is where I struggle in my thinking.  If just a small percent of the people in the world focus on helping kids in poverty, much can be done.  If a similar small percent of people focus on each of the other issues we face, which are well defined in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, much more might be done.

Connecting and coordinating efforts so all of the nodes on the concept map are connected and learning from each other, has the potential to show that no problem is impossible to solve.

However, in the Bible story, GOD said "let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech".

Everyone understands the problem differently, and the words we speak have different meaning, based on different life experiences.

Does the story of the Tower of Babel mean that the GOD that many worship really does not want people to find ways to work together to solve the suffering and potential disasters to the human race that we are facing?

I don't want to believe that.

Read the articles I've written over the past 13 years about networks, network building, learning, innovation and collaboration.  Maybe there's a way to connect and put more eyeballs on each of these problems and use our technology to connect with each other.

8-19-2022 update. Below is an interesting Twitter thread about the Bible story about the Tower of Babel.

Why Read The Bible In Hebrew?

Let's talk about one of the most influential stories *ever* for thinking about the nature of human progress—the Tower of Babel.

What exactly did Babel's builders do wrong?

A thread (for non-Hebrew readers too!) 🧵 1 pic.twitter.com/Uv03uXinsi

— Ari Lamm (@AriLamm) August 19, 2022

  

I focus on Faith groups and Business to reach those not on-line

Faith groups - many denominations

This map was created between 2008 and 2010 and shows faith groups of many major denominations with locations in the Chicago region. It's one of many similar maps found on the MappingforJustice blog, such as this.

I was prompted to write this today because I've been watching the 2017 #MCON conference live and tweeting ideas from my blogs.  I've also been engaging with a network of others on a Digital Citizenship (#digciz) event, which is on many platforms.

The reason I point to this map of faith groups is that while there is a lively interaction on Twitter that is spread through many blogs and other places, less than 30% of Americans actually use Twitter, according to this PEW Research Center report.  While nearly 80% are on Facebook, that does not mean you're reaching 80% of your friends, or many other people with your posts and comments.

Thus, were engaging with too small of a crowd.

I've used graphics like this for nearly 20 years to show role of a single person who acts daily to draw people she knows to information they can use to become involved in supporting the growth of mentor-rich programs in all poverty neighborhoods of Chicago.

If you see yourself as the RED circle, your tweets, retweets, etc can draw others to this information, and the group will grow from year-to-year.   However, as I was reminded by an in-law recently, who is an executive of a big company, he does not use Twitter, nor does he use the Internet this way. While he has hundreds, perhaps more than a thousand contacts in his phone contact list, he reaches out to them, one-by-one when he wants information or wants to connect.  He's very active in social justice causes, and in his faith group. He's just not yet using the Internet to bring his network to on-line libraries, discussions and networks.

Catholic churches

He, and many others, may never use the Internet the way I do. But they could lead the face-to-face mobilizing and learning that is needed. Many already do.

The dots on these maps represent individual churches where people from business, universities, hospitals, politics, sports, etc, gather each week to hear a sermon, meet for Bible study, or talk about local-global issues that they care about.

Imagine if there were a flag on 50% of these churches, indicating an effort to draw members to my blogs, my on-line libraries of information, and to on-line discussions that I'm part of, where they could expand what they know and how they connect with each other, and with others beyond their local congregation.

Over time that would build a massive army of people who were working to help youth born or living in high poverty areas, move through school and into jobs and careers. 

See pdf presentation

No one who goes to a church, synagogue or temple every week is expected to know everything about that religion. They are learning a little every week, and are reinforcing what they learned in previous weeks and past years.

I've posted 47 articles on this blog that show strategies faith leaders could apply to build learning circles in their congregations that then influence what others in the village do to support the growth of youth serving programs in high poverty neighborhoods.

If just a few people from different congregations begin to dig into these as much as people are digging in to scripture, or the Digital Citizenship and MCON articles, they can begin hosting study groups with others from their local group, and build on-line conversations that engage people from other churches in their own city, or in many other cities.

They could be the bridge that connects the on-line world with the off-line world, with their faith group providing the infrastructure needed to make this an on-going, long-term process. 

If they create a map they can plot locations of congregations that have this strategy, with the goal of increasing the number on the map as part of the strategy of bringing more people into efforts to solve local-global problems.

And, while I focus on faith groups in this article, the process could be duplicated in K-12 schools, colleges, businesses,  and any other place where 2 or more people meet regularly and are concerned with issues that they cannot solve by themselves.

Furthermore, while I focus on youth and poverty, groups could focus on any of the issues that face people locally and throughout the world.

Who's doing this?

Archdiocese of Chicago Commits to War on Poverty

Yesterday Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago launched a new campaign to reduce violence in Chicago neighborhoods. Below is the video showing this announcement. Listen to the commitments that are being made.



What I heard was a commitment to a) increase awareness; b) increase capacity of local organizations; c) build partnerships with others who should be involved; and d) seek new approaches.

Since the late 1990s I've been sharing a strategy for faith communities to help reduce poverty and violence in Chicago, through support of youth tutor, mentor and learning programs in all poverty neighborhoods.  See it in this presentation.

Network Building. Role of Faith Community by Daniel F. Bassill on Scribd

Note the use of maps, and the intent to enlist every faith group in this effort, not just the Catholic Church. From 1995 through 2003 the Tutor/Mentor Connection organized a Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign to mobilize volunteers and build support for all non-school, volunteer-based, tutor/mentor programs in the region. Read campaign history here and see a manifesto signed by political, business and faith leaders, including Francis Cardinal George of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

The goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (now led by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC), was that each congregation create a learning circle, which digs into information on T/MC web sites, and uses the list of Chicago area programs that I've maintained since 1994, and map-based Program Locator, built in 2008, to support the growth of existing programs in different neighborhoods, helping each one become great at what they do to help kids through school and into jobs and careers, with a network of adult support that is created via the strategies of the tutor/mentor programs and is supported by people from congregations throughout the Chicago region.

I've been collecting, mapping and sharing ideas and strategies since creating the T/MC in 1993. (see article). I shared these ideas on web sites since 1998 and in printed newsletters from 1993 to 2002. I've shared them on this blog since 2005.  Step 2 in this four-part strategy is focused on building greater public awareness and involvement in efforts that help kids in all poverty neighborhoods have non-school support systems that help them come to school better prepared to learn, and leave school after 12th grade better prepared for their adult lives.

In my articles and strategies I focus on new ways to attract philanthropic and volunteer support for youth serving organizations in every poverty neighborhood. In this article I describe my thinking and point to an article about "web evangelism" that encourages leaders to borrow from strategies used by the faith community for over two thousand years.

When I describe the formation of learning circles in religious communities, I'm not describing something new, or revolutionary. Every week in thousands of locations a faith leader reads a few passages from a very large book, then encourages members of the congregation to get together in small groups to discuss the meaning of this passage to them and their lives.  No one is expected the read the Bible or the Koran in a few days. It takes a life time of learning.

The links in my web library points to more than 2000 other web sites that help you understand the needs of high poverty communities and also help you see work being done in some places that could be duplicated in other places. This blog has more than 1000 articles. The MappingforJustice blog has many more. There are more than 60 PDF presentations in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC library.  These articles focus on the on-going application of time, talent and dollars, in many locations, that is needed to help kids entering first grade today be entering jobs and careers in 20 to 25 years.

This information is not intended to be digested in a single session. It's intended to be read and discussed on an on-going basis.  It's intended to encourage people to go forth and do service, then to gather and share what they did, what they learned, what works, what does not work, and what could work better if others were helping. Then, go back and apply what was learned in a continuous cycle of service and learning.

Faith congregations are ideal incubators for this process because every person siting in a congregation works in some company, college, hospital or government agency, and knows many others who work in the same places.  Thus, each week they can take what they learn, and share it with others, so more people get involved.

Unfortunately, the leaders who signed the campaign manifestos between 1998 and 2002, and others since then, never made an effort to reach out to get to know more about the ideas and strategies I've been sharing, or to offer to help me do this work.

I keep trying to change that.  I do so with no source of revenue except my monthly social security check, a shrinking retirement savings, and donations made by a few supporters.  

Here's a letter I wrote in 1999 to one of the billionaires in Chicago. It's similar to letters written to many leaders over many years.

There are thousands of faith based congregations in the Chicago region, each with powerful leaders like Cardinal Blase Cupich. I welcome a conversation with one or all, with the goal of having the ideas and resources I share become part of their own thinking and planning.

I invite you to adopt the Tutor/Mentor Connection, and make it work better than I've been able to, with a continued 20 to 30 year commitment, which I have demonstrated.

Introduce yourself below or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin.

The Ultimate Sacrifice in Service to Others

Jesus dying on the Cross represents the ultimate example of full sacrifice in trying to solve "hard to solve problems". Are you ready? Are you willing?

I've written blog articles around the Easter holiday almost every year since  launching this blog in 2005. I hope you'll read some of the past articles and borrow some of the ideas to support your own service to others in the coming year.

Then take a look at this pdf and these articles and share them with others who are part of your own family and faith community. Maybe you could start a study group, and read one article a week, and then discuss it with your group. Over the course of a year or two your knowledge of these ideas would be as good, and probably better, than mine.

Turning the Pope's message into Action Plan

As Christians and Jews celebrate this religious holiday I add my own hope for peace in the world, at home, and in the hearts of men and women. I'm thrilled by Pope Francis and his emphasis on the poor. This Wall Street Journal article is one of many that you can read to see his impact. Here's an article I wrote in 2013.

A first step in reducing poverty and the opportunity gap is for highly visible leaders to draw attention to the problem, and call on the rich and privileged to be a greater part of the solution. However, the next step is for leaders to map how we get from where we are now (here) to where we want to be in the future (there).

This PDF is one that I hope Christians, Jews and people of other faiths will share in their congregations. Form study groups to understand this. Then implement the strategies so a growing percent of every congregation is growing their involvement in activities that make more and better non-school tutoring, mentoring, learning organizations and safe spaces available to youth in big cities of the US and the world.

Network Building. Role of Faith Community by Daniel F. Bassill

This is one of many strategy and idea articles I've posted in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC library and written about on my blogs.

Start a study group. Read these. Discuss them in groups. Come to the May 8 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in Chicago and connect with others who already lead tutor/mentor programs, or who are trying to start new programs.

Create your own maps to show what congregations may already be hosting programs and what congregations have study groups, or marketing programs, to engage members, and the places where they work, in efforts that help programs grow throughout the Chicago region, or in any other urban area.

On the next major religious celebration, create your own blog and show your own maps and blueprints for getting from "here to there".

Homicide Quilt draws attention to violence in Chicago....again.

Rex W. Huppke's column in the Thursday, April 17 edition of the Chicago Tribune is titled "Look closely at the violence tearing at the fabric of Chicago". You can see slides of the quilt being made on this April 11 DNAinfoChicago article.

These were just two of numerous stories generated by the quilt. In Huppke's article he writes "Each year, as the grim tally comes in, I think: "Surely this will be the year Chicagoans say, 'No more.' Nowhere can this level of violence be deemed acceptable." And yet little seems to change."

Making something change requires a consistent effort to draw people together to make something happen. This being Easter weekend, it's a good time to think of how many years Christians have been "drawing people together" to support their beliefs. I wrote about this at the start of the week.

The media have been telling stories of violence, poverty and poorly performing schools in Chicago for more than 30 years, with some of these stories getting occasional front page attention and editorial "rage". Yet seldom do these stories point to all of the places where poverty contributes to these problems, or to the different social purpose organizations, such as volunteer based tutor/mentor programs, that are working in these neighborhoods to help kids have extra support and learning opportunities that might help them move through school and into jobs out of poverty.

Thus, my strategy has been to create "Rest of the Story" articles, using maps to point to where the news story took place, and writing stories that encouraged readers to seek out places where they could offer time, talent and dollars to help neighborhoods have a full range of learning, mentoring and job opportunities. This is one of those stories. This gallery shows more.

When I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 one of the core strategies was to create more frequent media stories that would draw attention and needed resources directly to tutor/mentor programs in all poverty neighborhoods. This article showed that strategy. It's from 1994.

You can see this and more stories resulting from my efforts at this link.

Unfortunately, I started doing this prior to having the Internet and social media as a tool so my efforts were too little, reaching too few, and never have gained the support of higher profile leaders in media, business, politics, religion or support. Yet I keep trying.

It took 300 years before the Christian faith was firmly established in the Old World. I've only been at this for 20 years.

How do we expand this effort and build more consistent attention, greater involvement, and a better flow and distribution of needed resources? The violence quilt is an example of what's possible. However, this effort needs to focus in on individual neighborhoods, and needs to generate media, or social media, attention every day.

In February I wrote this article following this shooting in Rodgers Park. In it I suggested that youth in local high schools, non school programs and faith groups could become the journalist who keep this issue in front of the public on a regular basis, and who use maps like the ones I've created to show who the adult leaders are in the community who should be providing talent, technology, dollars and space for needed non-school tutoring/mentoring, learning and skill development programs in every neighborhood where too many stories of violence and lost opportunities appear.

I included this map in the February story, and I've updated it to show last week's shooting. Visit this page of the Chicago Tribune site and you can see other homicides in this part of Chicago. This article has maps of every community area of Chicago, showing how many high poverty youth between age 6 and 17 live in the area.

In every church celebrating Easter this weekend, and every synagogue celebrating Passover, someone will pass a collecting plate asking for donations. We don't just need stories about bad news. We need stories that ask for donations of time, talent and dollars to support youth serving and jobs programs in every neighborhood where kids need extra help.

Anyone can create these stories. They can probably write more effectively than I can. They can post stories on a wide range of social media sites, and create more emotional connection with readers than I can.

Do it. Do it every day. Keep doing it for an entire year, or a decade. Do it until all of the leaders in the community, and those in the wider Chicago region, are actively involved making high quality, constantly improving programs available to youth in every high poverty neighborhood.

Use the maps as a planning tool, and an accountability tool.