Look at my lists of Chicago tutor, mentor and learning programs

I started building list of Chicago volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in 1975 as I became the leader of the program at Montgomery Ward's Corporate Headquarters. I used it to invite programs to gather and share ideas, so I could find better ways to lead my own program. Over time the relationships are a big part of why I have stayed involved for so many years.

In 1993 we created the Tutor/Mentor Connection to build a better understanding of what programs were operating in Chicago and to draw more consistent media attention to ALL of them, not just our own. In January 1994 we launched this survey, asking programs to identify themselves, show what age group they serve and what type of tutor, mentor service they offered, as well as where they were located.

120 programs responded and we published that list in a printed directory in May 1994. We updated it annually each year through 2003.  At that point we put the information on-line so it would be available to more people.  View the 1996 Directory in this file.

The four maps below show how I divided the city and organized the information in the directory.

Chicago North

Chicago Central

Chicago South Central

Chicago South

I still host my lists, but have not done a formal survey for many years.  Below is how you now find the information on the Tutor/Mentor website.

Click here to view the page. I've added a few more categories over the past decade. Thus click into any of the lists below and get to know the programs. 
- Chicago North

- Chicago Central

- Chicago South Central

- Chicago South

- College Access - these programs focus on college and draw from many parts of the city

- Multiple Sites and/or Community Based - some programs have sites in each part of the city. Others don't work from sites as volunteers meet kids at community locations.  

- School-Based - My initial focus was site based non-school programs. However there are many tutor and/or mentor programs in Chicago schools

- Chicago Suburbs - this list is organized by North, West and South Suburbs, but over the past 30 years I've not found many organized tutor/mentor programs in these areas.  

While my primary focus has been on volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs I realized in the late 2000s that I should have a way of learning about programs with an arts, STEM, leadership, etc. focus. These programs also connect youth with volunteers.  So I built the page you see below. click here to open

Included on this page are other organizations who collect and share information about youth serving programs, as well as other intermediaries.  There's also a list of e-mentoring and e-tutoring. There's also a list showing programs beyond Chicago, who also can be models to learn from.  

The goal in creating these lists was that programs would show enough information about "how" they do what they do and "what" their long-term goals were that volunteers, parents and donors could make support decisions based on what they find on a website and that programs could learn and borrow ideas from each other so they are are constantly improving.

Some programs do a great job. 

Sadly.  I don't see enough of this. Lack of manpower to collect information and constantly update websites is probably the primary reason. 

Several years ago I created a "shopping guide" visual essay to show what I'd ideally find on program websites.  One role that technology and communications volunteers could take would be a help programs put this type of information on their websites. What if someone created a website "fill in the blanks" template, based on the Shopping Guide, and what they find on other program websites, then make this freely available to any program in the country?

I really depend on site visitors to help me keep these lists updated. If you find a link not working, or know of a program that should not be included, or should be added, or is in the wrong category. just reach out to me on LinkedIn and give me the information. 

As I wrote above, the goal has been to help volunteers, donors, media, parents and youth find programs near where kids live, and that fit their age group.  We launched this search page in 2004. It's now an archive but you can see it's purpose. 

In the graphic where I show the Chicago Programs lists I put a red line next to sections of the website that showed how we drew programs together for Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences and for annual Chicago-wide tutor/mentor volunteer recruitment campaigns.  While I no longer host these they are templates for what others could be doing in Chicago and other cities, IF they were maintaining a comprehensive list of programs.

Now that you know how these lists are organized can I count on you to share the information so more people use it to find and support youth-serving programs in the Chicago region?  Or, in your own community!

I've been drawing attention to these lists in many different ways since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.  But my voice is not enough. Thousands need to be following media stories, new research, and the calendar, and using their own creativity and media to draw attention to youth-serving programs throughout their city, not just the high-profile programs.

You're welcome to borrow ideas from this blog that show how I've been doing this.

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

And, if you see value in me hosting these lists, please visit this page and send a contribution to help me pay the bills!  Thank you.

Tutor/Mentor Learning Network - What is it?

I shared the two visual essays shown below in a new article on Substack.com.  I hope you'll take time to view it and dig into the essays.

The first shows how I've been collecting and sharing information for the past 30+ years, via the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present).  This slide shows how I link to other organizations that represent specific areas of expertise.

My goal is not to have links to "everything" on my website, but to point to other websites who aggregated information about specific topics, or specific groups of organizations.

Open the PDF at this link. 

The second essay shows more of what the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been building since 1993.  I call it a "capacity-building" network.

Note the "mentoring to careers" graphic in the first image and the map of Chicago in the second. Both have photos of kids and volunteers who were part of the programs I led.  These signal an intention to help similar programs grow in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago and other places.

While many intermediaries collect and share information, I’ve found few who host a list of programs that do similar work, then constantly try to draw attention, volunteers and donors to EACH of these places. That’s what makes the Tutor/Mentor Connection unique, and difficult to understand.

Click here to view the visual essay.

While I've piloted this work since 1993, via a small non-profit (until 2011), I've constantly reached out to convince colleges and universities to adopt the strategy, as a teaching tool, and for their own self-interests.   The second visual essay shows roles students could take.  Many articles on this blog do the same.

This is becoming a much more urgent concern.  I'm 79 and in the early stages of a lung disease that will ultimately end my life.  This blog and the sites it points to are just one entry point into what started for me in 1973 when I became a volunteer in the Tutoring Program hosted by employees at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago.  

I studied history in College then spent three years in U.S. Army Intelligence. Both taught me to look for best-available information to support my efforts to constantly improve my work in retail advertising at Wards and my volunteer-role as a tutor, then leader, of the program at Wards.

Through the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) I've been sharing this library with others in Chicago and throughout the world!

These visual essays show much of what I've been doing.  

If you have been blessed with great wealth, and you care about helping solve complex, long-term problems, please consider making a gift to a university, focused on building a Tutor/Mentor Connection-type program, including taking ownership of my archives, websites, blogs and all the work I've been doing.

I'd love to connect on ZOOM with anyone who is interested in helping make this happen.

These photos show me in 1973 with Leo Hall and in 2014 as he celebrated his 50th birthday. We're still connected in 2026.  It's one of many reasons I keep trying to help mentor-rich programs grow in more places.

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

Finally, I don't charge people to use these ideas and resources, but there is a cost to me to keep doing this work.  Visit this page if you'd like to help me pay the bills.

Focus on conditions that affect student performance - new UCLA Center report

Today I read a new article from the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools, titled "Disregarding Inequities Fuels Victim Blaming".  It focuses on how "far too little attention is focused on the role that societal and school inequalities play in shaping both student difficulties and school performance outcomes."  I encourage you to open this PDF and read the article. 

6-26-2026 update - the UCLA Center shared another report about the "Cycle of disinvestment in public schools".  Click here to read it.

This is not new information to me. I've been collecting articles like this for over 30 years and sharing them in my library and via posts like this.  

Below is a concept map showing sections of the library that have related information.  I added the new UCLA article to the "Education" research section.

This is something I started doing nearly 50 years ago.  It started as I was interacting with others, talking about ways to build and sustain volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.  Most conversations would include an introduction of new ideas from the people I was talking to.  In most situations, the ideas might generate interest, but when the two people leave the conversation, the ideas does not necessarily go with them.  

I started writing down ideas on scratch paper, even paper napkins, then putting them in a "ideas folder" in my office.  From time-to-time I went through that folder, reminding myself of these ideas, which often led me to include them in program upgrades.

When I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I dramatically expanded the range of ideas I was collecting, and made them available to other tutor/mentor program leaders in Chicago.  When I started using the Internet in the late 1990s I moved the library to a website and I've been adding to it for the past 26-plus years!

Thus, if you look in the set of education research articles (at this link) you'll find many articles that point to this problem. It's not new.  

And, if you open the other sections shown on the concept map, you'll find even more information that supports the ideas in the Summer 2026 UCLA Center's article.

I created this graphic in the 1990s to show how anyone can take a role that draws people to this information and begins building understanding and a commitment to long-term, widely distributed solutions.  The big circle represents the library and smaller circles represent groups of people gathering regularly to read, discuss, reflect and innovate.

The map of Chicago at the far right highlights high poverty areas were these conditions exist. A full range of youth and family support systems is needed in EACH of these areas.

In 2011an intern from South Korea, via IIT in Chicago, looked at my graphic, then created her own version.  I show it below.

This is actually shown in two graphics. Visit this 2011 article and see both.   Note that the title of the article is "Volunteer your talent with Tutor/Mentor Institute".   It's an invitation I've shared over-and-over.  

That's because until people in every community are drawing their networks to this information, the problems won't go away.  Too few people are involved.  

Yet, as I wrote last week, students could be doing what interns did for me in past years.  They can look at the information I'm sharing, then create and share their own interpretations.  

They don't need to do this via the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  In fact, it really needs to be part of an on-going learning and leadership program embedded into every middle school, high school and college in the country.  There could be hundreds of blogs that aggregate and share student work. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll connect with me on LinkedIn and other social media. Share your own ideas and visualizations.  Don't look back in 30 years at the Summer 2026 UCLA article and say, "Why has nothing changed?"

I still depend on a few donors to help me pay the expenses associated with my work. Visit this page if you'd like to help.

Mapping Black History with Kumu

I've posted many examples of visualizing information and ideas using tools like Kumu.io.  Here's another.

Visit this article on LinkedIn and you'll find links to many Kumu.io maps that focus on Black History and Black History Month.

I've added this information to the Black History section of my library.  

I'd love to find students/volunteers who would create Kumu.io maps showing content in each section of the Tutor/Mentor Library.  Connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky or Twitter to discuss.

If you receive a tax refund, can you split it three ways?  1) to fund Democratic candidates and/or open news sources; 2) to fund volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs; 3) to help fund the work I'm doing.

Connect with other out-of-school-time leaders

 Below is a map on the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network website. 

This looks like a great resource.  I follow them on Twitter (X).  They post information regularly.

They are one of several afterschool resources that I share on this page of the Tutor/Mentor library.  The Georgia Afterschool Network is also listed on this 50 State Afterschool Network page, which is also on my list.

I also point to websites that aggregate youth program information on this page.  The map below shows one of the organizations on that list. It's the MyChi.MyFuture. Programs map which shows youth serving programs in Chicago.  

If these two pages don't provide enough information on out-of-school-time programs, you can also look at individual programs that I show on this page, and this page. 

And, if you visit this section you'll find dozens of research articles.

From 1994 to 2015 I hosted May and November leadership and networking conferences to try to get representatives of these organizations to connect, network, share ideas and find ways they could work together to overcome obstacles.  I used the website to share links to all of these organizations, even if they did not attend the conferences. I also included them on printed newsletters sent from 1994 to 2003 and email newsletters sent monthly since then.  You can see the conference goals on this page. 

These are still my goals.

As we enter a new school year, and the final months of 2025, programs serving youth in the non-school  hours, or focused on youth in high poverty areas, or with special needs, are struggling to find consistent resources. That struggle is magnified by how much attention traditional and social media are focusing on the actions of the current US government, and many states.

More than ever we need to aggregate information, and find ways to draw people to it, help them understand it, then help them apply it in many different places where kids and families need extra help.

In several past articles I've talked about "mapping participation" to learn "who's there" and "who's missing".  I saw a post on LinkedIn today from KUMU that showed how their platform can be used to do network analysis.

Note how when you click on each node you get information about that person, or what network he/she is part of.  Similar maps could show all the information in my library, or in libraries hosted by other people.

It would be great if someone were able to create a tool that would look at different sections of my library and created network maps showing who is visiting.  It would be even better if we had places where a large portion of the ecosystem (including media, funders, policy makers, families, youth, business, etc.) were engaged on on-going learning and planning that leads to more and better youth serving programs in all the places where they are most needed.

Until that happens I'll keep trying to keep the links in the library updated and will continue to point to this resources in my blog articles and my own social media posts.

If you've found any of this useful, let me know.  You can find links to my social media platforms on this page.

If you'd like to contribute to help pay the bills, visit this page. 

What issues unite us?

The political and cultural issues of the United States are creating growing political divides, and growing "hate" and "distrust" of others. Political violence is creeping in.  I'm seeing more and more signs that we're losing our traditional democracy and gaining a narrow focused dictatorship.

I've used this blog since 2005 and my print and email newsletters since 1993 to focus attention on libraries where people can spend time learning about these issues and finding ways to connect with others who are trying to find a better way.

I use concept maps, like the one below to try to guide people to different sections of my library, which has links to more than 2000 external websites, with their own extensive libraries.

And, I've created visual essays, like this one, to show actions anyone can take to draw attention to the issues and causes that they care about.  Borrow what works for you. Teach it to others.

Unleash Your Personal Power to Make Change Happen by Daniel F. Bassill on Scribd

My own focus for the past 50 years has been to help youth who live in areas of concentrated, persistent poverty, get the extra, on-going support they need to move through school and into adult lives, with jobs and careers that enable them to raise their own kids free of poverty.

I use visualizations like the one below to illustrate this goal.

The photo at the upper left is from the mid 1990s and the photo at the lower right is when one of those young women came back in 2010 to speak at our year-end graduation.  We're all now connected on Facebook and I'm seeing stories of their own kids finishing high school and college.

The graphic shown below emphasizes the need for long-term programs in high poverty areas of Chicago. If donors recognized this value, and the long-term support needed, my hope is that they would fund on-going general operations of programs who build such support for kids into their core strategies.  A map should show such programs reaching k-12 kids in every high poverty area, not just a few places.

In the lower left corner of this graphic is a  map of the Chicago area, with areas of persistent poverty highlighted.  Since 2005 I've posted more than 280 articles using maps to focus attention on specific areas of Chicago.  I highlight a few in this collection.

In this article I included this map of the United States, showing cities with high concentrations of poverty.  

The dark areas are metros. The orange area within each metro indicates an area of concentrated poverty.  Each of these cities should have a research intermediary that borrows strategies piloted since 1993 by the Tutor/Mentor Connection, who collects and reports information that everyone else in that city can use to supply the resources needed to reach a higher percent of kids in high poverty areas with well-organized, mentor-rich, non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs.

In another article I show a dashboard created by the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) that shows areas of the United States where economic prosperity is more prevalent, and where distressed communities are located.  Below is one view of that dashboard.

Here is a second view, this time centering on the Chicago region, where I've worked for the past 30 years to help volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs grow.

This map shows that there are many places in the Chicago region and Northwest Indiana that have distressed communities. So do other cities surrounding Lake Michigan, such as Milwaukee and Kenosha, Wisconsin, Waukegan, Illinois, Benton Harbor and cities further East.

If you zoom out, you'll find places all over the country with areas of persistent poverty and/or where economic opportunity is low.

This means people from every one of these cities and states should be talking to each other.  Where is that happening?

So, what's your cause?  Saving democracy? The planet? People in distressed situations?  If someone is building a library like mine, it can be a resource used by anyone, anywhere, to find information about complex issues and ideas for trying to solve those problems.  The blue box in the graphic below illustrates the role of such libraries. 

As I wrote above, the Tutor/Mentor library has more than 2000 links to external websites. Many of those have extensive libraries on their own site.  Each resource I point to represents one, or dozens, of people who work with that organization.  Imagine finding web platforms where people from all of these organizations were connecting regularly to share ideas, build networks and relationship, and create blueprints that show what's needed, and in what sequence, to solve the problem they focus on.

This concept map is an example of a blueprint that could be used in every metro shown on the map above.  In every high poverty zip code all of the supports shown on this map, for each age group, need to be available.  Building the blueprint and getting support for it are two huge challenges.

I wonder if anyone has created a concept map like this showing steps that would reduce the growing conflicts dividing this country.  I'd love to see it.

Thanks for reading.  I'm sure there are hundreds, if not thousands, of organizations building libraries and trying to draw viewers to their sites and events.  When I learn about these, I add them to my own library.

For instance, I added the SocialRoots website today. Check it out. 

I encourage them to dig into my blog articles and library and then include these in their own libraries. 

Then, reach out and connect with me on one or more of the social media platforms that I share on this page. 

If you value what I'm sharing and can help, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund my work. 

Dig deeper into the ideas shared on this blog

Below is a graphic that compares the process of helping youth from birth-to-work to building a huge building. Both take a long time and a lot of money.

Below is another graphic that visualizes the thinking involved in building and sustaining youth-serving programs that are needed in every high poverty area for many years.

After the 2024 US election, I posted an article showing the many challenges that face the United States. Unfortunately, it seems that the current President and his followers are making some of these issues worse, not better.    View the map here.

I think many of the topics on my map are issues that need to be addressed, if not by the Federal government, then by state and local governments.  

These are complex problems. If you look at the two graphics I started this article with, you might understand why I call on leaders to create visual blueprints that show the depth of each problem, and to connect people who are trying to solve each problem in different places with each other and with resource providers.  

Engineers and construction workers use blueprints because they show ALL of the work that needs to be done, in the sequence it should happen.

They also draw from a huge body of knowledge and experience, that many learn over 4 to 8 years of formal post high school college or vocational training and many years of continuing learning. 

Each symbol on a blueprint represents a specific skill and/or action and a library of knowledge that is hosted in a variety of places.  Such libraries need to be available for each of the topics shown on my concept map.  Without applying this thinking to solving complex problems, progress is slow, if at all.  A lot of money gets spent, but without lasting impact, and without reaching many (most) of the places where help is needed.

I've been writing about this for a long time. Before I started this blog in 2005 I was sharing these ideas in print and e-mail newsletters and in visual essays posted at www.tutormentorexchange.net

I've posted some paragraphs from past blog articles that I hope someone in every city and state will will take time to read.  These are ideas I've been sharing since the 1990s.  Too few have ever seen them. Too few have adopted them. 

You can click the image to enlarge and read the graphic. Then I hope you'll use the link provided at go to the article. Read it. Think about it. Share it.

open link

open link

open link

open link

open link

I've only highlighted five articles.  I've written more than 2300 since 2005. Many have the same ideas and the same focus.  

In many of my articles I emphasize a use of maps to show where people need help, and to assure an even distribution of resources to EVERY area where help is needed, not just to the most visible or the most well connected.   Here's one example. 

open link

While I've addressed this article to the people who are in power in Washington, DC, these ideas are for leaders in every city and state, both in the private and the public sector.  

Building interconnected web libraries that make "all that is known" available and easier to understand and apply, then an on-going public education campaign that teaches people to visit this information and use it to innovate solutions to complex problems, is a path forward. 

The big challenge is that too few have the resources, or motivation, to build such libraries and keep them updated for 20-30 years like I have.  This is an ideal project for universities to be doing, using a constant flow of student talent to collect and share the resources, then to use them during their alumni years.  

In 2009 a Northwestern University Public Service Fellow, who spent a year working at my organization, created this concept map, showing all of the different parts of NU that could help a tutor/mentor program grow.  You can see it and read his article at this link.

Unfortunately, after one year the writer moved on to other things, and no one at NU took ownership of his ideas.  If an updated map exists, I'm not aware of it.  

Most universities may be doing some of this work already. But most don't connect to libraries in other places, and other universities, in an interconnected web of knowledge.  That's what I feel should be happening. 

Maybe it is.  If you know of examples where this is being done, please share the link in the comment section. 

Thanks for reading, and sharing my article.  Please reach out and connect with me on social media platforms, like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon, BlueSky, Instagram, etc.  Find links on this page.

Finally, please consider a contribution to help me continue this work. Visit this page.

See new links added to Tutor/Mentor library

Below is a view of the home page of the www.tutormentorexchange.net website.

I started a "new links added" page in 2022 to make it easier for people to find new links that I was regularly adding to the resource library on the website.  Since then I've added a new links page for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

If you view this today, 8-7-2025, you'll see these as the most recent additions:

8-7-2025 - HISTORY OF THE WEB - INNOVATIVE DESIGNS OF 1995
https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-innovative-designs-of-1995/
This article looks back to 1995 and the beginning of the www internet.  
Find in this section

8-7-2025 - WHAT HAPPENED? TWITTER,COVID, REMOTE WORK, & LOSS
https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/iHtGUPNYnZx06
This article is a reflection about how changes at Twitter, and caused by Covid, affected to learning communities and relationships of one person, and how he is now rebuilding.  It shows roles anyone can take to build a network of peers and friends. 
Find in this section

8-6-2025 - UNDERSTANDING THE MAGA MOVEMENT - JAMES GREENBERG ARTICLES
https://jamesbgreenberg.substack.com/p/the-authority-rebellion
This link points to a James Greenberg article on Substack, titled "The Authority Rebellion".  It's one of a series of articles worth reading to understand how the USA got to where we are in 2025 and ways to try to undo the harm and create a brighter future. 
Find in this section

8-5-2025 - ELECTECH - A LOT OF STUFF AND NONSENSE - IMAGINE CREATING SITE LIKE THIS WITH YOUR STUDENTS
https://eclectech.co.uk/
Take a tour through the electech website, which is an archive of "things" created over the past 20 years by the author. Open the sections of "silly images, animated GIFs, photos, animation & video and playthings".  As you do, imagine helping students create similar similar things, and host them on their own website, or a shared site.  Lots of inspiration, and enjoyment, on this site.
Find in this section

7-31-2025 - IN THESE TIMES
https://inthesetimes.com/
From the website: "In These Times is an independent, nonprofit magazine dedicated to advancing democracy and economic justice, informing movements for a more humane world, and providing an accessible forum for debate about the policies that shape our future."
Find in this section

7-30-2025 - PARTNERSHIP FOR STUDENT SUCCESS AT JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
https://www.partnershipstudentsuccess.org 
From the website: "Based at the Johns Hopkins University Everyone Graduates Center, The Partnership for Student Success supports a nationwide effort in local and state communities across the country to bring evidence-based and people-powered support to all students. We bring together experts and practitioners in education, national service, and youth development to support locally-driven implementation of tutoring, mentoring, student success coaching, postsecondary transition coaching, wraparound/integrated student supports, and other evidence-based practices that support children and youth."   Visit the RESOURCES page and find an extensive library.
Find in this section

These are just a few of the links added thus far in 2025.  See the list at this link. 

Beneath each description is a "Find in this section" line, with a link to the page where that link, and many like it, can be found.

If you did a Google search for this information, you might be able to build as comprehensive a list as I have, but it would take you a lot of time.  I'm not sure asking AI to create a list for you will be any more effective.  

But, that's why I created this library over 25 years ago.  It saves you time and expands your options. 

Prior to 2020, I hosted the library on the www.tutormentorconnection.org website, which was built for me by a team at IUPUI in 2006.  That site was much more interactive than the current site. 
 

Unfortunately, the site began to attract too much spam and had to be shut down. That's why I moved all the listings to the www.tutormentorexchange.net site.   As the video shows, the former site had some robust search features to help people find specific information.  

The current site also has a search feature, but it only takes you to the page where the link is part of a list, organized in alphabetical order.  If the name starts with a "w" you'd need to scroll to the bottom of the list to find it.

It's not ideal. But it works.

For the past few years I've ended my blog articles by encouraging others to adopt the work I've been doing.  Imagine a university, funded with an endowment from someone like MacKenzie Scott, hosting an on-campus Tutor/Mentor Connection, where students, faculty and alumni were doing everything I've been doing, hosting the web library, and drawing attention to it, and building support for youth-serving programs in their community.  

Everything that's now an archive could be rebuilt, making it better than before, reaching more people, and doing more to help people living in areas of persistent poverty.

If  you share my articles with people in your network, and they share it in their network, the message might reach receptive ears.  Give it a try.

In the meantime, share your own ideas and networks with me on social media. And, visit this page and send a contribution so I can continue to keep the current site and library available to you and the world.

Thank you.

Connecting people and ideas

In many of my blog articles I show a 50 year strategy of "connecting people and ideas".   I posted this article on the MappingforJustice blog this week to illustrate how I do this by adding links to my library.

Here's another example.  I saw this post from the Prison Policy Initiative today on Twitter (yes, I still visit the site). 

I've followed them for more than three years and added them to the Tutor/Mentor library in July 2022. When I did that I put them on a list of "new links added" that I had just begun.

Under the listing I included a "posted in this section" link, which pointed to the page in the library where I host that link, and many others with related information.  

I've also added it to the list of resources that I share in my monthly e-mail newsletter, as you can see below and in my most recent issue.   

And, I boost their posts when I see them on social media, hopefully drawing the attention of others to their work.

Why do I do this?  The two concept maps below show why.

The first shows my goal of helping kids and volunteers connect in multi-year tutor, mentor and learning programs that help them through school and into adult lives. It also shows that kids in areas of persistent poverty face many challenges that they and their families cannot solve by themselves. View the map at this link. 

The second shows the many different supports kids need at each grade level as they move from first grade to their first job and a career.  All kids need these supports. However, kids in areas of concentrated poverty have fewer than other kids.  That needs to change.  Click here to view.

In the lower left corner of this map is a statement saying, "Volunteers who get involved as tutors/mentors learn about these issues, and help provide these other resources.   In high poverty areas of big cities, structured programs are needed to connect youth with volunteers."

Unless volunteer-based programs have an on-going strategy that exposes their volunteers to this information, too few will take the extra steps that I describe in this concept map.  My newsletters, website and social media posts are aimed at program leaders, board members, donors and educators who can help instill habits of "learning" among volunteers, not just students.

One way to know if they do that would be to look for a "resources" page on the youth program's website, to see if it points to libraries like mine, or if they have other strategies for educating their volunteers.

Below is a graphic that shows the role I've taken, of connecting "people who can help" with information, and with places "where help is needed".

The issues we're dealing with today have been with us for many years. Why? Because too few people who don't live in poverty care enough to devote time, talent, dollars and votes to build and sustain the programs and policies needed to help those who do live in poverty.  And that means more than just building volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.  There are a wide range of issues that need to be addressed. None are short-term solutions.

The Prison Policy Institute does a great job of calling attention to one part of the problem, which is the massive incarceration rates of people in the USA.  Another is the Incarceration Reform Resource Center, which I also list in my newsletter.  Unless more people see the information they are sharing and hosting on their websites, too few will understand the problem and be motivated to do anything about it.

What's your role? Be the YOU in this graphic. 

Share my posts. Share my newsletter. Share information in the Tutor/Mentor library.  Start a learning circle in your family, business, social circle, faith group, college, etc. where you use the information I and others are sharing to become more informed and more active in finding, and funding, solutions.

As I write this, I'm not forgetting the huge challenge facing our freedom and democracy. Many of the policies being rolled out by the Administration hurt poor people, and people of color, more than others. They hurt all of us and are making the world an even less safe place.  I started this section of the library during Trump's first term to help you find resources to improve our government.  The links I include should also be part of your reading and learning circles.

Connect with me on LinkedIn, BlueSky, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Mastodon. (see links here)

And, if you value what I'm sharing, and the library I host, please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the work.

Thank you.