Connecting People, Ideas and K-12 Youth From High Poverty Areas

I've spent the past 51 years connecting youth from high poverty areas of Chicago with volunteers from many different backgrounds, as part of an on-going effort to expand the networks supporting kids as they grow up and as they begin their adult live/careers.

Initially this was through the tutor/mentor program that I led at the Montgomery Ward Headquarters in Chicago from 1975 to 1992.  Then it continued through the Cabrini Connections program that I formed in late 1992 and led through mid 2011.

When we formed the Cabrini Connections program we recognized that one more small program could be life-changing for the teens and volunteers who were served, but would not have much impact on the more than 200,000 school aged youth living in high poverty areas of Chicago.

So we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 and launched it in January 1994. I've led it since then, but through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011.  

The programs I led served youth who lived in the Cabrini-Green area on Chicago's Near North side until the early 2000s when we began to accept kids from other parts of the city.

I've been interested in using maps since the late 1970s when we plotted locations of buildings in the Cabrini-Green area to show where our current students were living. We used this to target recruitment of new students to buildings where current students were living, thinking that this would help convince new students to join.  We did that using sketch paper, since I had not learned about GIS mapping at that time.

I did begin to learn about GIS mapping in late 1992 as we were planning the strategies of the new Tutor/Mentor Connection. And by 1994 we were producing maps on a regular basis, with the help of donated software and computers and volunteer talent.

In 2008 we received a $50,000 gift from an anonymous donor, focused at rebuilding our mapping capacity. Half of that went toward hiring Mike Traken, a GIS specialist, to make our maps.  Above is one that he produced in 2008 showing where our Cabrini Connections students were living.

At the right is one of many maps that Mike created between early 2008 and early 2011.  It shows where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are most needed, based on indicators like high poverty and poorly performing schools. Then it adds overlays showing locations of tutor/mentor programs in our database, and in this example Citi Bank locations in Chicago.  Browse this set of articles on the MappingForJustice blog to see more business maps created by Mike. 

Our goal was to convince businesses, professional groups, faith groups, health care and higher education leaders to use maps to form strategies that would support tutor/mentor programs that were located near their facilities, or where employees lived, or on the routes they take to and from work each day.  

While I've found many examples of business using maps to plan store locations, or to draw customers to stores, I've not found examples of them using maps to guide philanthropy or employee engagement. If you have examples, please share them. 

During the mid 2000s I learned about another type of mapping that could be used to visualize your network, showing who you were connected to and how strongly you were connected.

In 2010 I was able to obtain donated software from Valdis Krebs of Org.net and to recruit students from three Chicago area colleges.  They met with me on the TutorMentorConnection.ning.com site in a group established to focus on network analysis. 

One outcome of that was a set of articles showing participation in 2009 and 2010 Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences that I hosted in Chicago from May 1994 to May 2015.

Unfortunately I was not able to keep these interns with me so their work did not continue.

However, my interest in understanding networks did not change.   In Spring 2012 two interns from South Korea, via IIT in Chicago, took a look at participation in the Ning site since it was formed in 2007.

Each student created a presentation using Gephi software.  View this one here.

The second presentation can be seen here

I keep looking for examples of other people using maps like I'm demonstrating. 

However, the really important use of network maps is to help show how organized tutor/mentor programs are expanding networks for the kids and volunteers in their programs.

In 2010 I posted this graphic in the Ning group and wrote, "One of the goals of our Social Network Analysis is to find a way to show how the networks of kids living in highly segregated, high poverty, inner city neighborhoods changes over many years as a result of being part of a tutor/mentor program like Cabrini Connections. In this web site, Bob Pearlman shows that "who you know" is more important than what you know. He points to a Silicon Valley study by AT Kearney, which shows how kids living in poverty don't have people in their lives modeling college and technology careers, thus they are less likely to pursue those careers.

Thus, if we can create a SNA survey that shows how frequently kids are in contact with people who went to college, hold jobs in Science, Math, Technology, Engineering, health care, law, etc., we can ask our teens to take this at the beginning of each year. Comparison maps from year to year, should show an expanding network created as a result of being part of a tutor/mentor program."

I was not able to do this in the Cabrini Connections program since I left in mid 2011. And while I've shared this idea often, I've not found any youth-serving program doing this type of network analysis.

Last fall a team of students in an information visualization MOOC at Indiana  University created a new analysis of the 1994-2015 Tutor/Mentor Conferences.  The image below is an example of the type of information that can be pulled through the map.  This shows the number of conferences that were attended by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Metro Chicago. 

They also created an open source network mapping tool that anyone can use to create a data collection sheet and upload it into Kumu.io or Gephi.  

You can find links to both of these on this page. 

I no longer lead a tutor/mentor program so I don't have access to students and volunteers to survey them to collect data that could be mapped using this tool.  However, any youth serving program could do this. Perhaps you can even enlist manpower from a local university to do the work for you.  Just point to what past interns have done for me.

The maps showing participation in Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences show that I was connecting to the majority of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and to many in other cities.  My follower lists on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram show that I'm still connected to many of these people and to many others who represent the broad ecosystem of the education/youth development world.

However, that does not mean they are talking to me, or to each other, about the challenges they face and the opportunities they perceive.  It's possible to create a data collection form using the new Network Mapping tool, that people in my network could use to show how they are connecting to me and each other.  The data from that could be converted to spreadsheets and then network analysis maps.  

I wonder how many might respond to an invitation to share that information.

5/4/2026 update - In this blog article you can see the work done by the Spring 2026 IVMOOC team at Indiana University, which builds on what was done by the past two teams. 

7/24/2026 update - I encourage you to read this article titled "How to Turn Any Network Into an Interactive Knowledge Graph To Discover Hidden Insights."  There are many ideas that could be applied to the work of the IVMOOC teams.

These are things I think about every day.  If the ideas resonate with you, please share them in your own network.  Create your own version of my maps and graphics, focused on your own city/state.  Then share them so I can learn from you as you are learning from me.

You can find links to my social media sites on this page.

And, you can find information about helping me pay the bills on this page.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

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.

Planning a conference? Building a network?

Last week I posted an article on Substack.com titled, "Start Planning for Fall 2026 Tutor/Mentor Programs". 

You can view the article here. In it I showed a few slides from a planning calendar that I developed in the late 70s, which helped me grow the tutor/mentor programs I led from 1975 to 2011.  The annual January celebration of mentoring should boost the planning process so that existing programs improve from year-to-year and new programs form where more are needed.  I'd love to find visual essays from other programs that describe their planning cycle.

I started connecting with leaders of other Chicago youth programs in the mid 1970s and that led to the formation of the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993.  One strategy led to the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences which we held in Chicago every six months from May 1994 to May 2015. These were part of the public awareness strategy we launched and an effort to draw leaders and supporters of Chicago area volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs together to share ideas and build relationships. 

A few years ago I created the concept map shown below, as a guide others could use in organizing their own conferences.

At the far right I've added a section focused on collecting data to help event organizers understand who attended, who they connected with, and "who's missing".  This points to the event mapping resource created in late 2025 by a team of IVMOOC students from Indiana University.  

In a previous article I showed the front page of an "Open Source Network Mapping" app created by the team. click here to open

If you open the "learn" tab at the top of the home page  you'll find some really clear information about how to design forms that collect network data effectively and how to turn this into visualizations on Kumu, Gephi or Tableau.  I show a few of the pages below.  Click on an image to enlarge it. 

Getting Started: What This Tool Does

Scroll down on the Getting Started page and you'll see "The Complete Workflow"

Continue scrolling down to descriptions of "External Visualization Software" such as Kumu and Gephi.  

Continue to scroll down and you'll see brief descriptions of "Key Concepts" and "Why Use Network Graphs?"

Next, open the Form Creation Guide tab - click here

Scroll down and you'll see "Every Network Form Needs These 3 Sections"

Next is a section showing "Form Design by Experience Level --  Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced".

Continue to scroll down to "After You Create Your Form". 

Perhaps before you create your form you want to learn more about "Nodes and Edges".  click here and open the page shown below.

The next section shows how to export your data to Kumu or Gephi. click here

The next sections describes some "Real-World Use Cases". click here

Some examples of Kumu Network Visualizations are shown - click here

Another example is the visualization of Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference participants from 1994 to 2015.  I've shared a few examples of this in previous articles, such as this one.

I've also pointed to many other examples of using Kumu and/or NodeXL.  This concept map points to a few of them.  Follow Kumu on LinkedIn and you'll see examples that they post every week.

I hope you'll agree with me that the work done by the IVMOOC team is excellent, and valuable.

Share this article with anyone who is creating events intended to bring people together on an on-going basis, to stimulate learning, reinforce work already being done, and innovate new solutions where they are needed.  Every city in the world should have a group doing what the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been doing since 1993.  This network mapping tool event planning process can become a valuable asset.

Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, BlueSky, Twitter, Instagram and/or Mastodon (see links here) and share how you're using these ideas, and work you're already doing.  

If you'd like to connect on ZOOM or another platform to learn more about this resource or any of the ideas I share on this blog, just reach out to me.  

Finally, if you value what I'm sharing, please visit this page and make a contribution to help Fund the work. 

Solving problems? Know the Network.

Below is a graphic that I shared in my July newsletter, and in my library.

This article is part of an on-line library hosted by an organization called, "The Commons".  Its title is "Power Mapping to Design a Winning Campaign Strategy".  Read it here. 

In its introduction, the article says, "To win a campaign, you need to correctly identify who has the power to fix the problem you want fixed. Then you need to pressure them to make the right decision. Power mapping is a tool to not only identify who holds that power, but, crucially, who holds influence over that person, and, therefore, who to target with your direct actions and campaign activities."

This is a strategy that I've followed, and shared, for more than 45 years.  The graphic below is a page from a visual essay showing the "operating principles" I followed in leading volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago from 1975 to 2011.

This lists nine skills/abilities needed in planning and leadership teams to operate an effective program.  I used this to try to find volunteers to help me lead a program that grew from 100 pairs of youth/students in 1975 to over 400 pairs by June 1992.   Initially I used an Excel spreadsheet to list all my volunteers, their jobs and where they worked, then used this to sort for skills I was looking for. I could choose from three or four names based on where they worked, and how this might impact that company's support for us if the volunteer took on a leadership role.

In the 1990s I started using a FileMaker Pro database to collect information that I used to support my print and email campaigns, and used to invite people to networking conferences that I held in Chicago every six months from May 1994 to May 2015. That grew to about 13,000 people by 2003.  That's when we were forced to stop sending print newsletters due to lack of money.

I continued to use the database to recruit volunteers and donors for Cabrini Connections until I left in 2011. And, I used it to invite people to conferences until the last one in May 2015.  However, it did not translate very well to our email campaigns that began in the early 2000s. I estimate that we lost regular contact with more than half of the people we'd been sending print newsletters to. 

It still has contact information for tutor/mentor programs in Chicago that I host on the Tutor/Mentor website.   I still have it if anyone would like to do an analysis of the range of organizations I was sharing information with.

After forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 I began to attend a number of meetings focused on reducing violence and improving schools.  I often thought to myself, "Who else should be in this conversation?" and "What other information should they be looking at?"   Those two thoughts have driven my thinking about network analysis for over 30 years.

In the 1990s I created the graphic that I show below.  It shows the design of a mentor-rich program, with volunteers coming from many different backgrounds and kids getting involved at one grade level and staying through high school graduation.  Our goal was that those connections would continue after kids graduated.  Today I saw a note on Facebook from one former student to a volunteer, celebrating the volunteer's birthday.  It shows that what we hoped would happen is really happening, at least for some former students and volunteers.

Another version of that is in this second graphic.  This shows how I share information via a website, blogs, social media, e-Mail newsletters and one-on-one conversations that I hope will be passed on to other people. Each spoke of the wheel represents someone who could be sharing information with his/her network.

Both graphics visualize the wide range of people who need to be involved in helping kids in areas of persistent poverty move through school and into jobs and careers.  In this visual essay, titled "Total Quality Mentoring" I use these graphics and show the role of leaders in mobilizing volunteers to support youth serving programs in every high poverty area of Chicago, not just the most visible areas.

Here's a graphic I created in the late 1990s that shows an application of this thinking.

The people in the first ring of your network may not be able to influence change.  However, if they share posts like mine in their networks, a lager circle of people are exposed to these ideas.  Ultimately, this can reach the "super hero" who has the most power and can be a "tipping point" in an organization's growth and ability to have an impact.  

Understanding who is participating.

By tracking attendance at the Tutor/Mentor Conferences I was able to create maps like the one below, showing who attended.  You can see maps from the 1998 and 2008 conferences on this page.  These show a good representation from tutor/mentor programs, but low participation from key people who need to be strategic in supporting these programs, such as business, philanthropy, government, research and media.

In the mid 2000s I began to learn about social network analysis (SNA). One of the leading thinkers was (and still is) Valdis Krebs.  In 2009 I wrote this article, titled "Nudge the Net: - how do we mobilize personal network to solve problems of inner city violence?"  I followed up with this article.  In both, I featured Krebs' work. 

In 2010 Valdis Krebs donated software to the Tutor/Mentor Connection and presented a "how to" workshop to interns who I recruited to do an analysis of conference participation.  Below is a map from a blog article created by one of those interns, showing participation in the November 2008 and May and November 2009 conferences.

Unfortunately these interns were only able to help me for a short period of time and I've not found anyone to continue this work since then.  Thus, I was not able to map more of the conferences and move to the next stage of understanding "Who is missing?" and "How do we get them involved?"

Around this time I created the concept map shown below, showing "talent needed" in any successful organization.  A parallel map shows "networks needed". 

These maps build upon what I was doing in the 1970s and 80s.  In many articles I've suggested that people use these as planning tools for building their own organization, making sure that someone has each of the talents highlighted.  And I've suggested to researchers that instead of just mapping "who participated", use concept maps like mine to show "Who needs to be involved".  Then compare the participation maps to the "aspirational" maps, to learn "Who's missing?"

In 2012 I created a network analysis map showing my Facebook followers. You can see the analysis in this PDF essay.   

I've written about network building and network analysis often since starting this blog in 2005. Here's a 2009 article that uses the concept map shown above.  And here's an article from 2023.

Are you doing this type of analysis? 

How can we apply ideas in the Power Mapping article to better understand who is part of the ecosystem of people and organizations that need to be working collectively toward building and sustaining programs and policies that address all of the challenges shown on the concept map below?

This map shows many of the issues progressives want to address and that the current administration seems to want to make worse for immigrants, people of color, people living in high poverty areas, and people with special needs. 

Using concept maps like I show above, researchers could build a database showing all the different people and organizations who need to be included in on-going learning and problem solving, for many years.  

I'm still connected to the boy I first tutored in 1973. He attended college and has to sons who have graduated from college.  

As you read the above, one thing you may, or may not, be thinking about is, "How does an individual, or an organization, do all of this network building, mapping and analysis?" How do they keep doing it for 20-30 years? Where do they find the money?"

Read some of my articles about having universities adopt my work, with it funded by wealthy donors.   

Become the "YOU" in the graphics shown above and share this article.  Maybe you, or someone you know, will use the Power Mapping ideas to identify one or more people who will move these ideas forward.

Thanks for reading.  Visit this page to see where you can connect with me on social media.

And, visit this page to make a contribution to help me continue to do this work. 

Mapping ideas, information and networks

Last week I found two visualizations that really excited me. They were created using Kumu.io software.

The first was this presentation, showing the 2023 Women's World Cup teams and players, created by Morgan Wills.  I show one of the views below.

Morgan writes, "This visualization allows for an interactive exploration of players in the FIFA 2023 Women's World Cup. Who were the top ranked? Who was in what position on what squad? What is the distribution of ages? Who were the strongest passers, and can we see that according to position? The buttons on the map of players allow you to explore all these things and more for all players in the 2023 World Cup!"

The second presentation, created by Deniz Cem Önduygu, explores the History of Western Philosophy. He wrote in this explanation, "I concluded that there should be a global and systematic way to see all the agreement (similarity, expansion) and disagreement (contrast, refutation) relationships between philosophers and their ideas."

Deniz had been collecting this information for more than 10 years before he discovered Kumu.io as a way to share it. 

Open both presentations and explore the way information is shared.  These are powerful examples of tools like Kumu.io.

For a long time I've been troubled by one thought. How do I connect the people I know, and have interacted with often over the past 30 years, with each other?

I was introduced to social network analysis tools in the late 2000s through the work of Valdis Krebs. He spoke at our Tutor/Mentor conference in 2009 and then donated his Org.net software. In 2010 he did a workshop for three interns who had volunteered to help me. This Ning group was set up to support their work. This blog was one outcome. It shows participation in the 2009-10 Tutor/Mentor Conferences and is an example of what I hoped would be done on an on-going basis. 

In 2011 I did some network analysis work myself, using tools that looked at my LinkedIn and Facebook groups. This presentation shows maps created in that process, like the one above that shows my Facebook network. Connecting people across these clusters with each other has been my goal for a long time.

So I've had a long commitment to network analysis as a way to help people understand who was in my network and help them connect with each other. But I've never had the money to hire anyone to do this work consistently and I've not had the time to learn and do it myself.

That does not mean I've not used concept maps for a long time to visualize information I've been collecting and sharing.  Below is a map of my library.  It's one of many concept maps that I've created using cMapTools that you can view on this page. 

So how do I motivate some visual scientists to spend time converting my concept maps to interactive formats like Kumu, then recording them on YouTube so more people see and use them?

Maybe this is a possibility.

In February 2024 I wrote this article, after watching the annual National Football League "Honors" show.  

As I looked at the many posts about athletes supporting mentoring, and the NFL Honors videos showing athletes supporting many different efforts in their communities, I wondered if anyone had tried to create a web library, and/or concept map, building lists of athletes/celebrities from every sport, focused on specific issues.

I wrote, "Why collect this? To learn from each other and improve work being done.

This should be a no-brainer for sports professionals. Coaches are constantly learning from each other. They have libraries of film that they study to spur innovation and constant improvement."

7-26-2025 update - I started a list of sports philanthropy websites in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC library.  Find it here.  These show that there already is a certain level of aggregation.  They also show the type of websites I'd like to find and add to the list.

In my preparation for writing this article I reviewed many articles that I posted in past years.  I found many great examples of network mapping and use of Kumu, as well as how I had been trying to collect and share information for the past 30 years.  Rather than list all of these in this article, I created the concept map shown below to point to some of those resources.

If you explore this map you'll find many examples of using KUMU to support network building and systems thinking.  You'll also see the influence of others, such as Gene Bellinger, who I met around 2011 in a LinkedIn Systems Thinking group.   If you dig through articles I've posted on this blog since 2005 you'll find many more.

What if someone (s) like Deniz Cem Önduygu or Morgan Wills adopted my library and archives and created visualizations to help people find and use the information they contain?  The History of Western Philosophy project is an example of how information in libraries can be shared.  Other projects, such as the work of Morgan Willis, show how people in networks can be identified. That's the first step in building connections.  Interns from various colleges did this type of work for me between 2005 and 2015, but not as on-going, long-term projects.

9-29-2025 update - Here's an example of using KUMU to map winners of the International Network of Social Network Analysis awards winners.  Imagine seeing a similar map showing causes supported by professional athletes, and/or, winners of professional sports awards over a period of years. 

11-7-2025 update - here's an example of using KUMU to map connections within a university.  https://micelio.uca.edu.sv/home  I'd love to find something like this for every Chicago area university. Chris Warren, our NU Public Service Fellow, created such a map, using CMapTools back in 2009. See it here.

11-17-2025 update - Take a look at the Global Futures Society's Network Map, built using KUMU - https://kumu.io/gfs/gfs-mapping#gfs-map

12-6-2025 update - This Child Care Systems map is another example of using KUMU.  What's unique about this map is that descriptions are built right into the map.  Click here to read the KUMU article on LinkedIn. Explore at this link.

3-13-2026 update - This Kumu article shows how Kumu was used to create visual evidence maps that help reveal patterns across the field of digital health.  click here

What if a major donor put up the money to establish a Tutor/Mentor Connection study program at one or more universities, where students learned to do this type of visualization work and the on-going communication needed to motivate more people to view the information and use it.

That's why I write articles like this.

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll share this in your networks and connect with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter and other platforms (see links here).

And, I invite you to visit this page and help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.