"If it is to be, it is up to you and me"

This is me for the past 30 years.  I'm pushing a huge boulder up the side of a mountain, without much help.

Yet, I've been motivated by a phrase given to me in 1994 by former WGN TV's Merri Dee, who said, "If it is to be, it is up to you and me."  Here's a 2011 article where I combine her message with a quote from Steve Jobs, saying "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

What's my inner voice been telling me?  Why is this so difficult?

I want people to spend time learning about issues and potential solutions from libraries like I've been building for the past 50 years. 

I started building the Tutor/Mentor information library in the 1970s long before I knew of the Internet. I had majored in history in college in the 1960s then spent three years in US Army Intelligence.  I was sort of "hard wired" to seek out 'best available information' to use it for innovation and problem solving.

When I became a volunteer tutor in 1973 I started seeking ideas to support my weekly tutoring.  When I became the leader of that program in 1975 I expanded my search for ideas, reaching out to leaders of other programs in Chicago to see what I could learn from them (and what they could learn from me).

I held a full-time retail advertising job at the Montgomery Ward corporation with responsibilities that grew from 1973 to 1990.  When I started leading the tutoring program there were 100 pairs of elementary school kids and workplace volunteers. That number grew to 300 pairs by 1990.  There was no way I could personally train each of them to know all they needed to know, so I began to try to motivate them to be "active learners", digging into the library of information I had started collecting. 

I tried to create a culture of learning, engaging youth, volunteers, staff, board members and donors  

The library at the Montgomery Ward program started as four metal file cabinets, filled with learning materials and games for our elementary school students, then from 1980 to 1992 expanded to a 40-foot wall of shelves. 

When we moved to the 20th floor of the Montgomery Ward HQ tower in 1993 we had about 400 sq ft of space, just devoted to our library. It was open to our own volunteers and students, and to leaders of other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. 

That physical library now is down to a few books on shelves in my home office. The library is now all on-line, which has been happening since 1998, while the space (and funds) available to operate began to shrink.  There's some sadness there, but to me, this is a blessing. The information is available to far more people now than it ever was in the 1990s.

Home Page T/MC website - 1998

We started moving all this on-line in 1998 when one of the volunteers at the tutor/mentor program I was leading offered to build a website for us. We developed the graphic at the right for this first website to show our goal of connecting people from different backgrounds to the information, to each other, and to the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The page design was used help people navigate the information on the site. You could click on any of the blue circles and go to a section where we hosted lists of information/links to other people's websites.

From 1993 to 2000 I used printed newsletters to tell people about some of this information and encouraged them to visit the library at our Wards location.  Many of the tutor/mentor programs launched in the mid 1990s borrowed ideas from that library.  I hosted conferences every six months in Chicago and these became a place to gather new information and to help people understand the information and ideas within the library.  

I've used email newsletters, on-line forums, websites and social media since the early 2000s to point people to the web library.  It's now at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net

In many of my articles I've shown media stories from the 1990s that show the same problems facing Chicago 20 years ago are the same as we are facing now. My comments focus on the lack of consistent, long-term, strategy that engages people from throughout the region in solutions.

At the same time, I've used graphics like this to illustrate the constant learning and innovation needed to bring comprehensive learning supports to youth in all high poverty neighborhoods of urban areas like Chicago, and keep them in place for  many years.

In articles focused on learning, I point to the massive amount of information available, but the lack of time and motivation limiting most people from digging deeply into this information.

Others are thinking and writing of the same problems. I encourage you to visit Harold Jarche's blog and learn about Personal Knowledge Mastery. I've been following his ideas for more than 20 years.   I was also pleased to see an article on Twitter several years ago, titled "Personal Learning Networks: Learning in a Connected World".  I read it, and added it to this section of my web library, so others could find it and read it, too.  The article emphasizes the importance of building your own PLN (personal learning network), saying,

"Social learning and collaboration is a mindset, an attitude and not just a set of tools."

As the Internet library grew, the habits of personal learning did not grow nearly as fast as I hoped. Adults who have grown up without the internet, and without learning habits of Personal and Social Learning, are slow and resistant to spending time in on-line learning.

 
I created the graphic below in 2006 or 2007 to visualize the goal I hoped leaders at the tutor/mentor program I was leading would adopt and that donors would support. You can find it here.

I think this strategy could be supported in many formats, ranging from public school, to non-school tutoring/mentoring and learning, to home and to work. Some of the links I point to in my web library show that this is already happening in many places.

However, if we want to solve complex problems, I feel we need to teach learners to dig into web libraries, like the one I've been building, so that we're all looking at the same maps, and same range of information. If such libraries are supported by cMOOCs and other formats that encourage people to connect and share ideas with each other, I feel they can accelerate the relationship-building among people who already are concerned about the same issues...because they made the effort to enter the MOOC or the library in the first place.

We're now in the first week of the second term in the White House of a person who should be in jail, not moving the country into a dangerous future.  Yet, he was re-elected because millions of people did not spend time learning about the problems the USA and the world faces, and the dangers of political demagogues and self-enriching leaders. 

One of the sections of the Tutor/Mentor library is visualized with this concept map. 

Each node opens to a library of links and/or additional concept maps. The links point to hundreds of websites with information that people can be learning from. Many websites I point to are libraries themselves. It's a worldwide web of knowledge.

Only if it is used.  

And, only if it stays freely available to the world. The rise in censorship makes it possible that my entire library, along with those of many others, could be taken off line.   

While I've been collecting and sharing these ideas for more than 45 years, this work is far too large for any single person. The problems we face are complex, and will take decades of consistent effort to be reduced. Thus, while I seek partners, volunteers and donors to help me maintain my own web platform, I also seek philanthropists who might bring the Tutor/Mentor Institute into one or more universities, where more people can do the work I've been doing, in many more ways.

New platforms, secure from censorship, need to emerge.   If you find one, can you add a copy of my blogs,  my library and archives to it?

Learn more in these visual essays:
- Tutor/Mentor Learning Network - click here
- Form a Tutor/Mentor Connection Team on College Campuses - click here
- Role of Leaders - click here

If you're interested in these ideas connect with me on BlueSky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook and make me part of your own PLN. I keep reaching out through the same network to find others who I can learn from.

How would you visualize this problem solving cycle?

I started my tutor/mentor learning journey in 1973 when I began meeting each Tuesday evening after work with a 4th grade boy who lived in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago.  Each week I asked "What will we do tonight?"

That was a simple problem that just took a little research for me to find activity ideas.

Then in 1975 I became the volunteer leader of that Tutor/Mentor program, which grew from 100 pairs of elementary school children and workplace volunteers in 1975 to 440 kids and 550 volunteers by June 1992.  That required a much higher level of creativity and problem solving.

Then, in 1993 as we formed a new program to help 7th graders through high school, I formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) to  help similar programs reach K-12 kids in every high poverty area of Chicago. This was the result of networking with Chicago program leaders since 1975 to find and share ideas for leading the one program I was responsible for.   

That local-global strategy is visualized below and has required a much broader level of thinking than just being a mentor, or leading a single program.

If you read my past blog articles, and newsletters in my archives, you'll see a constant learning and brainstorming process, centered on "How can I do this better?"

I've created a variety of concept maps and visualizations over the past 20 years to illustrate how the on-going cycle of solving a problem leads to more and more complexity as many related problems are discovered.

I'm showing some below:

While my goal in 1973 was to provide some extra tutoring support to the boy I was working with, I was not thinking of what it would take for him to move from 4th grade, through high school, then college, and a career. (By the way, we're still connected. He has two boys who have graduated from college!).

That thinking grew over the 1973 to 1993 period and was visualized in the 1990s with the "Mentoring Kids to Careers" graphic shown below.  However, my constant learning, has led me to understand that there are many barriers that kids and families living in areas of high poverty face, especially if they are people-of-color, or have ancestors who were slaves for many generations.

The right side of this visual shows some of these problems. I created this using cMapTools.  However, below I point to some systems thinking articles from this blog, which show other tools and a collaborative process of creating visualizations like mine.  

Open map at this link  View in this article

If we want to help kids move from school to careers is the title of this concept map. It shows a progression of thinking, which begins when an event calls attention to a problem that needs to be solved.   I show the "logic model" that guides my work and how trying to help one youth, or one program, leads to other problems that need to be solved.

This graphic includes the concept map shown above, and illustrates how thinking about a single program, and a city full of great programs, leads to thinking about many other problems facing Chicago and the world. (click to enlarge)

I majored in History in college, then served for three years in the US Army, learning to use maps and best available information to support decisions.  I've applied that thinking, and GIS maps, since 1993. 

This concept map shows a planning process, focused on filling geographic areas with needed, on-going support, that should be in place in every part of the country.  Links on the concept maps go to articles that explain the various elements shown on the map. 

What are all the things
that we need to do?

For the past 30 years I've spent time almost every day calling attention to the challenges kids living in high poverty face and the roles that organized volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs can play in helping them overcome those challenges as they move through school and into adult lives.

I point to a list of Chicago programs where people can volunteer time, talent and dollars and to a web library where anyone can learn more about the issues and ways to get involved.

Chicago Sun Times 1996

I have done this while there has been a constant flow of stories like the one at the left, showing the agony of violence in Chicago, and asking "When will this end?"  The story at the right was from the 1990s, so we still have not found an answer to that question.

I don't believe any single, short-term, action of a tutor/mentor program can make street violence stop, or make poverty suddenly disappear.  However, I do believe that the continuous on-going support of volunteers and staff in well organized programs can help kids who are part of those programs move more safely through school and into lives beyond the immediate grasps of violence that primarily affects high poverty neighborhoods.

They can also create a much larger network of adults willing to give time, talent, dollars and votes to building needed systems in every city and state.  

That's why many leaders need to be duplicating what I've been doing. 

Thanks for reading this article. I know it's a lot to think about, and the links take you deeper and deeper into my library.  Because of the time involved I keep searching for universities who will add my library and archives into an on-going learning program, that reaches below the university level, to K-12 schools, then extends beyond college, to life-long learning.

If that were happening some day you'd find web pages on university websites that share versions of my graphics, maps and concept maps, updated and improved, by student learners.   

There are literally hundreds of other articles you could read to expand your thinking on this topic.  However,  you'll want to read articles like these that show other tools for visualizing complex problems. Or like this, that focus on habits of deeper learning. 

Take this role.  Be the YOU in this graphic. Read this article about "Poverty in America" and view the learning steps that I've shared since the late 2000s.

Read and share. Do it over, and over. Create your own interpretations. Share them in your own blog or videos.

7-10-2026  update - This article titled "Symptoms to Systems" describes the challenges we face in solving some of the problems I've described in this blog post. 

If you find sites where people are doing a good job of visualizing the problems we face along with solution paths, please share the links in the comment section or on LinkedIn, BlueSky, or other social media platforms where you can find me @tutormentorteam.  Visit this page to find links.

I've been ending my articles with a request for financial support of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. Click here if you'd like to help.

What if students in every city did this?

Today as I strolled through my social media platforms I came across a graphic created by Kevin Hodgson, from the #clmooc group.  You can see it in this blog article. 

I did my own remix, adding a New Year's wish. See it below.

The text in Kevin's graphic reads "We need to think differently about our culture. This is not simply augmenting our experience with technology. Claim  your space. Review. Remix. Make Meaning. Make Art. Damnit!"

I added a photo of me at my computer, with a map story on the screen. Then a photo of two of our interns from South Korea, looking at my articles and creating their own remix, their own interpretations.

The https://michaelcnt.blogspot.com/ blog was created in 2006 by an intern from Hong Kong and I've used it since then to share the work interns were doing. 

My message was "What if... this (the student sitting at the desk in Kevin's graphic) were students sharing ideas from http://tutormentor.blogspot.com?)

That has been a message I've shared over and over for the past 16+ years. Youth from every part of the world could be writing articles similar to what I've been writing, focused on using information libraries to "review" and "reflect" and focus on strategies that would make life better for people living in areas of concentrated poverty.

At every high school, college, faith institution and even non-school program in the USA (and the world) there could be a blog sharing student work generated over many years, attempting to build greater and more consistent attention and involvement in solving deeply entrenched, complex problems.  

In a few weeks I'm going to be writing an article showing my efforts since 1993 to build strategic alliances with local and global universities, which would lead to students doing the research and writing that I dream of.  

Below is a 2010 example of what I hope for.

This is one of five blogs created by students from DePaul University, who were part of an Explore Chicago class that studied different neighborhoods to determine the need for, and the availability of, tutor/mentor programs in different parts of the city.  This article has links to the 2010 blogs. This 2009 article describes the launch of the partnership with Tutor/Mentor Connection.

It was a great start, but did not last beyond 2010 and did not extend into other parts of the student learning curriculum at DePaul.   Yet, it is an example of what's possible.

I recognize that helping kids in high poverty areas is one huge issue that needs more consistent involvement, but that there are many other complex problems that need to be addressed.  Below is a concept map showing multiple issues.

Imagine having a concept map like this on a college website, where each node opened to a page where student blogs, videos, podcasts, etc. were aggregated over many years, focusing on a specific issue.  Such a strategy could appeal to a wide sector of the student body and could engage alumni as well.

Maybe someone is already doing this.  In fact, I know that many colleges and universities have student research and reflection programs, which annually produce reflections on problems and proposed solutions.  However, I don't have links to any who are aggregating these projects, by category, over multiple years, creating a knowledge base that alumni and others can use to actually solve the problems students are identifying.

Share your links in the comment section if you know of anyone doing this. 

Thank you for reading.  Please connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter (x), Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, Threads.  Find my links on this page.

Thank you to those who supported the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC with a gift to my 77th birthday campaign. 

If you want to help me continue this work in 2024 consider a gift to the FundT/MI campaign.

Information-based problem solving

I've used concept maps since 2005 to visualize ideas and resources that I've been aggregating and sharing since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago in 1993 (and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011). 

Open the one below and look at all the challenges facing kids and families in high poverty areas.  Most of these affect all of us, but more affluent people have greater resources to cope with these challenges. 

When I first became a volunteer tutor/mentor in 1973 I knew little about what I was supposed to do. However, I began to look for ideas that inspired my weekly connections with a 4th grade boy named Leo.  In 1975, when I became the volunteer leader of the tutor/mentor program hosted at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago, I expanded this process of learning, to find other tutor/mentor programs who I could borrow ideas from.

When we formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we developed a 4-part strategy, shown on the concept map below.

Step #1 focuses on collecting and sharing information that others can use.  Step #2 focuses on increasing public awareness so more people use the information we collect and Step #3 focuses on helping people find and use the information collected in Step #1.   Step #4 is motivating people to use that information and their own resources to help organized tutor, mentor and learning programs reach more K-12 kids in high poverty areas with on-going support that helps them move through school and into adult lives.

Below are a few concept maps that show how to apply this information in on-going, information-based problem solving.  

At the center of the concept map below is a graphic showing use of information to fight the war on poverty. 

At the far right my graphic focuses on building "great programs in each neighborhood" and the need to "organize and train" volunteers, donors and leaders.   At the far left are graphics that show a need to build "public commitment" and to "influence" resource providers, not just non-profit leaders, youth and volunteers.  At the bottom of these nodes are links to other articles and other maps.  

Below is another concept map that focuses on the on-going planning and action cycle.

Follow this from left to right.  Planning starts with choosing a "place" where a problem (or opportunity) exists that you want to focus on.  Then draw people together and begin to look at information available that builds a deeper understanding of the issue and shows how other people in different places area already trying to address this issue.  The whole idea is to "not reinvent the wheel, or start from scratch" but to learn from others and innovate your own solutions based on what you learn, and what your own experiences are.

As you put together a plan, and try to implement it, build in tools to collect information that shows what works, what does not work, why, and how you might make it work better.  As you end one cycle you are already starting a new one, adding what you have learned from your own efforts and what you are constantly learning from others.

Visualize your goals, what success looks like, and steps to get from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future.  I created the graphic below to emphasize this process. View in this article.

I actually added the STEMM annotation last year to emphasize how this graphic applies to STEMM 2050 goals, and included it in this article.  

While I focus my efforts on helping kids in high poverty areas, the challenges I point to applied to people throughout the world, rich, and poor. 

The 4-part strategy that we piloted since 1993 can be applied in any place, to any issue.

Below is another concept map, which points to a section of my library that ANYONE can use to try to solve complex problems.

The nodes on this concept map point to collaboration, process improvement, knowledge management, innovation, mapping and visualization sub-categories in the Tutor/Mentor library.  These are ideas from around the world, from business, universities, non-profits, and others that give tips on solving problems.  Make it a regular resource.

I started this blog in 2005 and have posted more than 1000 articles since then.  If you're in a university you could create a graduate level curriculum just using this blog and the links I point to.  I've you're a donor like MacKenzie Scott, I wish you'd provide funding to incent one or more universities to take this role.  

It really does not matter what your formal role is. You can bookmark this site and return to it often, just like faith leaders return to their scripture, to build a deeper, and deeper, understanding of these ideas.

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this useful.  And thank you to those who have visited my Fund T/MI page and sent a contribution to help me do this work.

I share links to these posts on many social media platforms and find new ideas that I add to the library.  I hope you'll connect with me and share my posts with your own network.  

29 Years Later - Children's Needs Still Not Being Met

 Like 20 million others, my wife and I watched the first Jan. 6th Congressional Hearing last week, and I watched the second session this morning.  I'm following many conversations on Twitter and many paint a distressing picture of the future, as one group of Americans seems to want to take the country back to the 1950s and impose a minority rule over the rest of America.  

At the same time I'm following the war in Ukraine, and conflict in other parts of the world.  And these are just a few of the challenges facing us daily.  

I created this concept map a few years ago to show challenges facing the US as POTUS46 became president. I've added new challenges, such as Covid19 and Ukraine since then. 

With all of these issues facing us daily, how do I continue my focus on helping kids living in high poverty areas get the extra support needed to help them move more safely from birth-to-work?

I've written about how we keep focus amidst these challenges several times since 2005.  Below are parts of an article written in 2017, with the headline "24 years later - ---" 

----------------------------------

While the US focuses on the tragedy unfolding in Texas and Louisiana, I keep thinking of what will be needed for decades to help people in these areas recover from these disasters.

I also keep adding links to this Climate Crisis article, showing that disasters like what's happening in Texas are unfolding throughout the world.

Since 2005 I've written a few articles following natural disasters. They all have the same pace. Urgent need and huge attention and outpouring of help as the tragedy unfolds.  Few using maps, so many areas where help is needed get little attention. In the years following one tragedy another happens and attention goes to a new crisis. Keeping attention and resources flowing five, 10 and 15 years after the tragedy is almost impossible.

That same flow of attention follows urban violence.

I've been reducing my paper trail and am scanning some of my news stories into my computer. Added this one from 1993, which is a letter to the editor written to the Chicago Tribune by Florence Cox, President of the Chicago Board of Education

I highlighted one section where she says:

"We must begin to realize that the needs of Chicago-area children are not being met, and in neglecting those needs, we neglect our own future as a prosperous and safe city."

Here's another article with some quotes from other stories, showing how difficult it is for this nation to focus on complex problems that require long-term attention and resources to be solved.

When I started the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 one of four strategies was to generate more consistent attention to issues of poverty, violence, inequality, etc. drawing needed support to all of the non-school tutor/mentor programs operating in the Chicago region. I started using maps to show where they were most needed and where existing programs are located.  

I found another set of notes, with quotes I'd written down during speeches given during the 1997 President's Summit for America's Future, held in Philadelphia, PA.  I was there as a delegate from Chicago and the Tutor/Mentor Connection was there as a Teaching Example exhibitor.

In the letter to the editor and in the Summit speeches, leaders are calling on Americans to become involved in solving complex problems.  The problem is, they have not made this call for people's involvement every day since then, and they have not pointed to web libraries and directories showing information people need to learn from, and lists of existing programs who need their help.

That's still a problem.

Every week for the past 40 years I've spent time trying to connect inner city kids with workplace volunteers in organized, non-school tutor/mentor programs that help these kids move through school and into adult lives.

At different times, like right now, keeping attention focused on this has been more than difficult.  The COVID19 virus seems to be never-ending. The impact on poor people, who can least afford it, will be greatest. 

Maybe the current political divide and growing religious extremism is to be feared even more.  These are people who have never given up on the ideas of one race dominating another, of men, controlling women.  Of one religion over all others. Of minority rule.  

Yet, while we struggle through these challenges and disasters, I feel we still need to look long term. Kids living in high poverty area will need the extra support of non-school youth tutor, mentor and learning programs even more in coming months and years.  So let me share to graphics that visualize strategies I feel we need to focus on.

We all want the same outcomes: More youth stay in school, are safe in non-school hours, graduate, and move to jobs and careers.

To get the result we want we need to do the work shown at the bottom of this pyramid.

At the bottom of this pyramid I show that we need to build a knowledge base, then draw people together to use this information in an on-going planning and actions cycle.  This article describes this diagram.  It can be used in an area as small as a few blocks, or as large as an entire country.

This pyramid could be used to outline steps to overcome the COVID19 virus. Or to deny the agenda of far right conservative activists.

At the top would be results we want. At the bottom should be information aggregated from all over the world to help us understand these issues and how to fight them.  A sub section of that library should be a collection of information focused on specific topics. Visit the Tutor/Mentor web library to see how I do this. 

The second graphic I'm sharing focuses on INFLUENCE.

We must influence what resource providers do; not just what non-profit leaders do.

Having led a non profit youth program for 20 years I know that I was expected to operate a great program, get outstanding results and find the money to pay for all the work that needed to be done.  Think for a  moment of a fish bowl, with hundreds of small fish. When you put a little bit of food in the bowl there is a frenzy of every fish trying to get some of the food. Not all succeed.  That's the problem with how our non -profit funding system works.

In this graphic, which you can read about in these articles, I show t hat we need to Influence what resource providers, business partners, media and policy-makers do, not just what non profit programs do, so that there is a consistent flow of resources to every program, in every area where tutor/mentor programs are needed, so they can all become great at what they do to help kids safely through school.

Here's two more graphics to consider:

If you're at an event, how well can you share your ideas?

I created this graphic as a result of attending large gatherings for many years, where there were great speakers, but there was little interaction between the speakers and individuals in the audience, or between the people who sat at different tables. My goal was to encourage event organizers to create on-line activities that paralleled what was happening in the room, and that kept participants engaged and interacting after the event ended.

Hashtags of Twitter chats

I created this concept map to archive Twitter conversations that I've been part of. Many are on-going. A few are archives.

All of these in some way relate to efforts by different groups of people to help build support systems for kids living in high poverty neighborhoods.

You can click the link at the bottom of each node and join the conversation yourself.  Some of these should have much greater involvement than they have had so far. It's up to event organizers to encourage this, as well as the rest of us.

Very few do this well.  Even after two years of COVID19 and countless ZOOM meetings, I find few event organizers trying to create some form of online interaction that continues after the event.   

Yet, there have never been so many opportunities to grow a single event into a year-round community.

Look at the issues map at the top of this article, and my hashtag map.  Who's talking with others around these topics?  Yesterday on Twitter I saw a post that visualized people within a conversation, defined by a hashtag.  I created my own version, showing interaction with @tutormentorteam.

I couldn't resist doing a chirpty
Circle 1@LTHEchat@CanterburyCCUni@hintondm@Judith_ekn@suebecks@Digi_Northants@LJ_Rees@NomadWarMachine pic.twitter.com/kH295uycA0

— Dr Scott Turner (@scottturneruon) June 12, 2022

Mapping conversations is one way to know who is connecting with whom. It's a step toward trying to get more people and talent connected into on-going conversations.  That's the big challenge.  Read some of the articles I've written about this in the past.

Let's turn this negative into an opportunity to learn more ways to bring people together into year-round learning, idea sharing, relationship building and collective action that leads to brighter futures for all kids living in high poverty areas of the US and the world.

I'm on these social media pages. Let's connect.

#RacismandtheEconomy: Focus on the Wealth Divide

On October 20th I tuned into another of the #RacismandtheEconomy webinars hosted by the Federal Reserve banks. Click into the hashtag on Twitter and you can follow some of the conversation and find a link to the full archive and past presentations.

April Youpee-Roll, @RDFoxworth, Phil English, and @Seema_NYC will respond to the policy pitches in a panel moderated by @reemakhrais. Send in your responses to the policy pitches using #RacismandtheEconomy or emailing RacismandtheEconomy@bos.frb.org. https://t.co/RjIKtO0ezK

— Minneapolis Fed (@MinneapolisFed) October 20, 2021

This webinar focused on the Wealth Divide in America and panel members represented the views of Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanic Americans and other minority groups, as I highlighted in the Tweet shown below.  

Today's discussion highlights different issues of the #WealthGap for Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, descendants of African slaves, Asian/Pacific Island immigrants, etc. Historical perspectives need to be understood. #RacismandtheEconomy https://t.co/oHbezUUzRw

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) October 20, 2021

As I listened to the speakers I recognized that they were talking of different histories and lived experiences and their goals and paths to opportunity are often different.  

I scratched some notes as I listened and I'm sharing them below.

I created this to visualize the different histories of People of Color (POC) in America.  If there are major groups missing send me a Tweet and I'll update the graphic. 

I launched the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) in 1993 as an "Information based problem solving strategy."  Our mission statement says "Gather and organize all that is known about successful non-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region."

When collecting "all that is known" the information collected has continued to expand over the past 25 years beyond "what does a volunteer do in a tutor/mentor program" and "what does it take to build and sustain an effective, on-going, mentor-rich program?"

I've created concept maps, like the one shown here, to show categories of information in the library and to point to sub sections with specific types of information.

While my library has a large number of links to information about Black history, racism, poverty and inequality, it does not have as much about Native Americans, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Hispanic Americans and Hawaiian American history or struggles to gain equal status and opportunity in America to the dominant European White culture. 

I'm in the process of migrating the library to a new hosting arrangement but when I do I may create a new concept map using the graphic above and posting links to articles related to each group.  

However, as the information library grows, we need to be thinking of how that information is used to help us better understand the problem, ways some people are trying to solve the problem, and ways to apply promising solutions from some places, to more places. 

 I call that "getting from here to there" and show this graphic in this article.

That's complicated because as the histories of each POC group shows, the problems are different.

This concept map shows a problem solving cycle.  Using aggregated information people can begin to better understand a problem and proposed solutions.

Those solutions need high level policy support, as well as state and local policy support. In other words, bad laws need to be removed, and improved laws need to be passed. Funding needs to be mobilized. As people look at the available information they should be asking "What does government need to do to remove barriers, increase opportunity, and increase the flow of resources to all places where people need extra help."

Solutions also need private sector, philanthropic and individual support. 

This is where maps are needed. Maps can show all the places where help is needed, and indicators of why that help is needed.  They can also show where money needs to flow, and where it is landing.  My concept map points to many data platforms that can help you understand the problem.  

I don't know of too many platforms that are showing organizations distributed throughout a city who all need a constant flow of dollars, volunteers and talent to do their work.  This map is one I host showing volunteer based tutor and/or mentor programs in the Chicago region.  Every time I share this link I'm enabling interested people to browse my list of programs, look at their websites, and decide who to  help, and how much to help.

Maps like mine need to be available in every city and state and point to other sectors working to create hope and opportunity and improve the quality of life for all Americans.

At the end of this week's webinar one of the Federal Reserve Bank Presidents was asked what they are doing to solve these problems. The answer was "we do research and we draw attention to the problems, and our research, with events like these webinars."  

In the Tweet below you can see that I said "That's good. But not enough."

I think the @federalreserve banks can do much more to draw people who can help, to their research, then to local organizations & activists working in different places to reduce #inequality & the #WealthGap. #RacismandtheEconomy series is a good start. pic.twitter.com/7qncbW1BVW

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) October 20, 2021

So what's next.  If you've read this far, thank you.  If you are hosting a web library with information specific to the histories and issues of one or more of the POC groups I've pointed to, please share the link. Let's connect on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram to amplify our stories. 

Follow this blog and you'll see when I publish a concept map with my graphic showing POC groups.

Every year since 2011 I've asked people to support my work by making a gift to support my December 19th birthday. I'll be 75 this year, and would appreciate your help.   Click here. 

In addition, I've maintained an on-going site where people can contribute to the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Building knowledge-based ecosystem

I'm fascinated by their potential for bringing people together in ways that's not possible face-to-face. I've wanted to build this capacity into the Tutor/Mentor Connection for more than 25 years. 

I and six other volunteers created the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 to "gather and organize all that is known about successful non-school tutoring/mentoring programs and apply that knowledge to expand the availability and enhance the effectiveness of these services to children throughout the Chicago region."

It's 2021. I'm still leading that effort, via the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC

1998 Crain's Chicago Business

I'd been leading a tutor/mentor program in Chicago since 1975 when we formed the T/MC. So I already had an extensive database of other programs in Chicago, as well as of foundations, businesses, volunteers and media. We did our research and planning, and developed a 4-part strategy in 1993. Then, we launched our first Chicago tutor/mentor program survey in January 1994 to systematically learn who else was offering non-school tutor and/or mentor services.

As we started reaching out to learn about programs we began sharing what we were learning with other programs, and with resource providers and other stakeholders, via printed newsletters. We began drawing stakeholders together to share and learn from each other via organized conferences in May 1994 and started organizing an annual Aug/Sept Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment Campaign in 1995.  You can view the goals of the conference here. See recruitment campaign history here.

We began sharing our list of Chicago tutor/mentor programs in a printed directory in 1994, but never circulated more than 500 copies a year. As we put our library on line in 1998, we also put our list of programs on line.

In 2004 we were able to launch an on-line portal where people could search for information about Chicago area tutor and mentor programs by zip code, type of program and age group served. In 2008 we launched a map based version of this.

With the maps we could show all the places where programs were needed, as well as what places already had service from existing programs.  Thus, our conversations were focused on a) helping existing programs get a more consistent flow of resources needed to constantly improve, while b) helping new program start where more are needed, borrowing ideas from existing programs, rather than starting from scratch.

The conferences and annual recruiting events we organized helped us generate a flow of print news stories, drawing attention to tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago, not just to our own program (which I led until mid 2011). While we stopped our printed newsletter in 2002 we've been sending email newsletters every month since 2000. With our maps we crated map-stories following negative news, in an effort to draw more attention and resources to neighborhoods where help was needed.

I created this concept map many years ago to visualize how we were building a library of information that anyone can use to a) build and sustain volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in high poverty areas; and b) understand root causes that created a need for tutor/mentor programs and placed challenges that made it more difficult to move safely from birth to work; so (c) more people who first became involved as tutors or mentors would become involved in building solutions that reduced, or removed, these systemic barriers.

Below I'm showing some elements of this concept map.

When I first created this chart I only included information that people could use to build and sustain volunteer-based tutor and mentor programs. (#1) on the graphic.  I updated that with the set of green boxes (#2) showing that the Tutor/Mentor library includes a much wider range of information about poverty, racism, inequality, challenges of funding, ideas for learning, and ideas for collaboration, knowledge management, etc.

Just getting a youth into a tutor/mentor program is often not a powerful enough influence to assure a successful  journey from birth-to-work. In high poverty areas there a many systemic barriers that need to be reduced, or removed.  Getting more people personally involved in the work needed to understand, then remove the barriers, can be one by-product of getting more  people involved as tutors/mentor and leaders in organized youth programs.  My own 40 year journey is an example of that.

The right side of the concept map shows two forms of learning, one formal, and the other informal.  Each are intended to support volunteer involvement that leads to a better understanding of the information in the library and the growth of more and better tutor/mentor programs in places where they are most needed.  

It also results in more people working to create systemic changes where those are needed.

Now look at the line across the top of the concept map.

Building the library is an on-going process, but it's only the first step in our 4-part strategy.  Getting people to look at the information in the library is an advertising and public awareness effort.  

Thus we published our list of programs in a printed directory from 1994-2002, then in an on-line map based directory through 2018. It's now available in an on-line list and a Chicago programs map.  I've used newsletters, blogs, social media, along with conferences and media events to draw attention to the library.

We began to use GIS maps in 1993 to show where tutor/mentor programs were most needed and where existing site-based programs were located.  We also started a "rest-of-the-story" strategy using maps to show where media stories focused on incidents of violence, or locations of poorly-performing schools.  We used these to who what assets (business, university, hospital, etc.) were in the area where the incident took  place, who could help tutor/mentor programs grow. This was part of our effort to draw greater attention to programs throughout the city.

We (#3) then organized May and November conferences to draw programs together to learn from each other and to provide information to help support volunteers and students in every program. This information was part of on-going formal and informal learning.  We organized annual August/September Chicagoland Tutor/Mentor Volunteer Recruitment campaigns to help programs find volunteer talent.  

Finally, we repeated this for 20 consecutive years.  

At the top right of the concept map I show events that we created in August, November and May to draw programs together and draw attention and resources directly to programs.  The May and November conferences were held every six months for 20 years. The Volunteer Recruitment campaign was a multiple-site event every year from 1995 to 2003 and has been an on-line activity, drawing attention to our on-line lists of Chicago area programs continually since 2003.

5-15-2026 update - see an updated description of this concept map in this Substack.com article. 

Ultimately my goal is that people from different sectors and different places are forming study and learning groups which draw from information libraries they find on line. While these groups engage in on-going face-to-face learning, they also engage in on-line conversations, with each other, and with people in other groups, expanding their  understanding of problems and solutions and building relationships with people who who might help...

....all with the goal of filling high poverty areas with needed programs and services that help kids move safely through school and into adult lives, jobs and careers  (see strategy map).

If you've read this far, thank you! I hope you'll visit some of the links and build your own understanding of the strategy I've piloted.  I hope you understand how this supports my own on-going learning and efforts to do "better today than I was able to do yesterday". 

While there are many intermediary  organizations in Chicago and around the country who focus on youth well-being and do some of the things the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC, have piloted, I don't yet see anyone including all of these steps, supported by a library with as much information as is included in the Tutor/Mentor Library.

Nor do I find anyone using concept maps as extensively as I have since 2005 to visualize strategy, process and information available.  

Yesterday the Ryan Family made a $480 million commitment to Northwestern University.  I dream of someone making a $100 million commitment to build a Tutor/Mentor Connection in every major city, supported by student/alumni teams from a local university.

That needs to happen soon so I can pass on all of my archives and enable people to build from what I've started, rather than start from scratch.  

If you'd like to help make such a community a reality, let's connect.