Cross Sector Knowledge Networks - Where are they?

Last Saturday I wrote a this article talking about the knowledge base supporting community wealth building, and that which I've created, supporting the growth of youth from first grade to first job.

This is one of many graphics I've created to illustrate the range of knowledge organizations, networks and communities need to draw from in building a system of non-school programs that is more likely to result in more kids finishing school with a network of people helping them find jobs and enter careers.

In many of my articles I've talked about the "village" that needs to be involved helping youth move from birth to work. When you look at a graphic like this village map, you see many different interest groups. They each look at the problem from a different experience perspective, and while they may focus on the same neighborhood, they may not be connecting with people in the youth development and education sector, or the community wealth-building sector.

The idea I've been trying to communicate is multidimensional and I only have one-dimensional forms of communications. What I mean is



a) if you look at a map of Chicago you'll see many neighborhoods where youth and families need more help because of economic and social issues. Thus, we face a challenge of creating a distribution of resources that reaches every neighborhood on a consistent basis.


b) most problems take a long time to solve. Kids entering first grade today will need 12 years of consistent support if they are expected to graduate from high school and they may need four to six more years of support to go through college and/or vocational school and find their first jobs.

c) there are many types of supports needed by youth and families, which need to be available and age appropriate, when they are needed. For instance, if you believe in volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs then you would want to be able to look at a map showing that such programs are available in every high poverty neighborhood, with programs offering services to elementary, middle school and high school.

Building an infrastructure that would make this range of programs available across the city, and that would assure that each program is constantly learning from each other, is constantly improving, and has the flow of operating and innovation dollars needed to support constant improvement, is a huge task. Providing a library of knowledge that people can draw from to support their actions would be a benefit. Finding a way to connect the different people involved in mentoring kids through school and into jobs, so they learn from each other, support each other, and work collectively to solve problems that single programs can't solve, would be an even greater benefit. This PDF illustrates the range of talent needed and show how business teams could provide some of that talent.

I've written a lot of articles related to this over the past 8 years and you could use these to support your own on-going learning.

However, what I've described, just applies to the network of people who focus on tutoring/mentoring as a strategy to help improve the economic and social well-being of a community.

There are other organizations focused on other issues, like public health, social justice, workforce development, violence prevention, etc. In Chicago we have a well funded community development network, led by organizations such as LISC. These organizations focus on issues related to what tutor/mentor programs focus on, but I don't see an overlap in how the different organizations connect. This dropout conference map illustrates the range of other organizations focusing on the same issues, but in different meeting space and working networks.

I created the graphic below to illustrate the different networks that might be in any neighborhood, and how they each draw from their own knowledge base to support the work of people in their networks.

In my links library I have sub-categories with links pointing to many of these issue areas. I don't need to build a complete library. I need to just point to intermediaries who are hosting their own library and events that bring people in their sector together.

I think there is a need for people who are building these knowledge libraries and who are trying to draw people to the library and help them use the information to connect with each other. We can do this with links, blog articles, social media space, and by participating in conferences and meetings hosted by each other.

If we do this, we can generate greater public awareness, and provide a wider range of information to the people who come to our web sites and events. By posting our information on maps, we create a planning tool that groups sharing the same geography can use to find strategic reasons to connect with each other in the delivery of services, the hosting of service, the recruiting of volunteers and donors, etc.

We can support the growth of stronger community support networks in each neighborhood and in every city.

Do you agree? Are you sharing ideas like this someplace? Can you communicate this better? Let's connect.

Connecting Networks, Reducing Silos

I read a blog article by David Wilcox today, written following his participation in the 2013 the Council on Foundations in Chicago, the World Healthcare Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford. The title was "Changing Business As Usual: 3 Questions for Non-profit & For-profit Innovation Leaders". The overall theme of the article was "how can we come together, connecting for profit, non profit, policy makers, innovators,etc. to share ideas and bring needed social change to more places where help is needed?"

I've written about this often, in articles like this April 2012 Connecting Networks-Opening Silos article.



I've used versions of this graphic in many articles, showing the role of intermediaries who collect and share information, such as the Tutor/Mentor Connection Library and Tutor/Mentor Program Locator database. This article illustrates a four-part strategy based on collecting and sharing information with growing groups of stakeholders.

Collecting this information is one challenge. Getting people to look at it is another. As you can see from this December 1994 Chicago Tribune article, I've focused on building public awareness as one of the core strategies of the Tutor/Mentor Connection since the beginning.



However, I've never had money for advertising. Much of the media attention I was able to generate in the 1990s was due to pro bono support from 1993 to 2001 from Public Communications, INC, a PR firm in Chicago. Without money for advertising and/or professional support, I've used the Internet and social media, including this blog, to try to share ideas with more people. Yet, there are many who do not support this strategy because their promote their own message and self interests more than the collective good.

When we write about "reducing silos", advertising, public awareness and network-building needs to be part of the conversation. With the Internet, and with a few friends who have a little, or a lot, of money, anyone can set up a web site and say the want to promote "a better Chicago" or a better way to help Black Youth, or stop violence in the city. Depending on the resources they can bring to bear, daily and weekly e-mail newsletters can be generated, providing powerful stories about why people should be involved. Media attention can result in feature articles in business publications showing the good work being done.



Yet, if these times in the spotlight only point to one organization, not to the library of information collected by others, there are too few working to overcome the challenges Wilcox writes about in his blog article. Too few are working to reach people in different sectors, with different starting points for their own efforts at social change, and with their own needs for funding, volunteers and public attention.

Just pointing to web sites of others is only a starting point. I've written articles about how we need to stimulate learning and how MOOCs can be organized to connect people from different networks in facilitated, on-going learning and relationship building. The Jan-March 2013 Education, Technology and Media MOOC #ETMOOC was one example.

I created this library of Chicago tutor/mentor programs to help volunteers and donors and media find programs in every part of the city who need to be consistently supported for many years if they are to become "great programs" doing "great work" to help kids through school and into careers. I created this concept map to show many of the organizations who also focus on youth well-being.

I point to these organizations daily because of the links on my web site and the articles I write. A few of them have links pointing back to me. Fewer use their media to point to events like the Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference, where people from different "silos" can connect with each other.



While I have tried to organize quarterly events to draw people together and draw attention to volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs, these events only cover a few time frames each year. If during these time frames your focus is the same as mine, let's try to connect, even if is only through web links and on-line networking. If you organize events at different times, but focused on the same issues, point to the library of information I make available to YOUR audience, and I can talk about your event in my media.

It takes each person going 100% of the way to make a marriage work. I think that's equally true in trying to break down the silos that separate us in our collective efforts.