Will any ML King, Jr. events include maps?

This weekend marks the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The important messages I've taken from this are "Just don't forget." and "There's a lot of work still to do."

I've written on this topic often in the past. Here are some articles I encourage you to revisit. If you look at January articles since 2005, you'll find a few more.

January 20, 2025 article - Notebook LM review of Tutor/Mentor Connection  (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011 - present) 

January 15, 2024 article - What if Dr. King, Jr. Followers Had Applied Spatial Thinking?

January 13, 2023 article - "I Have a Dream, too" 

January 18, 2021 article - Service Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream.

January 20, 2019 article - How I'll Honor ML King Jr. Holiday

January 19, 2013 article - following my participation in a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. event at the University of Chicago.

October 11, 2012 article - General Powell saying "This isn't Charity."

Nov 11, 2011 article - "War on Poverty Continues"

July 4, 2011 article "Freedom is not Free"

Jun2, 2, 2005 article "Jesus or Martin Luther King, Jr. As CEO: Think about it."

Imagine if Dr. King, Jr. had had a projection screen at his events, on which he produced a map showing the high poverty areas of the US, with overlays showing racial demographics. What if he said, "This map shows all the places where people live in poverty, have less access to education and jobs, and have less chance for their children and grandchildren to share in the American Dream."

Then, imagine that he said "I'm going to check this map every 10 years from now for the next 50 years so I see a growth in learning opportunities, social justices programs, increased jobs opportunities, growing personal engagement from people who don't live in these areas, lending a hand to those who do."

With that he could have said, "Sharing this stage in 50 years will be young men and women of all colors who started life in one of these high poverty areas, but who now not only are well placed in jobs and careers, but are examples of leadership that is still working to fill this entire map with resources, talent, programs and opportunities that help future generations speed along this path to the American Dream."

He did not have those tools and I don't know if he ever thought this way. However, in 50 years we could see evidence of work done by many to create such a future.

After the prayer meetings, service projects, and other things you'll do today, dedicate some time to reading my posts and sharing them with others.  If you know of people using GIS maps, or Concept Maps, in their blog posts and/or events today, please share the links.

Honoring Dr. ML King, Jr

Last week my CLMOOC friend Terry Elliott introduced me to Google Notebook LM, its artificial intelligence tool to help people communicate ideas.  I've tinkered with it over the weekend and today asked it to look at two articles I wrote in past years to honor the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Holiday.  I'll post the links to those at the bottom of this page.

Below is the text that I received. The [1, 2] in the text refers to the two articles I provided.

Bridging Divides: A Framework for Youth Development
To honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the author of the blog posts will be working at his computer to connect people with information and ideas to bridge divides and create opportunity [1, 2]. The author is also focused on learning and adding information to his web library [2]. Specifically, the author is: 

• Making an effort to connect people who can help with information and ideas they can use to help bridge the divides in America, to create greater opportunity for all [1]. 

• Doing research and learning to identify places where people need help, and offering time, talent, dollars, and other types of support to organizations and businesses in those areas [1]. 

• Working on creating a page listing Instagram sites of Chicago area programs [2]. 

• Sharing what he has learned about leading a youth tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 2011 [2]. 

The author's goal is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, and leaders in ongoing efforts that make a life-changing difference for kids [2]. The aim is to ensure that kids will not live in poverty as adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional, and workplace skills needed for 21st-century jobs, as well as a network of adults who can open doors to jobs and mentor them in their careers [2]. 

The author has been working on this goal since 1993 (Tutor/Mentor Connection) and continues it through the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC since 2011 [1, 2]. The author uses maps to focus attention on places where people need extra help [1]. The author states that he has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 [3]. Additionally, the author stresses the importance of making information accessible and encouraging others to use it for planning and action steps, emphasizing that the internet is a meeting place to support this goal [1, 2].

Summary
These notes detail Dan Bassill's decades-long commitment to using geographic information systems (GIS) mapping to address social inequality in Chicago, particularly among youth. His work, initially reliant on volunteer efforts and limited resources, received a significant boost from funding in 2007, enabling the creation of an interactive online mapping platform. However, subsequent funding loss due to the 2008 recession has left the platform defunct, highlighting the critical need for sustained philanthropic support to maintain such vital public service tools. 

Bassill's mapping projects visualize disparities in poverty, crime, and access to resources, aiming to inform community planning and advocate for equitable resource allocation. He connects this mapping work to a broader framework for youth development, emphasizing accessible information, collaboration, and mentorship as key components for fostering opportunity and breaking cycles of poverty.

 
Mapping Inequality in Chicago
This blog post reflects on how the author will honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day by using mapping technology to connect people and resources to address inequality in Chicago. The author analyzes data from various sources, including maps showing demographics, shootings, poverty levels, and existing youth programs, to highlight disparities and advocate for increased investment in underserved communities. Specific organizations and initiatives are mentioned as potential partners in this effort, and the author seeks to connect with others to build collaborative partnerships. The author also describes their past work in this area and seeks funding to rebuild their mapping platform to support ongoing community planning efforts. Ultimately, the author aims to leverage data visualization to improve opportunities and address social injustices.

Mapping Chicago's Needs
Dan Bassill uses maps to focus attention on areas in Chicago where people need extra help [1]. He has been collecting and mapping data since 1994 to support this work [1, 2]. His approach to using maps includes:

• Identifying areas needing support: Bassill uses maps to pinpoint neighborhoods that require additional assistance [1].

• Visualizing disparities: Maps help to show the overlap between areas with high concentrations of African Americans, poverty, and locations of shootings [1]. He also uses maps to show health disparities, which are indicators of investments needed [1].

• Highlighting resource gaps: By mapping the locations of youth tutor/mentor programs, Bassill can identify areas within Opportunity Zones that lack these critical resources [1].

• Showing investment patterns: Maps can show how areas with the least investment are often the opposite of those targeted by Opportunity Zones [1].

• Using mapping platforms: Bassill utilizes various data mapping platforms to create maps that tell stories about specific places [1]. He points out that it is a challenge to motivate and teach people how to use these platforms [1]. He also notes that many data-maps are no longer online, creating a challenge to locate the needed information [1].

• Focusing on specific areas: Bassill zooms in on maps to concentrate on particular neighborhoods, such as North Lawndale, to show hospitals and other resources [1].

• Creating interactive maps: He has built an interactive platform using ARC GIS software that enables users to create maps showing layers of information [2]. This platform, however, is no longer functioning properly due to lack of funding [2].

• Advocating for map accessibility: Bassill emphasizes that maps should be interactive and online so they can be easily used by those who need them [1]. He notes that PDF maps are less useful because they cannot be easily manipulated or layered [1].

• Supporting planning and action: Bassill aims to use maps to encourage planning and action steps that bring people together to drive resources to non-profits and growing businesses in specific areas [1].

• Integrating maps with other information: He combines maps with other layers of information, such as locations of service providers and community assets, to support neighborhood-based planning [2]. He also uses maps with his blogs and ongoing communications [2]. Through his use of maps, Bassill seeks to support his goal of creating a framework to help youth in poverty by making information accessible, promoting collaboration, and directing resources to the areas where they are most needed [1, 3].

Funding and the Fate of Bassill's Mapping Projects
Funding significantly impacted the evolution of Dan Bassill's mapping projects over time [1]. Here's a breakdown:

• Early Stages (1994-2007): For many years, Bassill relied on volunteers and donated software to collect and map data [1]. This suggests that his mapping efforts during this time were likely limited by resources and capacity, but still a focus of his work [2]. 

• Funding Boost (2007): A $50,000 anonymous gift, combined with a grant from HSBC North America, enabled Bassill to rebuild his in-house mapping platform and to create an online interactive platform [1]. This funding allowed him to utilize ARC GIS software to create maps with layers of information, and to empower others to create similar maps using the interactive platform [1].

• Recession and Funding Loss (2008-2011): The recession starting in 2008 led to a drying up of funding by mid-2010 [1]. As a result, Bassill has not had the funds to update or create these maps since 2011 [1]. This highlights the vulnerability of his projects to external economic factors and the challenges of maintaining data platforms without consistent funding.

• Current State: Bassill's mapping platform is no longer functioning properly [2]. He states that it would take a significant investment to rebuild his capacity [1]. This indicates that without renewed financial support, the interactive mapping project is unlikely to be revived. The lack of resources affects his ability to provide updated, interactive maps that combine multiple layers of information useful for community planning [1].

• Need for Philanthropic Support: Bassill points out that data resources are not profit centers and thus do not qualify for investment zone capital [2]. He suggests that one role of philanthropy or other government resources could be to support the long-term development, maintenance, and use of platforms like his [2]. This highlights his view that mapping projects are essential public services deserving of non-profit or public support.

In summary, Bassill's mapping projects experienced a significant boost from a one-time influx of funds in 2007, but this momentum was cut short by the economic recession and subsequent funding loss [1]. This has led to the current situation where his interactive mapping platform is no longer functioning and requires considerable investment to rebuild, emphasizing the crucial role of consistent funding for such initiatives [1, 2].

The two blog articles used were:

Jan 18, 2021 - Service-Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream. click  here

Jan 20, 2019 - How I'll Honor ML King Jr. Holiday - click here

Google Notebook LM includes a feature that creates a podcast sharing notes created.  Here is one version of several podcast that I created from the AI analysis of these two blog articles.

click here to open

My first impression when I started using this feature was "Wow! I'd love to have had people in Chicago and other places having this type of discussion about what I was sharing in my blog articles, newsletters and website."  

That's still possible and I hope this inspires you to start that discussion in your own network.

My second impression from using the Notebook LM podcast feature, is that there are a lot of exaggerations, mis interpretations and downright fabrications in the podcast, and so far, I've no way to edit that.

However, after reading research about my work, done by various college students over the past 30 years, I realize that this is not just a problem of an AI generated podcast.  I've read many reports with misinterpretations of what I was doing.  As with the podcast, once the report was published, I've had no way to correct it....

Other than continuing to write blog articles and share information that reflected accurately on what I was trying to do and the challenges I faced.

As you honor Dr. King's legacy and reflect on the challenges ahead, I encourage you to do your own deep dives into my blog articles and websites. Use AI tools like Google Notebook LM, or other emerging technologies.

This picture is from the mid 1990s, with me sharing a Chicago Tribune story with a map showing areas of high poverty in Chicago.  I've been sharing similar maps for 30 years! 

Or just do as interns did in past years. Read the articles and use Power Point, Prezi, concept maps, videos and other tools to share what you're learning and to start a conversation in your community.

Thank you again Terry Elliott for inspiring me to dig into Google Notebook LM. I'll probably keep using it.

I'm not on social media today and am avoiding TV and news because of the terrible event taking place in Washington. However, I'll be back later in the week and look forward to connecting with you.

If you appreciate what I'm sharing, please visit this page and help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  

Thank you.

Service-Learning in Support of Dr. M.L. King, Jr's Dream

Millions around the USA are celebrating the life and words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today.  Here's an ESRI story map you might include in your learning.  

As in past years I'll be celebrating by learning and adding information to my web library.  Today I'm working on creating a page listing Instagram sites of Chicago area programs. 

I've been using this blog since 2005 to share what I've learned about leading a youth tutor/mentor program in Chicago from 1975 to 2011. I used an email and printed newsletter to share this in previous years.  

My goal (Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC) is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

The graphic below visualizes my thinking. There already are many youth tutor/mentor programs operating in Chicago and other places, along with countless other non-profits aimed at helping reduce poverty and inequality in America.  Yet, if we plot where these organizations operate, and what age group they serve, or what they do on maps of Chicago, we quickly can see that there is a need for  more programs in many places.

Rather than start new programs from scratch, why not borrow ideas from what is already working? How can existing programs constantly improve? How can donors improve how they provide needed operating dollars? 

I have spent time almost every day for more than 40 years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using T/MC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I am trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

For more than 40 years my goal has been to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include students, volunteers, staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where our kids live.

It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

The Internet is our meeting place. Covid-19 has made this an even greater reality than in past years.  

It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection web sites I collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing from this information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process has already started. We need to nurture and grow it in 2021.

Can you help?

Read past articles and visit the various web sites at the left side of this blog and start your own learning. Share these ideas with others via social media, ZOOM calls, videos and create  your own interpretation. Apply the ideas to your own city. 

I encourage you to read the Power Point Essay titled, Theory of Change which is one of several illustrated essays I've produced to illustrate our goals and the community that we seek to engage.

Since mid 2011 I've not operated under the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) non profit umbrella, due to strategic changes made in April-June 2011. I created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in order to continue to support the growth of the T/MC in Chicago and similar organizations in other cities.  Thank you to those who have made contributions to help me continue this work over the past 10 years. 

Help Build Networks of Support for Youth in High Poverty Areas

Today and over the past weekend I've seen hundreds of posts about Dr. ML King Jr, like the one below.

As we reflect on Dr. King's message, read this 1960s article titled “The Rising Tide of Racial Consciousness": https://t.co/KHgFxozzZc. Dr. Dorothy Height, @YWCAUSA's 1st Director of Racial Justice, led our organization in efforts we embody even today. #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/WtzEZ7uLeg

— YWCA Chicago (@YWCAChicago) January 16, 2023

As you do service today, look for ways you can do service every day.  With that in mind I want to focus on efforts that expand the networks supporting kids in high poverty areas, which is a form of "bridging social capital".  

I've been using the graphic shown below for more than 20 years to visualize the range of adult support and learning that can be made available to youth via organized, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning programs.

The circle in the middle includes a pre school through work/career timeline. It shows public school support above the timeline and community support, through family, neighbors, faith groups and non-school programs below.  The spokes lead to the different sectors of the community, and the different career opportunities that might be modeled by volunteers who connect with youth via organized programs.  

I've been using maps since 1993 to focus attention on high poverty areas of Chicago, where organized tutor/mentor programs are most needed.  And, I've collected information about existing programs and plotted their locations, as overlays to the maps.  Then I've tried to draw attention to research showing where and why kids need extra help, so that more people would use their own time, talent and dollars to help tutor/mentor programs be available to more kids, and constantly improving, based on what they learn from their own efforts, and what they learn from others.

I share these ideas in the http://www.tutormentorexchange.net website and on my blogs.  As part of your service today, and throughout the year, spend time doing extra learning, and look for ways to apply the ideas in your own community. 

At the left are tags sorting articles by primary focus (although almost all focus on the overall goal of helping kids through school and into adult lives.")  Once a week click on a tab, then scroll through the articles to see what's included. As you do this share articles with your network and create a "study group" or "book club" so more people are reading these articles with you.

Over the course of a year, or several  years, you'll build a much broader and deeper understanding of actions that need to be taken in order to create the world Dr. King envisioned.  

The map below is from this article, which is one of many where I've focused on social capital.  It's an example of how maps can show where kids and families need extra help.  

Here's another article that invites you to "Dig Deeper into Social Capital Thinking."

The graphic below is from one article about "Total Quality Mentoring" which is a term I coined in the 1990s to convey the idea of on-going improvement based on learning from your own efforts, those of others, and by having consistent financial support for program operations. 

As you look at the first graphic I used in this article, then this one, think of the YOU being someone on each spoke, who shares information that gets more people from her industry, college, faith group, family, etc. involved in helping youth, by helping non-school and school-based programs grow in more places.

I'll close with two more posts from Twitter. 

Thank you @UNESCO for sharing this powerful reminder of #DrKing's mission to fight for what's right through the power of love.

Today, tomorrow on #MLKDay, and every day, let's lift up his legacy and create the #BelovedCommunity by doing good. Start here: https://t.co/Vb1VSTA7GF https://t.co/o1JR4kzAmo

— AmeriCorps (@AmeriCorps) January 15, 2023

This post encourages on-going service, which I what I also encourage.  "Today, tomorrow and every day, let's lift up his legacy"

Here's the second Tweet. From Vue Le. 

“Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level”—MLK https://t.co/qaEXboXn7V

— Vu Le (with one E) (@NonprofitAF) January 16, 2023

Follow the links and do deeper reading about what Dr. King said in the 1960s. 

Use the ideas I and others share to build an intentional strategy that expands social capital, opportunities, networks of support and the range of people who "open doors" for youth who have had too few people taking these roles for too many years.

Visit this page to view a list of Chicago youth tutor and/or mentor programs that you can support with time, talent and/or dollars. 

Thank you for reading.  I'll look forward to connecting with you on one of these social media platforms.

If you find value in these ideas please consider a small contribution to help Fund T/MI -  click here to learn more

Still far to go to achieve Dr. ML King Jr's Dream

I'm looking at my Twitter feed and seeing a flow of inspirational Tweets related to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and service to those in need.

I've been writing articles to encourage people to become involved in  helping kids living in high poverty neighborhoods move through school and into adult lives free of poverty since starting the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. I started writing this blog in 2005 and if you look at January articles every year since then, you'll find articles that mirror these same thoughts, over, and over, again. Here's my January 2006 article.

Here's me at an event where I am showing a 1994 Chicago Tribune article, where the map shows poverty neighborhoods in the city, and the headline says "240,000 city kids at risk".

While we've made many gains, this nation and the world still have too many youth and families living lives with too much "inequality and lack of opportunity".  View maps shown here and in the MappingforJustice blog that point to where these places are.

I've used maps over and over to repeat this message and to motivate people to become involved in building and sustaining mentor-rich non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs for k-12 kids in high poverty neighborhoods of Chicago, its suburbs, and other cities and states.

In many articles I use visualizations like the one above, which was created by a student intern, and the one below, to illustrate a program design, with volunteers from many work backgrounds connecting in an on-going effort.  In the 1990s I tried branding this type of program as "Total Quality Mentoring (TQM)" since it borrows from business practices of constant learning and constant improvement.

I have created a variety of power point presentations to communicate these ideas. This presentation illustrates the idea of Total Quality Mentoring.  I keep looking for other youth serving organizations to show their program design and theory of change using maps and visualizations like this.  If you know of any who do this well, please share a link in the comment section below.

As you do  your service today, or on January 20th, when one organization is encouraging another day of service, look for ways you can use your time, talent and dollars to help others get involved in deeper learning, on-going actions and many places.

In 50 years let's show even more progress in the US and around the world than we have achieved in the past 50 years.

Who Shares the Passion for Building the Infrastructure needed to help social organizations have greater impact?

I attended the Chicago Hive five year celebration last night and heard CEO Sam Dyson say something like, "If you're serious about helping kids you need to be serious about mobilizing the resources needed."

Earlier in the day Dan Pallotta sent me an email asking me to look at a Boston Globe article showing his efforts to revolutionize how philanthropic organizations are funded. I've written about Dan's work before and adopted this to my own vision. See article.

The day before I attended a Generation ALL Chicago event, where leaders talked about mobilizing stakeholders from all parts of Chicago to focus on building great public high schools in every neighborhood of Chicago.

Then this morning I responded to a consultant who coaches businesses on volunteer engagement, with an email showing my own "dream". I finished by saying since this is the day everyone's honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it's appropriate that I share my own vision and dream: Here's what I wrote:

---------------------------------------- The recent outrage about unequal coverage of the tragedy in Nigeria vs the tragedy in Paris show how difficult it it to attract people (and donor) attention and keep it focused for any length of time on places where help must be consistently provided.

I've maintained a newspaper clip file going back into the 1970s with articles on education, poverty, race and violence in Chicago. I'm digitizing those articles over the coming year and as I do I'm finding article calling for action from the 1990s to solve problems we still have not solved 20 years later.

In my blog articles and on-line networking I'm looking for people who express a passion for solving this problem, and who are willing to work with me to find others, and to innovate actions, that can create a reach and daily frequency of messages that draw support to non profits and social entrepreneurs the same way business draws customers to their stories, on-line market place and products and services.

I reach out to you because you express some of the same ideas, and in the "food chain" you're closer to the business leaders who need to use their own communications tools to carry this message to the public.

I think I'm older than you, but I think we both have grey hair. I want to leave something in place when I die that I think builds a better future for my grand kids and other people's grand kids. It take money to do this, but even more it takes a shared effort of people who have talents and networks that I don't have.

----------------------
In another email conversation I shared my vision of having "Tutor/Mentor Connection student-led teams form on college and high school campuses throughout Chicago and in other cities. Here's what I wrote:

I encourage you to browse the articles by interns, at this page.

Each of these interns has spent time learning what the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy is, then communicating it via blog articles, visualizations and videos. If formal "tutor/mentor connection" teams formed on campuses and schools, their first role would be to learn what I'm trying to do, so they can see their role of duplicating everything I do, but focused on a smaller geographic region (around a college or high school) or focused on a specific network of people, such as students, faculty, alumni of a college.

In short, they learn to connect people they know to information those people can use to support places in their neighborhood which are trying to help kids move through school and into careers, via tutoring, mentoring, social/emotional support, jobs training, and a wide range of other activities.

As student teams form, and learn to do this work, they become organizers of networking events on their campus, and at citywide and national events, that connect groups from one campus with groups from other campuses. The Tutor/Mentor Conferences, are just two events out of a 365 day calendar when people could be gathering to share ideas and inspire actions.

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

I also shared an idea with one of the other organizations building networks of people to focus on violence in Chicago. I wrote:

Your organization is already using its blog to share ideas and spotlight people it works with, and you're using your events to bring people together. I encourage you to read this article, and dozens like it that I've posted since 2005. 

These talk about what it takes to build and sustain great programs in all high poverty neighborhoods. They call on readers to be volunteers, donors, leaders, etc. and to reach out and get more people involved...in programs all over the city, which are represented in databases like the one I maintain at  https://www.tutormentorexchange.net/chicago-area-program-links

I think your organization and others, such as Chicago Hive, and Generation All, etc., could write similar stories, even better than I do, and with the ability to reach people who I don't reach.

This is not something you or I need to have an agreement to do, but it is something I'd be happy to talk with you and brainstorm ways others might take on the same role so more voices are out there every day calling on resource providers, volunteers and other needed talent to become strategically involved in supporting programs all over the region.

As I learn about intermediary organizations in Chicago I've been adding them to this concept map. Click here to see the live version, where you can click on nodes to find web sites for each group.

One role that Tutor/Mentor Teams on campuses would have is to create a map showing organizations and assets in their neighborhood who should know each other and be working together to support youth as they move SAFELY from birth to work. Such maps could be shared on web sites just the way I do, to help each group connect with each other, and to draw donor support to all of the intermediaries on an on-going basis. Generation ALL's leader talked of a 10+ year vision. For that to be achieved, consistent funding needs to be secured.

However, just funding the backbone is not enough. Each of the organizations these intermediaries support also require consistent flows of talent, dollars, ideas, etc. If someone hosts a map of participating organizations, I want to see consistent messages calling on visitors to their web site to go through the map, find an organization, and become a supporter. I point to this list of Chicago non-school tutoring/mentoring organizations all the time and from most of my web sites.

So much for today's soap box. I guess on ML King, Jr's anniversary it's fair for me to share my own "dream".

Creating a Service Learning Organization that Mentors Kids to Careers

I started this blog in 2005 and often use past articles for new updates.  Below is a 2020 version of an article I wrote in December 2005, talking about "volunteering in tutor/mentor programs as a form of service learning".  If you've read some of the messages I've posted to this Blog since then you'll see that I led a small non profit between 1993 and 2011 that aimed to connect workplace volunteers with children and youth living in neighborhoods of highly concentrated poverty.

Our goal then, and now, is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

In the image above I show myself with Leo Hall who was in 4th grade, and living in the Cabrini-Green public housing development of Chicago, when I first became  his tutor/mentor in 1973.  We're still connected. He's living in Nashville and he and  his wife have raised two outstanding young men, who both have attended college. Here's an interview we did in 2016.   

I have spent time almost every day for more than 45 years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I have been trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

I created a ppt visualization of this strategy in the early 2000s, then in 2006 and 2010 two interns from Hong Kong and South Korea created animated versions.  One can be seen in this video. 

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

My goal has been to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include students and volunteers, staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where kids in the programs I led were living. It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

The Internet has been a growing meeting place since the late 1990s. It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On T/MC web sites we collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process has already started.  When I first wrote this in 2005 I was leading a non-profit organization with the capacity to raise money from individual donors, corporations and foundations.  Since forming the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011 I've not had a consistent source of funding, so much that was built through 2011 is now in need of new leaders and new life.

Yet the strategy remains the same. We need to nurture and grow it in 2020.

Can you help?

Visit the various articles shown at the left side of this blog, and the websites I point to, and start your own learning. I encourage you to read the Power Point Essay titled, Theory of Change . This illustrates our goal and the community that we seek to engage.

This and other PPT essays in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library illustrate the T/MC vision and the community of organizations that we seek to engage. Then share your own knowledge, time, talent and dollars to help us build this service and learning organization.

Every December I launch two ways for people to contribute money to support the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

1) make a birthday gift to support my Dec. 19 birthday. click here
2) contribute to the T/MI Fund  - click here

Thank you to the small group of people who have made contributions in past years. You're the reason I'm still able to collect and share this information.

Thank you all for reading my articles. 

Daniel F. Bassill
President
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present)
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present)

Day of Service. Day of Learning!

The Dr. M.L.King, Jr. National Holiday is Monday, Jan. 16 and, like previous years, I’ve seen numerous articles encouraging people to go out and “volunteer” with suggestions including “prepare meals for a soup kitchen, visit the elderly and assemble food and toiletry kits for the homeless”. Here’s one story about the Holiday.

Last Thursday I saw an announcement from the Serve Illinois Commission where Comcast is seeking community-based organizations to partner with for a company-wide annual day of service during the April National Volunteer Week.

These service projects are great for team building and for short term, done-in-a-day projects. And they do necessary and helpful work. But do they really make a dent in poverty and complex social problems where more help is needed every day of the year, not just on national holidays?

What if employee volunteers, family and friends were encouraged to do a “day of learning” where they visited web platforms with information related to poverty, education issues, challenges non profits face, etc. and where they begin to look at ways they and people they work with could offer time, talent and dollars throughout the year to support a full range of organizations working in different neighborhoods, but on the same problem?

What might they study? Below is a map I created a couple of years ago to show how groups could learn about the connections between poverty, education and health from a variety of sources. Such learning could lead more people to understand the value of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs and the need for such programs to be located near youth living in high poverty areas.

Thus, while many people could be painting classrooms, working in food pantries, or building housing on Monday, many others could be meeting at churches, business locations, hospitals, homes and in on-line learning communities, where they draw from an on-line library of articles and ideas.

This map is from the GUEST MAP on the Tutor/Mentor Connection web site. If you visit the map you can click on the icons and see comments and introductions from people who have visited the site in the past. The map illustrates our goal of serving as a "social problem solving platform" that can be used by people from throughout Chicago, and the rest of the world.

The potential for groups to connect in on-line learning groups is growing. I’ve written about organized on-line learning communities in the past. Here’s the link. Here’s a web site hosting on-line learning.

I’ve written hundreds of articles on this blog and I’ve pointed to articles written by people far smarter than I am. I have more than 1900 links in a web library that show where and why volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed and why it’s good for business to support volunteer-involvement on a year-round basis

Furthermore, I've created an on-line directory that uses maps to help visitors understand where high poverty neighborhoods are in the Chicago region and where volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs are located, or needed.

The learning that people do tomorrow and throughout the year can help more people understand the lack of mentoring, tutoring, learning, jobs, etc. that contribute to hopelessness and the gang culture that breeds violence and poor education outcomes in many of these neighborhoods. By visiting web sites of dozens of youth programs in Chicago and all over the world, volunteers, donors, business partners and program leaders can share the responsibility of building and sustaining world-class tutor/mentor programs in EVERY poverty area by borrowing from the best ideas from any of these programs and by providing the talent, dollars, technology needed on an on-going basis to implement these ideas.

At the end of a day of reflection individuals and groups can post blogs, update wikis, and share their ideas in forums like http://tutormentorconnection.ning.com or in Facebook. If you've a favorite place for sharing ideas and collaborating with others, please tell us about it.

I'm going to be taking part in a week long learning and networking effort, starting tomorrow. It's called JELLY WEEK. If you click on the JELLY WEEK map you can see that teams from nearly 200 places and more than 30 countries are participating. I'm part of a about a group collecting information about education efforts throughout the world. Members come from South America, Austria, Sweden and many other countries.

If this type of collective learning is happening throughout the year, and during every national holiday, those who do service and those who do learning will be building better understanding of the complex problems we face and a more sophisticated range of solutions.

As a result, more people will become directly involved in places throughout Chicago working to help solve social problems, and will be connected to people and ideas of other people throughout the world who are doing similar work.

To me, the “I Have A Dream” speech means that some day in the future the problems of poverty, social inequality, wealth gaps, hunger, etc. will be less than it is today because of what we learn, and what actions we take based on what we learn.

That won’t happen unless short term service projects are matched by learning, reflection and information sharing.

Creating service and learning organizations

If you've read some of the messages I've posted to this Blog since 2005 you'll see that I led a small non profit from 1993 to 2011 that connected workplace volunteers with children and youth living in neighborhoods of highly concentrated poverty.

This graphic shows some of the people who we connected to each other. These were from 10 to 25 years ago. I'm still connected to many via Facebook. I'm now seeing some posting pictures of their own kids as they finish high school or head to college. That was the goal.

While we led one small tutor/mentor program (called Cabrini Connections) we also led the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which aimed to help similar volunteer-based programs reach k-12 kids in every high poverty area of Chicago. I'm still leading that via Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Since forming this two-part strategy in late 1992 our goal has been to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

This graphic visualizes the type of programs I've tried to encourage, based on the ones I led.

We recruited volunteers from various business backgrounds to be on-on-one tutor/mentor support and many of these began to organize extra learning, such as a computer lab, a video club, a writing club and a college access group.

I have spent time almost every day for more than 40 years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal, first by leading one small program at the Montgomery Ward corporate headquarters in Chicago, starting in 1975, then by leading the T/MC since 1993.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using T/MC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I am trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

This graphic visualizes a service-learning loop formed when a volunteer enters an on-going tutor/mentor program. This video shows the graphic.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

Our goal is to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include our students and volunteers, our staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where our kids live. It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

I use concept maps like this to visualize this goal.

Anyone can adopt this vision and lead it using their own talent and resources.

The Internet is our meeting place. It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On T/MC web sites we collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process has already started. We need to nurture and grow it in 2022.

Can you help?

Browse the articles shown in the list on the left side of this blog and start your own learning.  I tagged this article with "learning" just as I have more than 300 previous articles.  I encourage you to read some of these on a regular basis. I also encourage you to read some of the Power Point Essay I've written, such as the one that shows our Logic Model. 

This and other PPT essays in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library illustrate the T/MC vision and the community of organizations that we seek to engage. Then share your own knowledge, time, talent and dollars to help us build this service and learning organization.

Thank you all for reading my messages. I hope you share them with others. May God Bless you all with peace, good health and happiness in 2022 and beyond.

Daniel F. Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present)
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present)

Twitter @tutormentorteam

Creating a Service and Learning Organization that Mentors Kids to Careers: 2012 Resolution

If you've read some of the messages I've posted to this Blog you'll see that between 1975 and June 30, 2011 I led a small non profit that seeks to connect workplace volunteers with children and youth living in neighborhoods of highly concentrated poverty.

I've been using this blog to share this message since mid 2005. I used an email and printed newsletter to share this in previous years. Following is an update of a message I First wrote in late December 2005

Our goal is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

I have spent time almost every day for more than 30 years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using T/MC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I am trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

Our goal is to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include students, volunteers, staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where our kids live.

It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

The Internet is our meeting place. It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC and Tutor/Mentor Connection web sites we collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing from this information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process has already started. We need to nurture and grow it in 2012.

Can you help?

Visit the various web sites at the left and start your own learning. I encourage you to read the Power Point Essay titled, Theory of Change which is one of several illustrated essays I've produced to illustrate our goals and the community that we seek to engage.

I'm no longer operating under the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) non profit umbrella, due to strategic changes made in April-June 2011. I've created the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in order to continue to support the growth of the T/MC in Chicago and similar organizations in other cities. I encourage you to read about this change and look for ways you might help me in the coming years.

Thank you all for reading my messages. I hope you share them with others. May God Bless you all with peace, good health and happiness in 2006.

Daniel F. Bassill
President
Tutor/Mentor Connection, formed 1993
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, formed 2011
Cabrini Connections
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Creating a Service-Learning Organization that Mentors Kids to Careers

I started writing this blog in May 2005. I'd already led the Tutor/Mentor Connection and a site-based tutor/mentor program called Cabrini Connections for 12 years.

If you've read some of the messages I've posted to this blog you'll see that I seek to connect workplace volunteers with children and youth living in neighborhoods of highly concentrated poverty.

When we launched our programs in 1993 they were based on my experiences leading a single tutor/mentor program in Chicago since 1975.  Its goal, and the goals we adopted in 1993,  and which I still support today in 2021, is to create an organized framework that encourages volunteers to serve as tutors, mentors, coaches, advocates, friends, leaders in on-going efforts that make a life-changing difference for these kids. By life-changing, I mean that the kids will not be living in poverty when they are adults because they will have the academic, social/emotional and workplace skills needed for 21st century jobs, plus a network of adults who can and will open doors to jobs and mentor them in careers.

I have spent time almost every day for more than 45  years trying to figure out better, more efficient, and lower cost ways to accomplish this goal.

I have learned to mine the knowledge and experiences of others to innovate strategies for tutoring/mentoring, rather than trying to develop my own solutions to problems. Using T/MC web sites, on-line networking and regular face-to-face training and mentoring, I am trying to share what I know, and the process of learning and service that I apply in my own daily routine, so that there are more people in more places accepting this role and responsibility.

So how do we make this vision a reality? We create a "learning organization", which is also the ideal of many of the best businesses in the world. We also create a "service culture" modeled after the work of heroes like Cesar Chavez, whose core values included sacrifice and perseverance, commitment to the most disadvantaged as well as life-long learning and innovation.

In a learning organization, everyone is engaged. In the world of Cesar Chavez, everyone is willing to make huge commitments, and sacrifices of time, talent and treasure to help disadvantaged people move to greater health, and greater hope and opportunity.

Our goal is to find ways to draw a growing number of our stakeholders into this learning process and to build an on-going commitment to service (as opposed to random acts of kindness). This process is intended to include our students and volunteers, our staff, donors and leaders, and members of the business, education, faith and media in the communities where our kids live. It also aims to engage leaders and volunteers from other tutor/mentor programs in Chicago and in other cities, plus people and organizations in the communities that don't have high poverty, but benefit from a world envisioned by Dr. M. L. King, Jr. as well as a 21st Century America where there are enough skilled workers to meet the future workforce needs of American industry.

In 2006 and intern from Hong Kong created a visualization showing what I call a "service learning loop". Then in 2011 one of my interns from South Korea created a new version. Since this was done in Flash Animation I've created the video below to show that presentation.

The Internet is our meeting place. It's a virtual library of constantly growing knowledge. On Tutor/Mentor Connection and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web sites we collect and host information that shows why kids in poverty need extra help, where such help is needed, who is providing help, and what volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs can do to connect adults, kids and learning in an on-going, constantly improving process of mentoring kids to careers.

If we can find ways to increase the percent of our kids, our volunteers, and our leaders and donors who are drawing information on a weekly basis, and reflecting on this information in small and large groups, the way people in churches reflect on passages from the Bible each week, we can grow the amount of understanding we all have about the challenges we face and the opportunities we have. We can innovate new and better ways to succeed in our efforts.

This process started nearly 45 years ago. I accelerated it's growth in 1993 when we formally created the Tutor/Mentor Connection. I've kept it alive since 2011 via the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.

Now it's time for others to take the lead and grow it beyond 2021.

Can you help?

Visit the various sections of this blog and the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC website and start your own learning. I encourage you to read the Power Point Essay titled, Theory of Change . This illustrates our goal and the community that we seek to engage.

This and other PPT essays in the Tutor/Mentor Institute library illustrate the T/MC vision and the community of organizations that we seek to engage. Then share your own knowledge, time, talent and dollars to help us build this service and learning organization.

Thank you all for reading my messages. I hope you share them with others. 

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. See links on this page. Please connect with me and help me connect with others.