Mapping Complex Systems - The Epstein Network

I've posted many articles with examples of mapping networks.  Here's another example.  This should be of interest to many.

I'm reading an article titled, "The "Epstein Files" and the anatomy of hidden social networks: How secrecy reshapes structure and why its analysis is conditional on data."   It includes this graphic, which is a map of 25,232 documents downloaded from the Epstein Files.

I won't even try to summarize what this interactive map is showing and how it's featured in this "Complexity Thoughts" article.  I strongly encourage you to read it for yourself,  then open the map and explore it.  

What this demonstrates is the wide range of data that can be organized and communicated via tools like Kumu, Gephi, NodeXL and others.

What's more, without "sense making", as demonstrated by this article, the size of the database will actually work against creating shared understanding or commitment to agreed-upon paths to solutions.

I'll look forward to learning more.

It's Super Bowl Week. What's the Game Plan?

It's Super Bowl Week. While a large part of world attention will focus on the game, the commercials and the halftime show, I've posted articles here almost every year since 2007 that show a role athletes can take beyond the charity causes they already support.

In 2024 I used this image from the NFL Awards show in this article, with a headline of "Multiplying Good - Map the Network".  The goal of the article was to encourage one or more data researchers to create a library of EVERY pro sports athlete, and the causes they support.  Make it searchable by city, by sport, by cause, by team, etc.  Use visualizations like Kumu.io and Gephi to help people use this information.

 

In March 2025 I included the graphic below in this article, showing an example of how networks can be mapped.

In this section and this section you can find many more articles about mapping networks using tools like Kumu.io and NodeXL. Find more ideas in this section.

In January 2026 I wrote an article titled "Making Philanthropy Work Better" and introduced Project 990, which is mining data of all nonprofit 990s reports and mapping the information. 

Since the 1990s I've been trying to influence what visible people do to support youth and youth serving programs in all high poverty areas of the cities where they play sports, or where they grew up.  

In the mid 1990s the Tutor/Mentor Connection created the map below, showing high poverty areas of Chicago and locations of non-school, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.  It was signed by 11 pro athletes during a weekend golf event, to indicate their support of the idea of athletes "adopting neighborhoods", not just single programs.  I've share this often, such as in this 2024 article. 

If you search "Super Bowl" on this blog you'll find many articles where I've shared ideas similar to these.  In 2007 I wrote "Go Bears! The Super Bowl of Life". In that I wrote:

While many athletes have foundations and do great things to help their communities, there's no strategy that I know of that enlists athletes and coaches in an effort to use their celebrity visibility to draw attention to a social cause, and to draw volunteers and donors to specific neighborhoods throughout a city.

For instance, on the Super Bowl broadcast Terry Bradshaw, a former star quarterback, and current TV broadcaster, made an appeal for viewers to stay involved in helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The TV footage focused at New Orleans and the Lower 9th Ward, but I heard him end a phrase with "and the other areas".

If someone created a map of the area that had been destroyed by the Hurricane, it would be possible to enlist athletes from many sports to adopt different communities, or zip codes, in the entire area. Then, whenever that athlete were to have a TV opportunity, he/she could draw attention to his zip code, as part of an effort to keep attention on the entire area of destruction. As the season moves from Basketball to baseball to football and back to hockey and basketball, different stars, in different cities, would have many opportunities to focus attention, and draw resources to the various parts of the entire geographic area where volunteers, donors, and all sorts of help will be needed for many years.

In the same way, I want to enlist athletes to focus attention on the high poverty neighborhoods of big cities. Instead of just talking about the Boys and Girls Clubs, or Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or other highly visible charities, we need to focus attention regularly on every neighborhood where kids need help, and the organizations in those neighborhoods who are providing help. 

This is a strategy I hope athletes will adopt. If you read this, and you know a Bear, or a Bull, or a college coach, or even a high school coach, who might want to be a champion of this idea, please pass this on.

While I've shared these ideas for many years I still have not found any photos of a pro football or basketball player standing in front of a map like I do in this 1990s photo, urging people to support youth programs in EVERY high poverty neighborhood, not just the few high profile programs in a few places.

I still have found no athlete or team supporting the "Adopt a Neighborhood" strategy that I outlined.

So as you watch this year's game, I hope you'll share this idea with high school and college coaches, and with any athlete you know.  Think of these articles as a "playbook" that coaches and players can study to see how they can do better next year than they did this year.

That's a habit that could make a quantum difference in the lives of millions of people.

The best time to have started this was 30 years ago. The next best is now, in 2026 when the technology available to build big databases and visualize the information is now available.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy the game!

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

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

Planning a conference? Building a network?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Getting Started: What This Tool Does

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

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

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

Next, open the Form Creation Guide tab - click here

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some examples of Kumu Network Visualizations are shown - click here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are issues facing next President?

I hope the next President of the USA is Kamala Harris, with Tim Walz as her VP.  That won't happen unless there's a massive voter turnout.

Let's assume she is elected.  What are the issues she needs to address?  

I created the concept map shown below just before Joe Biden took office, showing issues he needed to address. I updated it this week. Much of the same issues are still there.  

You can view this map at this link.

I've been using cMapTools to create my concept maps since 2005.  However, I've seen other mapping tools emerge, that might do the job as well, or better.  Since I have so much time invested in keeping my concept maps on-line, and updated (as much as possible), I've not tried to recreate any of my maps on another platform.

However, I've encouraged others to do that.  In a July 2024 article I showed some examples of visualizations made using KUMU.io.  In other articles, like this one, I've showed use of NodeXL.  

In this article, and several others, I shared a video by Gene Bellinger, who is a systems thinking expert who I've followed for over a dozen years, mostly via LinkedIn.  What's special about Gene is that he is narrating some of the maps he has created, to help others build a better understanding.  

In many of these articles I've added additional links, as updates, after the original article was written. 

In this December 2022 article I used the graphic below, and a collection of concept maps, to show strategies I hoped the White House STEMM task force would adopt to create and share a strategy that might achieve their goals by 2050.

Below is one of many examples of how I've encouraged leaders to use my blog and website as a resource to develop their own strategies.

I saw an @Esri blog article about @GovTimWalz using GIS #maps and shared it in this article on my blog. https://t.co/HnYpzoMgev

I show my own love of GIS since 1993 & how I've tried to use it to draw resources to high poverty areas. pic.twitter.com/x8AlnoLCMt

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) August 10, 2024

So today I was thrilled when my KUMU contact on Twitter shared a presentation from Senator Elizabeth Warren's 2016 presidential campaign, using KUMU to show her strategy for "Empowering American Workers and Raising Wages".   

That graphic looks really crowded. Even more so than some of the concept maps I make.  However, that's the final slide in her presentation.  View the presentation at this link.

You'll see that she breaks this information into small bits, using the features of KUMU to enable you to zoom in to specific information. It starts with data quantifying the problem she's trying to fix, with traditional text, bar charts, and links to external pages. 

This is the first slide, after the pages showing the problem.  You can click on any of the elements and information will be shown in the left hand side, and right on the map.  

Here's another slide that illustrates how information can be presented.

The strategy is presented in a text narrative at this link.  It does not take long to skim through the slides and see the potential of using concept maps this way.  Of course, if you're really interested in the topic,  you'll want to dig deeper and follow the links to even more information.  

Now take another look at my concept map showing issues facing our next President.  Note that my headline says, "Can anyone visualize all of the issues that POTUS47 needs to address? 

Each cluster on the map represents one major issue, with several sub-issues.  Each could be communicated using KUMU in much the same way as the Senator Warren presentation.  

For instance, today I read a Hechinger Report article titled "What education could look like under Harris and Walz".  It's pretty comprehensive.  What if it had a KUMU version, too.

Here's the fun thing.  All of this work doesn't need to be done by one person, or one organization.  Imagine teams of volunteers from industry, education, etc. coming together in on-line spaces to create maps for each sub category, then adding them to a master map, with just a link.

Concept maps that link to external sites, or other maps, can provide a constantly-expanded field of ideas and information. 

Here's an example. At the center of my concept map you see the information shown below.

The node on the left opens an external website. Often, a page in my library, where I aggregate links to websites that focus on specific topics. 

The node on the right opens another concept map.  Thus, anyone can create a map that aggregates links to maps created by other people.  Many people could do that!  

If you look at my collection of concept maps, you'll see links like this in almost all of them.   

I think there are thousands of experts who have greater knowledge of these subjects than I do, who may already be communicating their ideas this way.  If my maps can help stimulate your thinking, use them.

Please connect with me on social media and share your own maps and ideas.  This page has links to where you can find me.

If you share links to your maps with me, maybe I'll add them to my blog articles and/or library!

And, if you're able, please make a contribution to help me pay the bills and keep doing this work.   Visit this page. 

Understanding complex problems using concept maps

For many years I've posted articles describing the information-based problem solving strategies that I've piloted since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC in 2011. 

Since 2005 I've communicated my ideas using concept maps, created using free cMapTools.  Below is one of those. Open the map at this link. 

This map includes three elements.

1) The "mentoring kids to careers" graphic focuses on the 10-16 years of age-specific support needed to help kids living in high poverty areas move through school and into jobs and careers.

2) There's a small inset of a map of Chicago, with high poverty areas highlighted.  In my last article I focused on using maps to understand where help is needed and to guide distribution of resources to all of these places.

3) The right side of the concept map shows many of the challenges that kids, families and schools in high poverty areas face. Each of these needs to be understood, then addressed. 

What my maps do not have is a narration on the maps that explains what the viewer is looking at. That could be fixed with an audio narration, or perhaps by using a different tool than cMapTools.  Below I'm pointing to some options.  I've tried to explain some of the maps with articles like this one and, this one. 

In the lower left corner of the concept map shown above, I wrote, "This information focuses on challenges facing youth in the United states.  What would this map look like for youth in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Europe, Central and South America?  Create your own version!"

Someone did! But I don't think this was inspired by my work.

Yesterday, I found Pierce Gordon who has used a different visualization tool, called KUMU.io, to create a visualization that focuses on Systems Thinking and Youth Unemployment in Botswana, Africa.  The graphic below is from that presentation.

I was alerted to this through a post I saw on Twitter (X). 

We recently ran across a Kumu project by Pierce Gordon which looks at youth unemployment in Botswana from a systems lens.
He created a powerful presentation showcasing the forces at play, as well as providing a cool intro to #systemsthinking!#kumunity #youthunemployment #SADC pic.twitter.com/PC6sNCFKgy

— Kumu (@kumupowered) July 16, 2024

This Twitter (X) post includes a video that provides a quick overview of the analysis.  I encourage you to view it.

Then visit the KUMU page on LinkedIn where they announced the presentation and provided this link to the KUMU project shown in the video. 

Here's another systems map, shared with me by Pierce Gordon. It is an "interactive Youth Employment System Map. Designed in 2021. It is the first attempt to map the youth employment system in England. It provides a visual representation of the barriers and opportunities young people from marginalized backgrounds face as they seek good jobs."  Visit this page and then follow the link to the causal loop map. There are great explanations for how to use this, and why.  

Spend as much time as you can to look at these presentations, then connect with Pierce, or Kumu, or both and learn how you can make similar visualizations. 

Then, take a look at some of the past articles I've posted about mapping complexity.

This graphic by Christian Sarkar was included in my Nov. 17, 2022 post.

In this 2018 article my headline was "Wicked Problems. Getting "Everyone" in the Room. Who cares?   

When we started building our list of Tutor/Mentor programs  in 1993, we also began building a list of others who were already involved, or needed to be involved.  I can't tell you how many meetings I've been in when business, philanthropy, media, entertainment, sports and/or political leaders were not participating.  

Below is one of my concept maps that visualizes the talent and skills needed in a big, or small organization.

This concept map shows talent and skills. In the blue box at the top is a link to a similar map, that shows organizations.  If you don't have these skills in your tool box, or a representation from all of the stakeholders in the ecosystem, you'll have a tough time getting anything done, let alone changing complex systems.

Back in 1973 when I began volunteering as a tutor at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago, I realized I knew little of "being a tutor" so I started searching beyond my own program's training materials for other people who I could learn from.  As I did this, I began collecting names and addresses. When I became a program leader in 1975 I expanded this search, reaching throughout Chicago and the country to find people involved with volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs.

When an executive a Wards said in 1976 "Dan, you don't know much about leading a tutor/mentor programs. Why don't you invite other programs to lunch and see what you can learn."   I did. They came. We all shared and learned.  

I kept doing that for the next 46 years.  I found out that by keeping a list, I was the only one who could effectively "invite" people to gather, or could "knowledgably" speak about the availability of organized tutor/mentor programs in Chicago.  

Building and maintaining a list is a huge, on-going challenge.  That's another story. 

But why do this?

At the top of the graphic at the right I show outcomes that "we all want" for kids.  At the bottom I show the need for an information base which should include "who is involved, and who needs to be involved". View this graphic in this article. 

The Botswana article and the Youth Employment in England map both focus on "System Thinking".  This is what I hope you'll focus on.  

In the past, I've posted many articles focused on Systems Thinking. Here's one.  I've also pointed to KUMU.io in several articles. 

Another concept mapping tool that I've written about is NodeXL.  I point to it in this article, titled, "Building Networks - Understanding Who is Involved."

In my past articles you'll see how I've been influenced by the work of Gene Bellinger, who I met on LinkedIn many years ago.  He posted this article yesterday, showing a causal loop diagram created using a tool, called "the brain". The question this addresses is "If the current societal tendency is toward collapse or dystopia what might a third attractor look like?"  

I've recognized the potential value of Kumu, and these other tools, but because all of my concept maps were made using cMap Tools, I have not been willing to recreate them using any of them.  But, as I wrote above, I've invited others to take on that task.

Visualizations like the those I've shown in this post should be available in every metropolitan area in the world, as well as other geographies.  They address the "what do we know and what do we need to know" questions as well as "who is involved".  That should lead to, "who is missing, and how do we get them involved."

They should also focus on on-going actions that repeat over many years, and in many places. If you view my 4-part strategy map you'll see that all the information I point to in this article is just part of Step 1.  Step 2 and 3 focus on getting more and more people to look at this information and understand it.  Step 4 focuses on how people use this information in many places to help kids move through school and into jobs and careers.

There is a lot of information in this article, on my blog, and in the websites I point to.   It's too much for casual learning.  But if cities and countries are going to invest millions, or billions, of dollars in solving the complex problems we face, I feel they should invest a small percent in building an information base.

Looking at what I'm sharing should be part of their research.  Appoint someone from your team to follow these posts on LinkedIn and learn how concept maps and causal loop diagrams can support your planning and problem solving. 

One final thought. While the visualizations I'm point you to are fantastic, there needs to be a long-term, on-going effort, to share these and engage the public in using the information to help people in places where the maps show help is needed. I've been doing that on this blog since 2005.

If you've been doing work like this already, connect with me on social media (see where you can find me) and share what you're doing. 

If you value the information I'm sharing please visit this page and make a contribution to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. 

7-19-2024 update - here's another KUMU visualization, titled "Aotearoa Futures Network Map" which explores the futures ecosystem in New Zealand.  click here

7-7-2024 update - Kumu.io is a network mapping tool. Here's a blog article showing how to map changes in a network over time.  Here's an example of a community growing over time. 

8-16-2024 update - here's a post on LinkedIn by KUMU, showing work done in Hawaii in 2022 and 2023 to create an Early Childhood Action Strategy.  Follow the links in the article to the project pages and KUMU visualizations. 

10-21-2024 update -  here's a post by Gene Bellinger where he talks about how he began creating systems thinking models.  His work has influenced my thinking since we met on-line more than 13 years ago.

11-18-2024 update - "Unlocking the Power of Systems Thinking. A Practical Guide to Systems Mapping" - article from the Kumu blog.

12-11-2024 update - Here's another KUMU systems map. This describes the problem of recidivism in Alameda County, California.  Click here to view the presentation.

9-29-2025 update - This KUMU map shows people who won INSNA awards in past years. It's an example of using KUMU for social network analysis.  View LinkedIn article.  View KUMU map.

5-13-2026 update - NodeXL has released a new version that enables you to import X (Twitter) data directly into NodeXL, using Apify to map conversations, discover influential voices, etc. See description in this blog article 

Talking about social capital

I was invited to participate in a chat on Twitter this week, hosted by the Christensen Institute, using the hashtags #SoCapChat_CI  and #EconomicMobility.  Their goal was "to help connect the people/organizations who are discussing social capital and economic mobility".  Click on the links and scroll through the Tweets that were posted and you'll gain an understanding of what was discussed. 

As I participated, I shared ideas from my own collection of social capital articles on this blog. Below is one example.

It would have been great if someone from the campaign teams of #Chicago #Mayor candidates had been in this chat. Maybe they will build long-term solutions to problems city faces. #SoCapChat_CI #EconomicMobility https://t.co/Hu5CDIXZaD

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 22, 2023

During the chat I posted a Tweet to my friends at @NodeXL and asked if they would create a graph showing participation.  Below was the result. You can view the graph as this link. 

This graph shows that 116 Twitter users participated in the chat. If you zoom in you can see who these people are and who they connected with. 

I think expanding networks of adults supporting youth in high poverty areas is important and that organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are one strategy for doing this. I created the graphic below in the 1990s to visualize the type of support network that such programs might provide.

Unfortunately too few people who lead youth programs include the idea of expanding social capital in the information they share on their websites.  Too few youth program representatives were in this week's chat, and too few donors, policy-makers and/or business representatives were participating.  

Hopefully a chat like this will be repeated every few months and more people from the ecosystem will show up on NodeXL maps.  I'll try to help make that happen.

Below is one of my concept maps, showing intermediaries who support youth serving programs in Chicago. 

Each node on the top half of this concept map includes links to the organizations shown.  I follow all of them on social media and participate in virtual events that they host.  I try to generate deeper conversations, such as one I had yesterday with a team from Northwestern and the Chicago STEM Co-op.  

Ideally there would be on-going chats hosted by these groups on Twitter and NodeXL type maps would show participation of multiple organizations from my concept map in each of these chats.  In addition, while many are now hosting face-to-face meetings, I urge them to add virtual components.  One reason is that COVID is not over for many of us. A second, is that I feel each participant in a virtual meeting has a closer connection to the speakers and to other participants.  In a room of 100 or more that is not happening. 

Chicago will have a new Mayor after the April election.  I've been sharing posts on Twitter, inviting the two candidates to look at strategies I've been sharing and incorporate those ideas in their own plans. 

#Chicago's going to have a new #Mayor. I don't know who it will be. So I invite both candidates to take a look at this article I wrote in 2007 titled "After the Election". https://t.co/scxioDZljq pic.twitter.com/99gMBDiK0o

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 21, 2023

I have been sharing these ideas since the mid 90s.  Maybe in the coming months and years we will see evidence that staff from the new mayor are looking at this blog and borrowing the ideas.

One piece of evidence would be chats about "how to help kids in Chicago" on Twitter, with NodeXL maps showing participation from a broad section of city leaders and citizens.

I'm available to help mentor that process.  Connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Mastodon (or all of them). See links here. 

If you want to help me continue this work, visit this page and use PayPal to send a small contribution.

Thank you for reading. 

7-19-2023 update - read this new research report about mentoring, social capital and philanthropy. Download report at this site. 

Use To&Through data tool to access community areas

In a few recent articles I focused on using maps and community area data to build an understanding of how much extra support youth in different areas need to move safely through high school, post high school education, then into jobs and careers.

See articles here, here and here.

Yesterday the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research's  (click here)  To&Through Program  (click here) released a new To&Through Community Milestones Tool, which they describe as "a first-of-its-kind interactive data tool that organizes data on CPS students' attainment by the community area in which they live rather than the school they attend."

In my articles I focused on Chicago community area level planning.  In the To&Through Project's interactive dashboard they apply the same lens.  You can sort the report by community area and find demographic information along with school graduation and college attendance rates for each community area, and for demographic groups within each community area.  I show the Austin area in the graphic below.

Here's a link to the 11/4/2021 webinar where they introduced the dashboard and research paper.  Additional webinars will be held on November 9 and November 17.  I encourage planners to watch these and learn to add this data tool to others they use in building an understanding of community area youth development needs.

During the introduction of the webinar the slide I show below expressed a recognition of the need to "Expand accountability for improving students' outcomes and addressing enduring disinvestments in communities of color."  

I'm listening to @UChiToThrough webinar now. Highlighting the point about expanding accountability. We need more people, in all sectors, working to help kids through school and into meaningful jobs and careers. Use #SNA tools like #NodeXL to show networks and growth. https://t.co/yqXyB9RSPf pic.twitter.com/Q8TOSBqySW

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 4, 2021

This is what I've been focusing on for the past 25 years.  More people need to be looking at this information, then sharing what they are learning with others, so more and more people get involved. 

That process needs to continue for a decade or longer so that teams of people form to support the growth of birth-to-work school and non-school youth support programs in all of the community areas where data shows they are needed most.

And that growing interest needs to manifest in a growing flow of dollars into EACH of the high needs community areas, supporting schools and non-school tutor, mentor, jobs, youth development and learning programs.

I hope you'll look at the To&Through Project dashboard and take part in the work needed to help the most underserved communities get more of the resources they need to help more kids from birth-to-work.

Connect with me on one of these social media platforms and help spread this message to more people and places.

If you're able to make a contribution (not tax deductable) to help fund the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, click here.  

Or support my 75th Birthday campaign. Click here. 

Understanding participation in movement building

This is a graphic I've used since 1990s to show how I and everyone else can help draw people to the information available in web libraries, or in face-to-face conferences, that focus on helping youth in high poverty areas move through school and into adult lives with jobs that enable them to raise their own kids free from poverty.

I do this almost every day, using social media, my blogs, my websites and email newsletter. In the 1990s I also had a printed newsletter and a PR firm helping generate media stories.

Yet, the big questions always have been a) who is attending?; b) what networks are they part of? and c) what geography do they represent?.  

I've posted many articles about network building and network analysis on this blog.  Please review some to understand how I've struggled with this for so many years.

 

In some of these I've pointed to NodeXL, which is a tool that can be used to understand who's participating in a Twitter or Facebook conversation that takes place within a defined period of time. 

Today I saw the Tweet below.

Many thanks to @marc_smith for sharing this map of tweets and retweets using #RCGPAC hashtag (from NodeXL interaction map shared earlier today)
Featuring the following & many others@shaunlintern@emahase_@zubhaque@rcgpac@cmo_england@devisridhar@martinrcgp@rcgp@drgandalf52 pic.twitter.com/1351UMyUiP

— Dr Graham Mackenzie🇪🇺 (@gmacscotland) October 16, 2021

What's exciting about this is that it looks like NodeXL has added a spatial analysis feature to their tool. Thus, you can not only create the traditional network analysis map showing who's connected to who in a conversation, now you can create geographic maps showing where participants come from. 

I've connected with Dr. Graham MacKenzie in the past and feel he's doing some of the best work in showing an analysis of the NodeXL maps, helping me and others make sense of what the maps are showing.  Today  he shared with me this link, which points to a collection of articles that he has written.

I have been reaching out to universities for many years with the goal of creating a Tutor/Mentor Connection research/action program on various campuses where students would do everything I have been trying to do, to support the growth of mentor-rich youth programs in the area surrounding each campus.  While I've had help from many interns I've never been able to form a long-term partnership.

Here's another graphic I've used often. It shows that teams of people with a wide range of talents and networks are needed at the program level, neighborhood level and city, state and federal level, to build and sustain mentor rich programs in all the places where they are needed.

These teams need to be involved in an on-going planning/action cycle that builds public will and the flow of resources needed to power all of the youth and family serving organizations that are needed.  

Learning to use NodeXL and other network analysis tools to understand how well leaders are able to attract needed talent, and keep people involved and the network growing over many years, would be a valuable skill.  It's one that students working in a university T/MC could be learning.

I encourage you to follow NodeXL, Mark Smith and Graham MacKenzie on Twitter so you can see the work they do as they do it.   I hope you'll also follow me, @tutormentorteam.

Covid19 draws new attention to Systems Thinking

Systems Thinking see here

This graphic shows a systems thinking planning cycle. You can see it and learn the steps involved, in an article titled, Covid-19 means systems thinking is no longer optional, written by Seth Reynolds, who's part of the team at NPC, a nonprofit consulting firm.

The author writes: 
Coronavirus illustrates the need to bring systems thinking out of the clouds and into the mainstream. We must learn to think, act, and organise systemically, and develop processes, tools and technologies to help us. We don’t claim that it’s simple. But what is clear from recent weeks is that ‘business as usual’ is no longer available and systems approaches are no longer optional.

I  have been writing about systems thinking for many years, as part of an information-based problem solving strategy that I launched in 1993 when creating the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Below is a concept map that includes a graphic from Gene Bellinger, a systems thinking expert. The cycle is the same.

View this map at this link

I wrote a long article in April 2015 where I explained my systems thinking ideas. Below I've posted just the first few paragraphs. Read the entire article at this link.

SunTimes front page
October 15, 1992

---begin 2015 article ----

Next week Chicago will elect a new mayor (or re-elect the incumbent) and will also elect some new aldermen. One of the issues is violence in Chicago. Shootings are up over the past year. They've been up and down for the past 25 years, as this front page from the 1992 Chicago SunTimes illustrates. In July 2014, the front page of both major newspapers featured “Violence in Chicago” stories. It's been an ongoing theme for a few years. In fact, This problem has been in the news off and on for over 20 years.

However, not much has changed. Perhaps if elected officials were leading a “systems thinking” approach to draw stakeholders together, more people might become informed, and involved in solutions. We might find ways to keep people involved for many years.

Business and philanthropic leaders might apply the same process. For instance as The Chicago Community Trust celebrates it's 100th year anniversary, and holds its second annual On The Table event in May, they might have teams facilitating a systems thinking approach to reducing poverty in Chicago areas neighborhoods.

Problem solving is a cyclical process. A group of people get together to solve a problem and the solution leads to new problems that need to be solved, or new learning that leads to year-to-year growth in how the problem is being solved.

Here’s a graphic that I’ve borrowed from a video created by Gene Bellinger, who I met in a Systems Thinking discussion group on Linked-in.

As I view Gene’s videos, my wish is that someone were doing exactly the same presentation, but focused on bringing people together to solve some of the problems we face in Chicago, which are deeply rooted in poverty, income inequality, political power, etc.

I've hacked Gene's video to copy this graphic, then to create views of each element.

I'm using them to communicate an idea that I launched over seven years ago in a blog post focused on comparing the thinking and planning process that General's use to fight wars to what we need to be doing in Chicago to fight poverty and violence by providing stronger, on-going birth-to-work support systems for youth living in high poverty areas. Click on the graphic to enlarge it. Read this article for a full explanation of each step.

--- read the rest of this article at this link -----

Information based

Seth Reynolds is showing that the impact of #covid19 will reach into all sectors and all parts of the world and that it's time for a systems thinking approach that "must now be mainstreamed – individually, organisationally, societally, across public, private and charity sectors."

This process is based on an aggregation of information/data that is used to a) create a shared understanding of the problem; b) and a shared understanding of solutions that are being tried in different places that can inspire innovations in other places.

In the T/MC 4-part strategy
information collection is Step 1

In the 4-part strategy that the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) began using in 1993, Step 1 focuses on collecting "all that is known" about poverty, inequality, and youth serving, volunteer-based tutor, mentor and learning organizations, including funding streams, so that people everywhere can use this information to build and sustain needed k-12 programs in all places where they are needed.

It requires the same systems thinking approaches as Seth Reynolds outlines for this information to be used the way it was intended.

What I want people to think about is a) the work involved in aggregating knowledge from all over the world, sharing it via some technology platform (more than one), keeping it up-dated, then b) drawing more people to the information, and c)  helping them understand it.

Step 2 is a communications and marketing process that requires talented people and, ideally, a lot of money.  Step 3 is an education and learning support process.  Step 4 uses geographic maps to point people to places where solutions are needed.  Imagine thousands of small groups getting together to read my blog articles, or Seth's article, or information shared  on any of the  2000 links I point to in my web library. In Covid19, imagine people being asked to read a certain article, then meet on ZOOM to share their ideas, then write a blog article sharing their own understanding.

Information is at base of
this pyramid - view article

This work is not clearly itemized in Seth's article, nor in many of  the other systems thinking articles I've read. Yet it is fundamental to the success of any problem solving strategy.

At the left is a graphic that shows information at the base of a problem-solving process where the shared goal is that "more youth stay in school, are safe in non-school hours, graduate and move on to careers".

For this to be a reality in thousands of  high poverty places many need to be involved in the type of systems thinking process Seth has outlined in his article.  And there needs to be a web library, like the one the Tutor/Mentor Connection started building in the late 1990s, to support this process.

Read other Systems Thinking articles from this blog - click here.

Read how students in universities and high schools can take on the same role as I do in the Tutor/Mentor Connection/Institute, LLC.  click here

If this interests you let's connect on one of these social media sites.

5-15-2020 update - Thinking of the future after Covid19. On this website "IFTF offers the public—communities, policymakers, civic and business organizations—a guide to creating new visions of the common future." Apply this thinking along with the systems thinking process.

6-9-2020 update - Here's a Forbes article outlining some characteristics leaders of the future will need. These are "essential traits that enable systems thinking".  Click here to read.

6-22-2020 update - I've followed systems thinking articles by Brian G. Dowling for nearly 10 years. None are short, or easy to read, but if you take the time, you'll better understand the complexity of this work. Below is a Tweet posted this week, pointing to this presentation.

System Awareness through Community Knowledge Pathways @Kumupowered presentation (reconstructed) explores primary and secondary human systems of #RuralCommunityFoodSystems https://t.co/fQoNo9xUdf

— New Community Paradigms (@BrianDRPM) June 2, 2020

8-10-2020 update - SSIR article on "systems leadership" describes type of leadership needed to draw people together to solve complex problems.  click here to read.

6-11-2021 update - Map the System even, June 7-11.  Global conversation.  click here

12-14-2021 update - RSA article titled "What does regenerative thinking mean?"  click here

9-15-2023 update - Gene Bellinger shared three systems thinking models that he finds useful.  1) Kumu Community - https://kumu.io/community; 2) Insight Maker - https://insightmaker.com/explore  ; 3) The System Thinker - https://thesystemsthinker.com/  

9-15-2023 update - "How to Embed Systems Thinking in Education. Here's How".  The authors write "The recommendations from this pilot could help reignite imagination, creativity and innovation in the classroom, making learning more enjoyable and fulfilling for students."  click here

7-7-2024 update - here are two examples of mapping a network, using Kumu.io and  using coggle.it. Both show a "Better Together America Ecosystem".   a) the Kumu version: https://kumu.io/mesasebree/healthy-democracy-hubs-map#hubs/center-for-high-impact-philanthropy ; b) the coggle.it version: https://coggle.it/diagram/Zh7VvlCvDnguaLCL/t/better-together-america-ecosystem

8-13-2024 update - This Visual Guide shows "How to utilize NodeXL importers and further functionalities.  click here

9-30-2024 update - learn more about The Process of Community Network Mapping and its challenges. Interview with Aldo de Moor on the Greater than the Sum website. click here

Want to help cover my costs of maintaining the Tutor/Mentor Library and making it freely available to all?  Click here and use PayPal to send a contribution.