Last week I did a mind map showing all of the stories in the Chicago Tribune that illustrated how poverty leads to poor school performance, to at-risk behavior and to a greater percent of minority youth going to jail rather than college. I found 18 stories that I could connect as either illustrating the problem or a potential solution.
This week I tried the same thing, but other than a couple of small reports on street violence (a shooting in Chicago that kills two gets less attention than a shooting in Iraq that kills two. Why?), I could not find any.
Yet, during the week there was a full page story about the deplorable conditions of bathrooms in some innercity Chicago schools, which certainly contributes to a lack of focus on learning. The Tribune did not even print the report on segregation released by the Chicago Urban League. The competing Chicago SunTimes devoted 2/3 of a page to this. Of course there also were stories about the Leave No Child Behind tutoring programs.
What this illustrates is a lack of media strategy to use this resource to provide more consistent attention to issues of poverty. We don't see Sears/K-Mart or other retailers in and out of the Sunday paper every week. They know that if they don't keep telling potential customers that they have the products and services people want, when they want them, and at a convenient location, customers will shop some place else when they are looking for these goods or services.
Tutor/Mentor programs and other non profits serving youth in poverty have the same need for weekly advertising that tells what the problem is, and ways cutomers (donors, volunteers, leaders, etc.) can find a way to help at a convenient location.
It might take a stretch to define "convenient" since the poverty neighborhoods of Chicago are so large. However if we can get a potential donor or volunteer to look at a map, many can see that the work in the downtown area but live in the South, West or North suburbs. The train routes go right through the poverty neighborhoods. So do the expressways. That means that if people were to car pool they could meet downtown after work and drive to a tutor/mentor location near an expressway to tutor or mentor before going the rest of the way home.
Or, a company might use T/MC maps to see that they have many business locations in inner city neighborhoods. This could lead to a strategy of providing philanthropy near where a company does business, not just in a few high profile places.
Unless we can increase the number of times we put our call to involvement in front of the public, and our ability to do this more consistently, all of the money that does go into public awareness will not be doing enough.
Our solution is connecting our message delivery with other non profits and with businesses, faith networks and media, and using the Internet to expand the reach and frequency of our message delivery. However, it would be great to see some consistency from media, even if only on web sites, so that every day the news leads people from bad things into a path that leads to good things.
Visit the web links at the left to learn how we're doing this and ways you might get involved.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Record number of ex-convicts return to streets. Two-Thirds will be rearrested within 3 years.
Have you every heard of a concept called mind mapping?
You take a clean sheet of paper and put a circle in the middle. Add a topic, then start brainstorming everything you know. As you think of things, draw spider lines from the circle and write down each idea. As you think of related ideas, add them as lines extending from main thought lines.
Today I applied this thinking to my Sunday, June 19, Chicago Tribune. One front page article headline was "Record number of ex-convicts return to the streets." As the topic of my mind map I decided to map out all of the articles in today's Tribune that were related to this, or that were offering a strategy to keep youth from prison in the first place, or help them to meaningful jobs after prison so they would be less likely to return. I don't know how to put a graphic on my blog yet, so if you'd like me to fax you my mind map, post a comment below.
I found 18 stories, including two full page advertisements, that I could relate to this topic.
In addition to the front page story, which was followed by two-full inside pages and a map showing that most ex-offenders go into just a few West side and South Side neighborhoods, there were two other stories that I would call "negative news".
For instance, there was a page two story titled, "Happy slap” jobs breed fear, anger" which talked about anti-social behavior associated with working-class youth in Britain’s urban centers." Prime Minster Tony Blair was quoted as saying, “It’s time to reclaim the streets for the decent majority. People are rightly fed up with street corner and shopping center thugs…” I've read similar editorials in Chicago papers over the past 12 years.
There was a page 3 metro story with a headline "3 killed and 4 wounded in weekend shootings." This was not Iraq, this was inner city Chicago.
In the story about ex-offenders, President Bush's 2004 State of the Union speech was quoted. In it he said, “America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.”
In same article, Douglas Marlowe, director of the Section on Criminal Justice Research at the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, was quoted as saying “All of our solutions have been simplistic.”
That's the problem. Our solutions have been much to simplistic. I seldom see anyone holding up a chart like you can see on the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site, that shows a timeline from birth to a career, with elementary school, middle school, high school, college/vocational training, job, as stages that inner city kids go through. I don't see people showing prison or juvenile detention as just a detour on this journey.
My mind map was not a simplistic drawing. It showed the 18 stories that could have been connected in an editorial or Internet strategy.
If we're going to have a sophisticated strategy we should not just be focusing as prison as the place for "corrections". If you think of the growth of a child from birth to the beginning of a job/career by age 25, a few years in prison or a juvenile detention center could be looked upon as just a detour between birth and a career.
The time before prison should be an opportunity for young people to "get it right the first chance. Most should not need the second chance President Bush calls for. If the country were investing more consistently, and in more places where poverty is the enemy, to make prevention, youth development, education, and career aspirations programs more available, we might not need to be talking about so many people in prison and returning to the streets with no skills and few employers waiting to hire them.
While parents, teachers, social workers, mentors, etc. push kids to stay in school and reach their potential, some kids live in neighborhoods where there are too few people modeling positive aspirations and providing significant support. In these neighborhoods business needs to be more involved, using its people, dollars, jobs, youth apprentice and vocational education programs to influence choices kids make, starting as early as 3rd and 4th grade.
Programs that try to change behaviors that have been learned over the first 15 to 20 years of life are doomed to failure, unless there is a significant investment by industry to create career paths for ex-offenders. It's far less expensive to do it right the first time.
The map in the Tribune article shows that many neighborhoods on the west and south side of Chicago are dumping grounds for ex offenders. Statistics show that 2/3 of these will return to prison. If these are the role models for kids between age 3 and 10, what career choices do we expect these kids will make?
Let me go back to my mind map. Here were a few other stories that I put on my mind map. These were not negative news. They were positive.
On page 1 of the Metro section there was a story about teens who get up early in the morning to take public transportation from one end of the city to another, just to get to a good school. On page 2 of the Metro section were two stories telling about a kids video project and a youth with “empathy for the poor”. In the Tribune magazine insert there was a story about a youth program called Changing Worlds. And in the Sports sections two pages recognized scholar-athletes.
However, nothing tied these stories together. There was no mind map, or blueprint in the Tribune, or on its web site, suggesting that these are all part of a problem/solution mosaic that could be leading the 600,000 readers of the Sunday Tribune into a learning/reflection/innovation process that leads more Chicago area residents to take responsibility for making sure that every child in the Chicago region has a better chance to reach a job/career, even if he had a detour in jail.
All of the stories in the Perspective section and in the Editorial page of today's paper were about Dad’s and Father’s Day. No effort was made to talk about how programs like the video project or Changing Worlds could be in every inner city neighborhood, providing an alternative to street life, and building aspirations that could compete with the careers modeled by ex offenders.
There were even two stories in the Business section that could have tied in to this. One talked about how GM pays workers who are laid off, but still on the GM payroll. Another talked about the highest paid CEOs. There was no brainstorming in the commentary section suggesting that these CEOs could be using some of their huge income to support charities that mentor kids to careers, or ex cons to jobs. Neither suggested a strategy on the part of the car company to engage non working employees as coaches or mentors to ex offenders or inner city youth.
I think about these concepts all the time. I'm trying to get others to think about them too. I don't have an advertising budget. But as Sunday's Tribune illustrates, there were many stories that reminded me of the problem and showed me many solutions. However, this is not a simplistic process. We need people who will help us see eduction, violence, public health, incarceration, workforce development, etc. as part of a web of issues related to poverty and too many simplistic solutions.
I encourage you to take next Sunday's paper and create a similar mind map. The stories will be different, but the problems will probably be the same, regardless of what city you are in. As you do this, think of ways your map and my map might connect, or how we might draw more people into this thinking.
I think this would be a great project for kids in a high school or college service learning program or internship. It really shows how events are connected. I think it's a strategy that can get more people involved.
If you can put your map on a web site or blog, let me know what your web site is.
You take a clean sheet of paper and put a circle in the middle. Add a topic, then start brainstorming everything you know. As you think of things, draw spider lines from the circle and write down each idea. As you think of related ideas, add them as lines extending from main thought lines.
 |
| Example of mapping media stories, created in 2007 |
Today I applied this thinking to my Sunday, June 19, Chicago Tribune. One front page article headline was "Record number of ex-convicts return to the streets." As the topic of my mind map I decided to map out all of the articles in today's Tribune that were related to this, or that were offering a strategy to keep youth from prison in the first place, or help them to meaningful jobs after prison so they would be less likely to return. I don't know how to put a graphic on my blog yet, so if you'd like me to fax you my mind map, post a comment below.
I found 18 stories, including two full page advertisements, that I could relate to this topic.
In addition to the front page story, which was followed by two-full inside pages and a map showing that most ex-offenders go into just a few West side and South Side neighborhoods, there were two other stories that I would call "negative news".
For instance, there was a page two story titled, "Happy slap” jobs breed fear, anger" which talked about anti-social behavior associated with working-class youth in Britain’s urban centers." Prime Minster Tony Blair was quoted as saying, “It’s time to reclaim the streets for the decent majority. People are rightly fed up with street corner and shopping center thugs…” I've read similar editorials in Chicago papers over the past 12 years.
There was a page 3 metro story with a headline "3 killed and 4 wounded in weekend shootings." This was not Iraq, this was inner city Chicago.
In the story about ex-offenders, President Bush's 2004 State of the Union speech was quoted. In it he said, “America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.”
In same article, Douglas Marlowe, director of the Section on Criminal Justice Research at the Treatment Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, was quoted as saying “All of our solutions have been simplistic.”
That's the problem. Our solutions have been much to simplistic. I seldom see anyone holding up a chart like you can see on the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site, that shows a timeline from birth to a career, with elementary school, middle school, high school, college/vocational training, job, as stages that inner city kids go through. I don't see people showing prison or juvenile detention as just a detour on this journey.
My mind map was not a simplistic drawing. It showed the 18 stories that could have been connected in an editorial or Internet strategy.
If we're going to have a sophisticated strategy we should not just be focusing as prison as the place for "corrections". If you think of the growth of a child from birth to the beginning of a job/career by age 25, a few years in prison or a juvenile detention center could be looked upon as just a detour between birth and a career.
The time before prison should be an opportunity for young people to "get it right the first chance. Most should not need the second chance President Bush calls for. If the country were investing more consistently, and in more places where poverty is the enemy, to make prevention, youth development, education, and career aspirations programs more available, we might not need to be talking about so many people in prison and returning to the streets with no skills and few employers waiting to hire them.
While parents, teachers, social workers, mentors, etc. push kids to stay in school and reach their potential, some kids live in neighborhoods where there are too few people modeling positive aspirations and providing significant support. In these neighborhoods business needs to be more involved, using its people, dollars, jobs, youth apprentice and vocational education programs to influence choices kids make, starting as early as 3rd and 4th grade.
Programs that try to change behaviors that have been learned over the first 15 to 20 years of life are doomed to failure, unless there is a significant investment by industry to create career paths for ex-offenders. It's far less expensive to do it right the first time.
The map in the Tribune article shows that many neighborhoods on the west and south side of Chicago are dumping grounds for ex offenders. Statistics show that 2/3 of these will return to prison. If these are the role models for kids between age 3 and 10, what career choices do we expect these kids will make?
Let me go back to my mind map. Here were a few other stories that I put on my mind map. These were not negative news. They were positive.
On page 1 of the Metro section there was a story about teens who get up early in the morning to take public transportation from one end of the city to another, just to get to a good school. On page 2 of the Metro section were two stories telling about a kids video project and a youth with “empathy for the poor”. In the Tribune magazine insert there was a story about a youth program called Changing Worlds. And in the Sports sections two pages recognized scholar-athletes.
However, nothing tied these stories together. There was no mind map, or blueprint in the Tribune, or on its web site, suggesting that these are all part of a problem/solution mosaic that could be leading the 600,000 readers of the Sunday Tribune into a learning/reflection/innovation process that leads more Chicago area residents to take responsibility for making sure that every child in the Chicago region has a better chance to reach a job/career, even if he had a detour in jail.
All of the stories in the Perspective section and in the Editorial page of today's paper were about Dad’s and Father’s Day. No effort was made to talk about how programs like the video project or Changing Worlds could be in every inner city neighborhood, providing an alternative to street life, and building aspirations that could compete with the careers modeled by ex offenders.
There were even two stories in the Business section that could have tied in to this. One talked about how GM pays workers who are laid off, but still on the GM payroll. Another talked about the highest paid CEOs. There was no brainstorming in the commentary section suggesting that these CEOs could be using some of their huge income to support charities that mentor kids to careers, or ex cons to jobs. Neither suggested a strategy on the part of the car company to engage non working employees as coaches or mentors to ex offenders or inner city youth.
I think about these concepts all the time. I'm trying to get others to think about them too. I don't have an advertising budget. But as Sunday's Tribune illustrates, there were many stories that reminded me of the problem and showed me many solutions. However, this is not a simplistic process. We need people who will help us see eduction, violence, public health, incarceration, workforce development, etc. as part of a web of issues related to poverty and too many simplistic solutions.
I encourage you to take next Sunday's paper and create a similar mind map. The stories will be different, but the problems will probably be the same, regardless of what city you are in. As you do this, think of ways your map and my map might connect, or how we might draw more people into this thinking.
I think this would be a great project for kids in a high school or college service learning program or internship. It really shows how events are connected. I think it's a strategy that can get more people involved.
If you can put your map on a web site or blog, let me know what your web site is.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Must Reading! Why the system does not work and why the Tutor/Mentor Connection seeks to reverse it
Thank you Gita Rao for sending me this article. I'm posting it here and will be sending email to all of those who care about how we help kids move through school and into careers. If we cannot change the funding process we can never change the outcomes.
Please read this and forward it to anyone who has ever considered making a donation to support a charity:
The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow Universe, by Clara Miller
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/704.html
Please read this and forward it to anyone who has ever considered making a donation to support a charity:
The Looking-Glass World of Nonprofit Money: Managing in For-Profits’ Shadow Universe, by Clara Miller
http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/section/704.html
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
New research shows juvenile offenders at risk to die early
On page 3 or the Metro Section of the June 6, 2005 Chicago Tribune, an article reports on a new study published in the June issue of Pediatrics. The study concludes: Early violent death among delinquent and general-population youth affects racial/ethnic minorities disproportionately and should be addressed as are other health disparities.
Here are some quotes from the Tribune article
"Leaders in violence prevention say the study is a wakeup call to the needs of a wide variety of poor and minority youths. Delinquent African American males in the study had the highest mortality figures. The next highest rate was for Hispanic males."
"This should be recognized and used as a red flag not to body-slam these (delinquent) kids, but to give them some services and some protective factors," said Carl Bell, a child psychiatrist and president of the Chicago Community Memorial Health Council.
I agree. Now, how can we connect with the media, the health council and others to put this message on the front page instead of page 3 of the Metro section? How can we build a strategy that connects news and research to advocacy and to web directories that show what agencies are working in inner city neighborhoods to prevent kids from entering the juvenile Justice system, or to provide meaningful paths out of the system and into jobs/careers?
In a world where most people are focused on their own concerns, their own health issues, or the challenges of raising their own kids, how do we get people to become passionate about helping kids who don't look the same, have negative media images, and don't even live in the same neighborhood?
In a world focused on war, terrorism, politics, how do we draw attention to the unequal opportunities of kids living in poverty?
I believe the internet, blogging, web forums, etc. offer tools to connect those who care about these kids in a virtual forum that draws more consistent attention and resources to young people born in poverty. If you agree, join the Tutor/Mentor Connection in this effort.
Here are some quotes from the Tribune article
"Leaders in violence prevention say the study is a wakeup call to the needs of a wide variety of poor and minority youths. Delinquent African American males in the study had the highest mortality figures. The next highest rate was for Hispanic males."
"This should be recognized and used as a red flag not to body-slam these (delinquent) kids, but to give them some services and some protective factors," said Carl Bell, a child psychiatrist and president of the Chicago Community Memorial Health Council.
I agree. Now, how can we connect with the media, the health council and others to put this message on the front page instead of page 3 of the Metro section? How can we build a strategy that connects news and research to advocacy and to web directories that show what agencies are working in inner city neighborhoods to prevent kids from entering the juvenile Justice system, or to provide meaningful paths out of the system and into jobs/careers?
In a world where most people are focused on their own concerns, their own health issues, or the challenges of raising their own kids, how do we get people to become passionate about helping kids who don't look the same, have negative media images, and don't even live in the same neighborhood?
In a world focused on war, terrorism, politics, how do we draw attention to the unequal opportunities of kids living in poverty?
I believe the internet, blogging, web forums, etc. offer tools to connect those who care about these kids in a virtual forum that draws more consistent attention and resources to young people born in poverty. If you agree, join the Tutor/Mentor Connection in this effort.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Jesus or Martin Luther King, Jr. As CEO: Think about it.
A few years ago a supporter of the Tutor/Mentor Connection sent me the book, Jesus as CEO, written by Laurie Beth Jones. (link updated)
It took me a while to get around to reading the book, but when I did it became an inspiration that continues to support me in my work to this day. It shows how much impact a single person can have in this huge world.
As I think about all the challenges facing kids living in poverty, I'm prompted to ask, "What would Jesus do if he were CEO of the business of helping every child born in poverty be in a job, career, by age 25?"
I've also been inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech where he said, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " You can read the entire speech here. (link updated)
What if Dr. King were the CEO of the business of making this dream a reality?
Walk with me on a little mental model. Imagine you are in the first planning meeting with Jesus or Dr. King and they are introducing their vision and strategy. What would they say that inspired you to work to accomplish the goals they outlined? How would they have presented this information? Two thousand years ago tools like power point, animation, electronic white board and visual brainstorming were not available. I don't think they were even available 50 years ago.
Yet today we have many technologies that support business planning, brainstorming and visioning. I've listed a few below.
So, imagine that Jesus and Dr. King have web sites, and have access to power point, animation, auto cad, etc. Can you imagine how they would have presented their vision using these tools? What types of graphics would have been used to convey Dr. King's vision? How would Jesus have communicated a 2000 year timeline and expansion strategy?
If you can imagine what these presentations might have included, can you put your mental map on paper, and on a web site? Do you know of people who have already done this? If you can imagine how Jesus or Dr. King's presentation would have looked like, can you create a similar business plan that "leaves no child behind" and achieves Dr. King's vision?
Maybe if we create such a plan our public leaders might adopt it and lead it.
The goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (archived site) is to find people who are using mental modeling, backward mapping, virtual brainstorming and other innovation tools to create a plan that engages business, philanthropy, schools, hospitals, community based organizations and public leaders in a hundred-year campaign aimed at helping kids born in poverty be starting jobs/careers by age 25.
We want to host this process on our web sites and encourage others to do the same. We want to link to other web sites where this process is already being hosted in churches, alumni groups, universities, law firms, engineering associations, fraternities and sororities all over the world. In such a network we are all constantly learning from each other and some of us are constantly working together to provide resources that others can use at low or no costs to support this action plan in every neighborhood where kids need help to get to jobs and careers.
That's our dream. In the Tutor/Mentor Institute web site you can see how we describe this using the tools we have available to us. Below are tools that I've seen on the Internet which I wish were available to the Tutor/Mentor Connection.
I keep sending proposals to Chicago area foundations asking for funds to incorporate these technologies into the Tutor/Mentor Connection, but have had limited response. Thus, I'm casting my net to the rest of the world and to other communities that have the same need for a strategy that succeeds in helping kids born in poverty be entering jobs/careers by age 25. If you have expertise in these technologies or in these planning processes and would like to help turn our mental model into a real blueprint, please email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net
If you are already building such a model and have it on your web site, please let me know so I can add a link from my web site to your planning model. I'm sure that Jesus and Dr. King would have had to include a section on their plan for evangelization and advertising. If no one looked at the plan, how could they expect to make it a reality?
They also would have been benchmarking competitors and innovating constant improvement based on what they were learning. By putting your vision on your web site you enable others to compare what they are doing to what you are doing and learn ways they can constantly improve what they do to help kids. While most businesses keep their innovations secret, we want to share our innovations in ways that others can duplicate them.
By linking our web sites we increase the number of people who look at our vision and our plan, without increasing the cost of attracting these visitors to our web sites. We also increase the sharing of good ideas and the number of people who work together to increase the flow of resources to support innovation and process improvement.
I'm sure all of these concepts would have been in the strategies outlined by Dr. King and Jesus. Imagine what we could learn from them if we could find their plans some place on the Internet.
You can find links to the web sites I've referred to in this message and to many others at Learning and Management Blogs section of the Tutor/Mentor web library to find more examples of knowledge management, decision support, innovation and creativity.
It took me a while to get around to reading the book, but when I did it became an inspiration that continues to support me in my work to this day. It shows how much impact a single person can have in this huge world.
As I think about all the challenges facing kids living in poverty, I'm prompted to ask, "What would Jesus do if he were CEO of the business of helping every child born in poverty be in a job, career, by age 25?"
I've also been inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech where he said, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. " You can read the entire speech here. (link updated)
What if Dr. King were the CEO of the business of making this dream a reality?
Walk with me on a little mental model. Imagine you are in the first planning meeting with Jesus or Dr. King and they are introducing their vision and strategy. What would they say that inspired you to work to accomplish the goals they outlined? How would they have presented this information? Two thousand years ago tools like power point, animation, electronic white board and visual brainstorming were not available. I don't think they were even available 50 years ago.
Yet today we have many technologies that support business planning, brainstorming and visioning. I've listed a few below.
So, imagine that Jesus and Dr. King have web sites, and have access to power point, animation, auto cad, etc. Can you imagine how they would have presented their vision using these tools? What types of graphics would have been used to convey Dr. King's vision? How would Jesus have communicated a 2000 year timeline and expansion strategy?
If you can imagine what these presentations might have included, can you put your mental map on paper, and on a web site? Do you know of people who have already done this? If you can imagine how Jesus or Dr. King's presentation would have looked like, can you create a similar business plan that "leaves no child behind" and achieves Dr. King's vision?
Maybe if we create such a plan our public leaders might adopt it and lead it.
The goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (archived site) is to find people who are using mental modeling, backward mapping, virtual brainstorming and other innovation tools to create a plan that engages business, philanthropy, schools, hospitals, community based organizations and public leaders in a hundred-year campaign aimed at helping kids born in poverty be starting jobs/careers by age 25.
We want to host this process on our web sites and encourage others to do the same. We want to link to other web sites where this process is already being hosted in churches, alumni groups, universities, law firms, engineering associations, fraternities and sororities all over the world. In such a network we are all constantly learning from each other and some of us are constantly working together to provide resources that others can use at low or no costs to support this action plan in every neighborhood where kids need help to get to jobs and careers.
That's our dream. In the Tutor/Mentor Institute web site you can see how we describe this using the tools we have available to us. Below are tools that I've seen on the Internet which I wish were available to the Tutor/Mentor Connection.
I keep sending proposals to Chicago area foundations asking for funds to incorporate these technologies into the Tutor/Mentor Connection, but have had limited response. Thus, I'm casting my net to the rest of the world and to other communities that have the same need for a strategy that succeeds in helping kids born in poverty be entering jobs/careers by age 25. If you have expertise in these technologies or in these planning processes and would like to help turn our mental model into a real blueprint, please email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net
If you are already building such a model and have it on your web site, please let me know so I can add a link from my web site to your planning model. I'm sure that Jesus and Dr. King would have had to include a section on their plan for evangelization and advertising. If no one looked at the plan, how could they expect to make it a reality?
They also would have been benchmarking competitors and innovating constant improvement based on what they were learning. By putting your vision on your web site you enable others to compare what they are doing to what you are doing and learn ways they can constantly improve what they do to help kids. While most businesses keep their innovations secret, we want to share our innovations in ways that others can duplicate them.
By linking our web sites we increase the number of people who look at our vision and our plan, without increasing the cost of attracting these visitors to our web sites. We also increase the sharing of good ideas and the number of people who work together to increase the flow of resources to support innovation and process improvement.
I'm sure all of these concepts would have been in the strategies outlined by Dr. King and Jesus. Imagine what we could learn from them if we could find their plans some place on the Internet.
You can find links to the web sites I've referred to in this message and to many others at Learning and Management Blogs section of the Tutor/Mentor web library to find more examples of knowledge management, decision support, innovation and creativity.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Memorial Day: Just Don't Forget
This weekend is going to provide a visible opportunity for those who are elected leaders, and those who want to be elected leaders, to use the memory of those who died to preserve democracy to once again show what hypocrites they all are.
Why do I believe this? Because while public figures and media honor those who fought and died in traditional wars, few encourage this same degree of personal sacrifice in the war on poverty, racism, and inequality in America.
Why do I believe this? Because few will use their daily visibility to encourage citizens and corporations to be involved in community service. The volunteer button and donate button on the web sites of most politicians points to a place where you can learn how to help them get elected or stay elected, not to a place where your time, talent and dollars help a youth born in poverty have a pipeline of adult and business support that assures that he will be in a job/career by age 25.
On Monday evening, almost every TV station in America will have a few video clips of local parades and local celebrities who march in these parades. Yet few will point to a place on their own web site where citizens are encouraged to learn about the issues of poverty, or where they can become a volunteer, leader, donor or business partner with a community organization working to help a young person move to a career.
Yet, during the year there will be many occasions where newspapers, TV and/or radio, write stories with headlines like:
These are our children, By JOSEPH R. WALL
Locked Out at a Young Age, By BOB HERBERT, New York Times
Seldom do these stories include web site address where you can read research posted on the Internet by organizations like Chapin Hall Center for Children, Public/Private Ventures or Voices 4 Illinois Kids. Here are the titles of just a few recent publications that I have links to on T/MC web sites:
Leaving the Street: Young Fathers Move from Hustling to Legitimate Workby Lauren J. Kotloff
One Child Many Needs
A growing number of people understand that, if we want to improve children's education, we must reform the inadequacy and unfairness of our state's school-funding system. But that's only half the work necessary to do the job right, according to a new report by Voices for Illinois Children.
A Shared Agenda: A Leadership Challenge to Improve College Access and Success, on the Pathways to College Network web site.
These are just a few articles and research reports that can be found in the LINKS and Resources sections of http://www.tutormentorconnection.org and http://www.tutormentorexchange.net.
Why we should get involved, only leads to questions of where?, and to how?. Poverty is not something that ends with a sound byte. It takes 25 years for a youth born in poverty today to reach age 25. Statistics show that many inner city kids won't be alive then, many will be in jail, and too many will have dropped out of school and have little hope for a positive future...all because too few leaders today and in the past have been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to create a system that reaches these kids and sustains consistent support until they are out of poverty and in careers. You can read some of these statistics on the web site of the Alternative Schools Network of Chicago (http://www.asnchicago.org).
Thus, we need to also point to web sites where complex ideas are being discussed and broken down to components, like job responsibilities are broken down among thousands of contractors who will be building the new Trump Tower in Chicago.
The engineers building the Trump Tower know that first you need a vision, second you need a plan, third you need financing (maybe this comes second), fourth you need a blueprint, and fifth, you start at the foundation, then build the project a floor at a time. In raising kids or ending poverty, the nation has no vision, no plan, no financing, no blueprint, and we're starting all over the place and wondering why we're not being successful.
Random acts of kindness don't build a building and don't raise a child.
Change will only occur when people learn to get involved and stay involved, often repeating the same actions over and over for many years. For instance, giving money to a tutor/mentor program is an action that needs to repeat from year to year. Foundations that provide seed money then expect someone else to sustain the project are wasting money when no donors come forward to build the next stages of the project. Corporations who want better educated workers, or a more diverse workforce, need to fund the pipeline, from preschool all the way to employment. Focusing workplace payroll deduction fund raising on tutor/mentor programs would be one way to provide a consistent flow of dollars into youth serving organizations.
What does this mean to the leaders walking in Monday's parades, or to the media covering them? It means we need to find ways to draw attention to this work every day of the year, not just one day of the year. And we need to use the Internet as a place to host information and connect those who want to help with places where they can be reinforcements. We need to teach reporters, editors, columnist to put web links at the end of each story, so that each story leads to a path of involvement.
In October 1992 when six other volunteers and I created Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, a little boy named Dantrell Davis had just been shot and killed while walking to school in Cabrini Green.
This led to public outrage and full-page stories in Chicago's major newspapers. On the front page of the October 15, 1992 Chicago Sun-Times, the headline was "THE KILLING GROUND". The sub head was "7-Year-Old's Death at Cabrini Requires Action" In this front page editorial, the Editor of the Sun-Times wrote, "This isn't something you can let the other guy be indignant over. It's past time for you to take responsibility for solving the problems of Chicago. Please don't let this be someone else's problem. It's yours. It's mine. Let's retake our city and begin working to solve the horribly destructive problems of poverty, hopelessness and racism."
I have this front page posted on the wall outside of my office so that myself and everyone in our organization is reminded of this responsibility every day. Once a year I send this to the Sun-Times to encourage them not to forget.
Yet, I'm disappointed that our media and so few of our leaders are using Memorial Day and other public occasions to keep this memory and this challenge alive. I'm disappointed that our leaders and celebrities not yet using the potential of the Internet to connect those who can help with information that shows why they are needed, where they are needed, how long they need to stay involved, and ways they can contribute time, talent, dollars, to win the war on poverty.
I want to think that at some parade in the future, some of the heroes that we remember on Memorial Day will be people who dedicated their lives to winning the war on poverty in America and in the world.
Maybe if we do that we won't have to have so many young men and women fighting and dying in wars that have their roots in poverty, racism and hopelessness.
What do you think?
Why do I believe this? Because while public figures and media honor those who fought and died in traditional wars, few encourage this same degree of personal sacrifice in the war on poverty, racism, and inequality in America.
Why do I believe this? Because few will use their daily visibility to encourage citizens and corporations to be involved in community service. The volunteer button and donate button on the web sites of most politicians points to a place where you can learn how to help them get elected or stay elected, not to a place where your time, talent and dollars help a youth born in poverty have a pipeline of adult and business support that assures that he will be in a job/career by age 25.
On Monday evening, almost every TV station in America will have a few video clips of local parades and local celebrities who march in these parades. Yet few will point to a place on their own web site where citizens are encouraged to learn about the issues of poverty, or where they can become a volunteer, leader, donor or business partner with a community organization working to help a young person move to a career.
Yet, during the year there will be many occasions where newspapers, TV and/or radio, write stories with headlines like:
These are our children, By JOSEPH R. WALL
Locked Out at a Young Age, By BOB HERBERT, New York Times
Seldom do these stories include web site address where you can read research posted on the Internet by organizations like Chapin Hall Center for Children, Public/Private Ventures or Voices 4 Illinois Kids. Here are the titles of just a few recent publications that I have links to on T/MC web sites:
Leaving the Street: Young Fathers Move from Hustling to Legitimate Workby Lauren J. Kotloff
One Child Many Needs
A growing number of people understand that, if we want to improve children's education, we must reform the inadequacy and unfairness of our state's school-funding system. But that's only half the work necessary to do the job right, according to a new report by Voices for Illinois Children.
A Shared Agenda: A Leadership Challenge to Improve College Access and Success, on the Pathways to College Network web site.
These are just a few articles and research reports that can be found in the LINKS and Resources sections of http://www.tutormentorconnection.org and http://www.tutormentorexchange.net.
Why we should get involved, only leads to questions of where?, and to how?. Poverty is not something that ends with a sound byte. It takes 25 years for a youth born in poverty today to reach age 25. Statistics show that many inner city kids won't be alive then, many will be in jail, and too many will have dropped out of school and have little hope for a positive future...all because too few leaders today and in the past have been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to create a system that reaches these kids and sustains consistent support until they are out of poverty and in careers. You can read some of these statistics on the web site of the Alternative Schools Network of Chicago (http://www.asnchicago.org).
Thus, we need to also point to web sites where complex ideas are being discussed and broken down to components, like job responsibilities are broken down among thousands of contractors who will be building the new Trump Tower in Chicago.
The engineers building the Trump Tower know that first you need a vision, second you need a plan, third you need financing (maybe this comes second), fourth you need a blueprint, and fifth, you start at the foundation, then build the project a floor at a time. In raising kids or ending poverty, the nation has no vision, no plan, no financing, no blueprint, and we're starting all over the place and wondering why we're not being successful.
Random acts of kindness don't build a building and don't raise a child.
Change will only occur when people learn to get involved and stay involved, often repeating the same actions over and over for many years. For instance, giving money to a tutor/mentor program is an action that needs to repeat from year to year. Foundations that provide seed money then expect someone else to sustain the project are wasting money when no donors come forward to build the next stages of the project. Corporations who want better educated workers, or a more diverse workforce, need to fund the pipeline, from preschool all the way to employment. Focusing workplace payroll deduction fund raising on tutor/mentor programs would be one way to provide a consistent flow of dollars into youth serving organizations.
What does this mean to the leaders walking in Monday's parades, or to the media covering them? It means we need to find ways to draw attention to this work every day of the year, not just one day of the year. And we need to use the Internet as a place to host information and connect those who want to help with places where they can be reinforcements. We need to teach reporters, editors, columnist to put web links at the end of each story, so that each story leads to a path of involvement.
In October 1992 when six other volunteers and I created Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, a little boy named Dantrell Davis had just been shot and killed while walking to school in Cabrini Green.
This led to public outrage and full-page stories in Chicago's major newspapers. On the front page of the October 15, 1992 Chicago Sun-Times, the headline was "THE KILLING GROUND". The sub head was "7-Year-Old's Death at Cabrini Requires Action" In this front page editorial, the Editor of the Sun-Times wrote, "This isn't something you can let the other guy be indignant over. It's past time for you to take responsibility for solving the problems of Chicago. Please don't let this be someone else's problem. It's yours. It's mine. Let's retake our city and begin working to solve the horribly destructive problems of poverty, hopelessness and racism."
I have this front page posted on the wall outside of my office so that myself and everyone in our organization is reminded of this responsibility every day. Once a year I send this to the Sun-Times to encourage them not to forget.
Yet, I'm disappointed that our media and so few of our leaders are using Memorial Day and other public occasions to keep this memory and this challenge alive. I'm disappointed that our leaders and celebrities not yet using the potential of the Internet to connect those who can help with information that shows why they are needed, where they are needed, how long they need to stay involved, and ways they can contribute time, talent, dollars, to win the war on poverty.
I want to think that at some parade in the future, some of the heroes that we remember on Memorial Day will be people who dedicated their lives to winning the war on poverty in America and in the world.
Maybe if we do that we won't have to have so many young men and women fighting and dying in wars that have their roots in poverty, racism and hopelessness.
What do you think?
Monday, May 23, 2005
Tutor/Mentor eConference, Today, May 23, hosted by IUPUI
For nearly 30 years I've been sending out invitations for others who work of volunteer with tutoring/mentoring programs to come together to share ideas, network and collaborate.
A few years ago while hosting a conference at a Chicago hotel, a man from another conference at the same hotel stopped by our registration table to introduce himself. He was from Indianapolis and had an interest in mentoring.
A couple years after that people from IUPUI in Indianapolis began attending the Tutor/Mentor Conferences in Chicago. It turns out the first person who accident I started talking to, and who I had added to my email newsletter list, had been forwarding my email to others.
Today IUPUI will be hosting a Tutor/Mentor eConference, using the Internet as a meeting place. The web site is http://econference.uc.iupui.edu/
This shows what can happen by one person creating space where others can meet and network.
I hope that some of the people who attend today's even will be new partners and leaders in the Tutor/Mentor movement one or a few years from now. That's our goal in hosting these events. We want to stimulate actions that lead to more and better volunteer based tutor/mentor programs in places where they are needed.
You're welcome to join in. It's Free. If you cannot join today, visit http://www.tutormentorexchange.net and join one of our eGroups. The next conferences will be in November, but our focus now is on volunteer recruitment as school starts in August and September.
Thanks to everyone who is taking part in today's event, especially to IUPUI for hosting and organizing the slate of speakers.
If you participate in today's eConference and would like to provide comments or feedback, please add a comment to this message.
A few years ago while hosting a conference at a Chicago hotel, a man from another conference at the same hotel stopped by our registration table to introduce himself. He was from Indianapolis and had an interest in mentoring.
A couple years after that people from IUPUI in Indianapolis began attending the Tutor/Mentor Conferences in Chicago. It turns out the first person who accident I started talking to, and who I had added to my email newsletter list, had been forwarding my email to others.
Today IUPUI will be hosting a Tutor/Mentor eConference, using the Internet as a meeting place. The web site is http://econference.uc.iupui.edu/
This shows what can happen by one person creating space where others can meet and network.
I hope that some of the people who attend today's even will be new partners and leaders in the Tutor/Mentor movement one or a few years from now. That's our goal in hosting these events. We want to stimulate actions that lead to more and better volunteer based tutor/mentor programs in places where they are needed.
You're welcome to join in. It's Free. If you cannot join today, visit http://www.tutormentorexchange.net and join one of our eGroups. The next conferences will be in November, but our focus now is on volunteer recruitment as school starts in August and September.
Thanks to everyone who is taking part in today's event, especially to IUPUI for hosting and organizing the slate of speakers.
If you participate in today's eConference and would like to provide comments or feedback, please add a comment to this message.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Can we meet? Can we find ways to work together?
I was getting ready to send this email to a person that I respect as a community organizer. I decided to post it as an open invitation to anyone who would like to work with the Tutor/Mentor Connection.
Can we meet again soon to talk about next step strategies?
There are many people collecting information that shows how youth and young adults in low income areas are at a disadvantage in moving through school and into jobs/careers. Some have better contacts than others, some have better strategies, and some have better funding. Few do all three.
I've been aggregating information and web links at the Tutor/Mentor Connection (now an archive) and http://www.tutormentorexchange.net. These show the connection between different advocates. While the T/MC Leadership Conferences and e-Conferences draw a growing number of people together, I don't have the clout (or skills, and money) to draw many of these different people together on a consistent basis to talk of ways to work together on key points.
You might have the facilitation or marketing ability to do this.
I attended a Welfare Symposium in Chicago in late April, co-hosted by Jerome Stermer of Voices 4 Illinois Children. More than 200 people were there, including a few dignitaries. I attended a dinner hosted by the Academic Development Institute. Dr. James Comer was the speaker and nearly 100 people attended. I attended a breakfast hosted by Jack Wuest of the Alternative Schools Network. More than 200 people attended, along with Emil Jones, Arnie Duncan and other state leaders. I updated my organization's information at http://illinoisparents.org this morning. I also put the next meetings of the Illinois College and Career Access Network, the Illinois Afterschool Alliance, and the Chicago Coalition for Community Schools on my calendar.
It seems that almost every week someone is gathering a group of people to talk about some part of the problem of helping disadvantaged kids move through school and into jobs/careers.
There's an overlap of who attends these meetings. It's a small fraternity of people who care and are active in trying to make things better for disadvantaged communities. However too few people are involved and there's a common void. Too few business leaders are at these meetings or strategically engaged in the mission of these organizations.
There's also a strategic void. Each meeting focuses on the agenda of each organizer and few use maps of Chicago or Illinois to point to where the problem is as part of a strategy of drawing private and public sector resources on a more consistent basis to organizations in poverty neighborhoods who are already working to help kids move to careers. That's because few organizations are maintaining such databases or mapping the information for purposes of drawing volunteers, dollars, leaders, business partners, etc. directly to existing organizations.
In aggregating this information on T/MC web sites I'm trying to fill this void. However, the common challenge we all face is not enough people are paying attention. When I look at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, the few stories that draw attention to the challenges poor neighborhoods have of raising kids are not connected to each other, nor to the web sites and the meetings each group holds. there does not seem to be a strategy that connects news and commentary to web sites where people can get information and get involved.
That means each gathering only reaches a few of all of the people who need to be reached on an on-going basis. We're not increasing the size of this army of concerned citizens fast enough to change the future for kids entering first grade next fall.
Only by linking our strategies, our meetings, and our strengths can we create a larger on-going visibility that will not only draw immediate resources (volunteers, dollars) to all of the organizations who need a consistent flow of dollars to build stability and constant improvement into their work, but will also increase the size of the choir of people who are needed to influence public policy and public funding on the state or national level.
I may might not be the best person to do the inviting or to facilitate a meeting of all of these people. The T/MC is too small and it's underfunded. We don't have the clout or money to rent out Chicago's Union League Club for a fancy breakfast, or to attract a panel of high profile leaders. I don't need to be that leader if I can find ways where others take that role, and where others link their meetings to on-line forums and to a network of web sites that provide paths of involvement and lead to a distribution of resources DOWN to agencies doing the work in every neighborhood where kids need extra help.
I hope that anyone who reads this will forward it to a few other people who might want to take a lead, or support the work the T/MC is doing. Maybe you can help us find ways we can generate new funding so that the Tutor/Mentor Connection can continue to provide a linkage between various organizations via what we do on our web sites and the way we are piloting the use of a GIS to show the connections between groups, ideas and advocacy. You can email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net if you'd like to talk.
Can we meet again soon to talk about next step strategies?
There are many people collecting information that shows how youth and young adults in low income areas are at a disadvantage in moving through school and into jobs/careers. Some have better contacts than others, some have better strategies, and some have better funding. Few do all three.
I've been aggregating information and web links at the Tutor/Mentor Connection (now an archive) and http://www.tutormentorexchange.net. These show the connection between different advocates. While the T/MC Leadership Conferences and e-Conferences draw a growing number of people together, I don't have the clout (or skills, and money) to draw many of these different people together on a consistent basis to talk of ways to work together on key points.
You might have the facilitation or marketing ability to do this.
I attended a Welfare Symposium in Chicago in late April, co-hosted by Jerome Stermer of Voices 4 Illinois Children. More than 200 people were there, including a few dignitaries. I attended a dinner hosted by the Academic Development Institute. Dr. James Comer was the speaker and nearly 100 people attended. I attended a breakfast hosted by Jack Wuest of the Alternative Schools Network. More than 200 people attended, along with Emil Jones, Arnie Duncan and other state leaders. I updated my organization's information at http://illinoisparents.org this morning. I also put the next meetings of the Illinois College and Career Access Network, the Illinois Afterschool Alliance, and the Chicago Coalition for Community Schools on my calendar.
It seems that almost every week someone is gathering a group of people to talk about some part of the problem of helping disadvantaged kids move through school and into jobs/careers.
There's an overlap of who attends these meetings. It's a small fraternity of people who care and are active in trying to make things better for disadvantaged communities. However too few people are involved and there's a common void. Too few business leaders are at these meetings or strategically engaged in the mission of these organizations.
There's also a strategic void. Each meeting focuses on the agenda of each organizer and few use maps of Chicago or Illinois to point to where the problem is as part of a strategy of drawing private and public sector resources on a more consistent basis to organizations in poverty neighborhoods who are already working to help kids move to careers. That's because few organizations are maintaining such databases or mapping the information for purposes of drawing volunteers, dollars, leaders, business partners, etc. directly to existing organizations.
In aggregating this information on T/MC web sites I'm trying to fill this void. However, the common challenge we all face is not enough people are paying attention. When I look at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, the few stories that draw attention to the challenges poor neighborhoods have of raising kids are not connected to each other, nor to the web sites and the meetings each group holds. there does not seem to be a strategy that connects news and commentary to web sites where people can get information and get involved.
That means each gathering only reaches a few of all of the people who need to be reached on an on-going basis. We're not increasing the size of this army of concerned citizens fast enough to change the future for kids entering first grade next fall.
Only by linking our strategies, our meetings, and our strengths can we create a larger on-going visibility that will not only draw immediate resources (volunteers, dollars) to all of the organizations who need a consistent flow of dollars to build stability and constant improvement into their work, but will also increase the size of the choir of people who are needed to influence public policy and public funding on the state or national level.
I may might not be the best person to do the inviting or to facilitate a meeting of all of these people. The T/MC is too small and it's underfunded. We don't have the clout or money to rent out Chicago's Union League Club for a fancy breakfast, or to attract a panel of high profile leaders. I don't need to be that leader if I can find ways where others take that role, and where others link their meetings to on-line forums and to a network of web sites that provide paths of involvement and lead to a distribution of resources DOWN to agencies doing the work in every neighborhood where kids need extra help.
I hope that anyone who reads this will forward it to a few other people who might want to take a lead, or support the work the T/MC is doing. Maybe you can help us find ways we can generate new funding so that the Tutor/Mentor Connection can continue to provide a linkage between various organizations via what we do on our web sites and the way we are piloting the use of a GIS to show the connections between groups, ideas and advocacy. You can email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net if you'd like to talk.
2022 update: I've continued this work since writing this article in 2005. The same challenges exist. In 2011 I created Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to try to keep the T/MC alive in Chicago. It's been a challenge. Most of the sites created in the 2000s are now only archives.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Volunteers Make a Difference
On Thursday and Friday, May 12 and 13, more than 140 people gathered at the Northwestern University Law School in Chicago for the 23rd Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference. Participants came from California, Texas, Canada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, etc.
From May 6 to 12 a Tutor/Mentor eConference connected even more people with each other, and with information that we hope helps people innovate ways to connect tutors, mentors and change agents with children and youth living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty, poorly performing schools and many other social/economic barriers that kids must overcome to reach jobs and careers. Another eConference will be held on May 23.
This is all made possible by volunteers. The speakers at these conferences are volunteers. People who help organize the events and host the econferences are volunteers. The Conference was co sponsored by the Children & Family Justice Center at Northwestern University Law School, and held at the Law School. Even the web sites that the Tutor/Mentor Connection uses to host a library of Tutor/Mentor information were created and hosted by volunteers.
This shows the potential of civic engagement. The challenge is helping volunteers find information and financial resources to support on-going involvement, while creating a larger, and on-going public awareness that encourages a growth of the number of volunteers who get involved.
I've hosted these conferences since 1994 and have led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program since 1974. I cannot tell you how good I feel when I watch the interactions of tutor/mentor leaders with each other, and of volunteers with teens and youth in tutor/mentor programs. It's because I know that lives are changed because I and other volunteers have helped create space for these gatherings to take place.
This blog is a new space. I hope it also helps connect tutor/mentor communities and volunteers with each other and with needed resources. As we head to the next econference on May 23, I hope to continue this process and expand the network of volunteers who are working to create a brighter future for those who were born to more disadvantaged circumstances.
"It takes a village to raise a child" is an over-used phrase. However, in the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences, members of this village are coming together to learn ways to create a stronger community of support for children and youth who need extra help.
I hope you'll join us.
From May 6 to 12 a Tutor/Mentor eConference connected even more people with each other, and with information that we hope helps people innovate ways to connect tutors, mentors and change agents with children and youth living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty, poorly performing schools and many other social/economic barriers that kids must overcome to reach jobs and careers. Another eConference will be held on May 23.
This is all made possible by volunteers. The speakers at these conferences are volunteers. People who help organize the events and host the econferences are volunteers. The Conference was co sponsored by the Children & Family Justice Center at Northwestern University Law School, and held at the Law School. Even the web sites that the Tutor/Mentor Connection uses to host a library of Tutor/Mentor information were created and hosted by volunteers.
This shows the potential of civic engagement. The challenge is helping volunteers find information and financial resources to support on-going involvement, while creating a larger, and on-going public awareness that encourages a growth of the number of volunteers who get involved.
I've hosted these conferences since 1994 and have led a volunteer-based tutor/mentor program since 1974. I cannot tell you how good I feel when I watch the interactions of tutor/mentor leaders with each other, and of volunteers with teens and youth in tutor/mentor programs. It's because I know that lives are changed because I and other volunteers have helped create space for these gatherings to take place.
This blog is a new space. I hope it also helps connect tutor/mentor communities and volunteers with each other and with needed resources. As we head to the next econference on May 23, I hope to continue this process and expand the network of volunteers who are working to create a brighter future for those who were born to more disadvantaged circumstances.
"It takes a village to raise a child" is an over-used phrase. However, in the Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences, members of this village are coming together to learn ways to create a stronger community of support for children and youth who need extra help.
I hope you'll join us.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Calling all tutors, mentors! Let's connect.
This morning I spoke with one of the people who did an on-line workshop in yesterday's econference and she told me that she'd already told two people about her role in the econference and in the May 12 and 13 conference in Chicago. One told how she'd been helped by a mentor when she was a teen and the other expressed interest in the tutor/mentor networking that we are doing.
That's the purpose of these conferences and this blog. There are thousands of people in this country who have been helped by a mentor, or who have been a mentor or donated money or time to lead a tutor/mentor program. Many of these people are no longer active, but have great experiences and loyalties to the concept of tutoring/mentoring.
By setting up econference portals and on-line communities, and by hosting face to face gatherings in Chicago and other cities, our hope is that people who attend these events will talk to others and that this will draw others who have been involved into this on-line community where their commitment can turn into actions that help support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in all parts of the country/world.
When you read this Blog, or visit a T/MC web site, or attend a conference, all you need to do is tell one or two other people about your experience and give them a web site address where they too can get connected.
As we increase the number of people in the conversation we'll be able to brainstorm ways we can share the responsibility for building greater visibility and a more consistent flow of volunteers, dollars, technology, leadership, etc. into every single tutor/mentor program in every city in America.
By changing the flow of resources we can increase the quality and the availability of programs.
That's the purpose of these conferences and this blog. There are thousands of people in this country who have been helped by a mentor, or who have been a mentor or donated money or time to lead a tutor/mentor program. Many of these people are no longer active, but have great experiences and loyalties to the concept of tutoring/mentoring.
By setting up econference portals and on-line communities, and by hosting face to face gatherings in Chicago and other cities, our hope is that people who attend these events will talk to others and that this will draw others who have been involved into this on-line community where their commitment can turn into actions that help support the growth of tutor/mentor programs in all parts of the country/world.
When you read this Blog, or visit a T/MC web site, or attend a conference, all you need to do is tell one or two other people about your experience and give them a web site address where they too can get connected.
As we increase the number of people in the conversation we'll be able to brainstorm ways we can share the responsibility for building greater visibility and a more consistent flow of volunteers, dollars, technology, leadership, etc. into every single tutor/mentor program in every city in America.
By changing the flow of resources we can increase the quality and the availability of programs.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
eLearning and Collaboration
Today another round of on-line workshops were held in the www.alado.net/econference portal. the last one was followed by an extended conversation between four or five people in several different states and two countries.
The question was, "how do we find owners/partners to embed reflective thinking forums in hundreds of business, faith groups, social and alumni groups, etc?"
I spend a lot of time thinking about what it takes to make effective tutor/mentor programs available in all of the place where they are needed. I draw on research that tells me why we need to do this, maps that show where such programs are needed, and the example of many programs to give me ideas on what types of programs could exist in any neighborhood.
How can we encourage and support this same type of thinking in hundreds of different places, but use common maps and volunteer databases to point people to places where they are needed, and to make it easier for volunteers and programs to connect?
Can anyone frame this question better?
The question was, "how do we find owners/partners to embed reflective thinking forums in hundreds of business, faith groups, social and alumni groups, etc?"
I spend a lot of time thinking about what it takes to make effective tutor/mentor programs available in all of the place where they are needed. I draw on research that tells me why we need to do this, maps that show where such programs are needed, and the example of many programs to give me ideas on what types of programs could exist in any neighborhood.
How can we encourage and support this same type of thinking in hundreds of different places, but use common maps and volunteer databases to point people to places where they are needed, and to make it easier for volunteers and programs to connect?
Can anyone frame this question better?
Monday, May 09, 2005
Chicago Schools Graduation rate low. Media misses opportunity.
Today, May 9, 2005, the headline in the Chicago Tribune was "City's college-bound rate a third less than thought, and in the Chicago Sun-Times was "City Schools Study: 47% go to College". Both articles pointed out disturbing information, but neither pointed to additional information that readers could use to know more about the problem, it's impact on Chicago, alternative paths to careers, or ways readers could become personally involved in solutions that help mentor kids to careers.
On Friday, April 29, I attended a forum in Chicago titled Youth on the Streets: Lost in the Wilderness. It was hosted by the Alternative Schools Network, The Chicago Community Trust and the Woods Fund of Chicago. I wrote about this in my blog. The research shows that youth who don't go on to college earn far less and cost society more than youth who do go to college. This is just one of many reports that show why people in business, churches, universities, and living in the middle class and affluent parts of the Chicago region, should be reading headlines link today's and looking for ways to get involved.
The problem is, too few people putting out the research or controlling the media, are thinking of ways to use the Internet for learning and collaboration and community problem solving.
Yesterday I met for about 4 hours with 39 people in an internet chat/networking forum that was part of the Tutor/Mentor eConfernece (http://www.alado.net/econference ). More than a dozen countries were represented. Information shared showed how people can use the Internet to learn and collaborate, while the econference illustrates how anyone can send an invitation and gather people to discuss a specific topics.
While I hope others will join the econference workshops today through Thursday, or that others will attend the face to face Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference being held at the Northwestern University Law School on Thursday and Friday (http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com) , my larger vision is that others will integrate this thinking into their own actions. When someone publishes research and when someone writes a story that calls attention to the problem, both should learn to point to places and on-line forums where people can meet to learn more, reflect on the information and on potential solutions, and find places where they can get involved to solve the problem.
We don't have million dollar ad budgets yet we have million dollar messages. If we link these messages to innovation, collaboration and problem solving networks, we can increase participation and results without dramatically increasing expenses.
As Merri Dee (WGN TV) is fond of saying, "If it is to be, it is up to me."
Each of us should reflect on what this means to us.
On Friday, April 29, I attended a forum in Chicago titled Youth on the Streets: Lost in the Wilderness. It was hosted by the Alternative Schools Network, The Chicago Community Trust and the Woods Fund of Chicago. I wrote about this in my blog. The research shows that youth who don't go on to college earn far less and cost society more than youth who do go to college. This is just one of many reports that show why people in business, churches, universities, and living in the middle class and affluent parts of the Chicago region, should be reading headlines link today's and looking for ways to get involved.
The problem is, too few people putting out the research or controlling the media, are thinking of ways to use the Internet for learning and collaboration and community problem solving.
Yesterday I met for about 4 hours with 39 people in an internet chat/networking forum that was part of the Tutor/Mentor eConfernece (http://www.alado.net/econference ). More than a dozen countries were represented. Information shared showed how people can use the Internet to learn and collaborate, while the econference illustrates how anyone can send an invitation and gather people to discuss a specific topics.
While I hope others will join the econference workshops today through Thursday, or that others will attend the face to face Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conference being held at the Northwestern University Law School on Thursday and Friday (http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com) , my larger vision is that others will integrate this thinking into their own actions. When someone publishes research and when someone writes a story that calls attention to the problem, both should learn to point to places and on-line forums where people can meet to learn more, reflect on the information and on potential solutions, and find places where they can get involved to solve the problem.
We don't have million dollar ad budgets yet we have million dollar messages. If we link these messages to innovation, collaboration and problem solving networks, we can increase participation and results without dramatically increasing expenses.
As Merri Dee (WGN TV) is fond of saying, "If it is to be, it is up to me."
Each of us should reflect on what this means to us.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
It Takes More Than Caring to Lift Hard-To-Reach Kids
Here's a message written by Bonnie Bracey, at BBracey@aol.com, that I feel is worth repeating:
Certain schools are having success in dealing with formerly low-performing students, writes William Raspberry. But precious few school systems are showing much consistent improvement in educating the children we know to be hard to educate: children of low-income black and Hispanic households, children of single-parent school dropouts -- children, in short, for whose parents school didn't work. What is hard for us to get our minds around is that school improvement is fairly easy to accomplish for children whose parents were successful in school and are enjoying some success in their lives. Threats of retention, loss of privilege, even the prospect of embarrassment, can nudge such parents into more active participation in their children's schooling. But for parents who have not enjoyed success or seriously envisioned success for their children, it takes more than reorganization and parent coordinators and the like. It takes a consistent, nonjudgmental effort to reach and teach parents how to prepare their children for learning.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002252721_raspberry26.html
I put this here because it challenges us to think deeper. I post maps and charts on T/MC web sites that show poorly performing schools to be more concentrated in poverty than in other neighborhoods, and to show that kids in poverty don't have the same range of adult mentors and role models in their lives. Instead they have a different mix of role models who demonstrate different, and more negative career aspirations.
Blaming teachers, parents and school leaders without creating a more comprehensive adult support system in these neighborhoods is not fair. A comprehensive tutor/mentor program attracts a mix of adults who model a wider range of career aspirations and help open doors for kids who participate in these programs.
Unfortunately, there are too few programs in most neighborhoods where they are needed, and too few people in business, government and media who are spending time providing leadership to a mentoring-to-career strategy.
Want to talk about this? Post a comment, or join in one of the conference or econference forums that we host throughout the year.
Certain schools are having success in dealing with formerly low-performing students, writes William Raspberry. But precious few school systems are showing much consistent improvement in educating the children we know to be hard to educate: children of low-income black and Hispanic households, children of single-parent school dropouts -- children, in short, for whose parents school didn't work. What is hard for us to get our minds around is that school improvement is fairly easy to accomplish for children whose parents were successful in school and are enjoying some success in their lives. Threats of retention, loss of privilege, even the prospect of embarrassment, can nudge such parents into more active participation in their children's schooling. But for parents who have not enjoyed success or seriously envisioned success for their children, it takes more than reorganization and parent coordinators and the like. It takes a consistent, nonjudgmental effort to reach and teach parents how to prepare their children for learning.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002252721_raspberry26.html
I put this here because it challenges us to think deeper. I post maps and charts on T/MC web sites that show poorly performing schools to be more concentrated in poverty than in other neighborhoods, and to show that kids in poverty don't have the same range of adult mentors and role models in their lives. Instead they have a different mix of role models who demonstrate different, and more negative career aspirations.
Blaming teachers, parents and school leaders without creating a more comprehensive adult support system in these neighborhoods is not fair. A comprehensive tutor/mentor program attracts a mix of adults who model a wider range of career aspirations and help open doors for kids who participate in these programs.
Unfortunately, there are too few programs in most neighborhoods where they are needed, and too few people in business, government and media who are spending time providing leadership to a mentoring-to-career strategy.
Want to talk about this? Post a comment, or join in one of the conference or econference forums that we host throughout the year.
Friday, May 06, 2005
eConference, first day
The first wave of workshops is now archived at www.alado.net/econference.
I joined the portal at 6am and found Phil Shapiro from Washington, DC, and a second person already in the portal. Due to changes in the Saturday schedule, we had decided to move my presentation from Friday at 7am to Saturday at 6:30 am Chicago time. This is so the group in Thailand can participate live.
Since Phil was already in the portal, we had a nice one-on-one conversation. He had never used this technology, so was able to get a good feel for how it works and how he might use it in DC. Phil is an active Digital Divide.net blogger, which is how we first met. I hope that through this round of networking I can meet one or two more friends with as much passion and talent and commitment to helping others as Phil.
It's off to work now to prepare for next week's conference. I hope you'll visit the econference and view the archive and that you'll join us tomorrow for more econferenceing.
Dan
I joined the portal at 6am and found Phil Shapiro from Washington, DC, and a second person already in the portal. Due to changes in the Saturday schedule, we had decided to move my presentation from Friday at 7am to Saturday at 6:30 am Chicago time. This is so the group in Thailand can participate live.
Since Phil was already in the portal, we had a nice one-on-one conversation. He had never used this technology, so was able to get a good feel for how it works and how he might use it in DC. Phil is an active Digital Divide.net blogger, which is how we first met. I hope that through this round of networking I can meet one or two more friends with as much passion and talent and commitment to helping others as Phil.
It's off to work now to prepare for next week's conference. I hope you'll visit the econference and view the archive and that you'll join us tomorrow for more econferenceing.
Dan
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Tutor/Mentor eConference Begins!
Tonight at 2am Chicago time the May 6-12 Tutor/Mentor eConference will be launched by Lukas Ritzel who will be delivering a live welcome from his home in Switzerland. I'm afraid I'll need to look at the archive to hear that. I'll be in bed!!
My welcome will be delivered tomorrow at 7am Chicago time. I hope you have some coffee and will join me. If you are not able to participate in a workshop when it is live, you'll be able to log in later and review the presentation. If you come to this blog, you'll still be able to ask questions.
It's exciting to see so many people from around the world joined together in this common effort. Credit for putting this together goes to Andrew Pincon of the Digital Workforce Education Society of the City Colleges of Chicago. I hope you'll join in workshops, and add your comments in blogs hosted by myself and other speakers.
I'm hoping to have a Directory available by Saturday that will enable anyone who enters an econference portal to register and post an introduction of themselves. This will enable any participant to directly contact any other participant, during or after the econference. For those planning on coming to Chicago for next week's conference, this will help you make plans to meet people you may want to meet.
The space is now open. We've done all we can to attract good speakers and to send invitations to thousands of people. It's up to each of you to make this work. Have fun! I hope you meet some new friends.
Dan Bassill
My welcome will be delivered tomorrow at 7am Chicago time. I hope you have some coffee and will join me. If you are not able to participate in a workshop when it is live, you'll be able to log in later and review the presentation. If you come to this blog, you'll still be able to ask questions.
It's exciting to see so many people from around the world joined together in this common effort. Credit for putting this together goes to Andrew Pincon of the Digital Workforce Education Society of the City Colleges of Chicago. I hope you'll join in workshops, and add your comments in blogs hosted by myself and other speakers.
I'm hoping to have a Directory available by Saturday that will enable anyone who enters an econference portal to register and post an introduction of themselves. This will enable any participant to directly contact any other participant, during or after the econference. For those planning on coming to Chicago for next week's conference, this will help you make plans to meet people you may want to meet.
The space is now open. We've done all we can to attract good speakers and to send invitations to thousands of people. It's up to each of you to make this work. Have fun! I hope you meet some new friends.
Dan Bassill
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Networking and Collaboration: Critical Components
There's lots of talk about collaboration these days, yet unless someone maintains a database of interested parties, and sends out an invitation for people to come together, it's not likely that most of the organizations that might collaborate will every meet often enough to build a shared understanding of issues, along with the trust and understanding needed for a collaboration to work. In fact, it's highly probable that most of the organizations who might collaborate and learn from each other will never connect.
For more than 30 years I've been building a database of people involved or interested in volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring, as well as those interested in school reform, poverty reduction, workforce development, diversity, civic education, democracy, etc.
Prior to the internet my database included Chicago and Illinois based organizations. Now it includes organizations in all parts of the world.
One of the strategies for building this network, and for helping organizations meet, build shared understanding, trust, etc., has been to invite people to come together every six months for Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences. As Internet collaboration and elearning tools have become more available to small non profits, we've begun to move part of the conference to the Internet, meaning more people from more places can connect with each other, and with those who attend the conference in Chicago. More importantly, they can stay connected, which is essential to putting the learning to work.
On Friday, May 6 the 2005 eConferences will begin. Visit http://www.alado.net/econference and you can find a schedule of workshops being delivered from different parts of the world. As you participate, I encourage you to come back here to blog your comments, or to connect and network with others.
If you host your own blog or list serve, set up your own space for information sharing and networking. Tell me about it and I'll add your link to the links list on my blog. These links will remain in place after the conference to encourage continued networking, elearning and collaboration.
The eConference is free. Participate as much or as little as you like. We've created the space. It's up to you to make it work for you and your organization.
For more than 30 years I've been building a database of people involved or interested in volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring, as well as those interested in school reform, poverty reduction, workforce development, diversity, civic education, democracy, etc.
Prior to the internet my database included Chicago and Illinois based organizations. Now it includes organizations in all parts of the world.
One of the strategies for building this network, and for helping organizations meet, build shared understanding, trust, etc., has been to invite people to come together every six months for Tutor/Mentor Leadership Conferences. As Internet collaboration and elearning tools have become more available to small non profits, we've begun to move part of the conference to the Internet, meaning more people from more places can connect with each other, and with those who attend the conference in Chicago. More importantly, they can stay connected, which is essential to putting the learning to work.
On Friday, May 6 the 2005 eConferences will begin. Visit http://www.alado.net/econference and you can find a schedule of workshops being delivered from different parts of the world. As you participate, I encourage you to come back here to blog your comments, or to connect and network with others.
If you host your own blog or list serve, set up your own space for information sharing and networking. Tell me about it and I'll add your link to the links list on my blog. These links will remain in place after the conference to encourage continued networking, elearning and collaboration.
The eConference is free. Participate as much or as little as you like. We've created the space. It's up to you to make it work for you and your organization.
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Youth on the Streets: Lost in the Wilderness
On Friday, April 29 I attended a forum in Chicago hosted by the Alternative Schools Network, The Chicago Community Trust and the Woods Fund of Chicago. More than 200 guests attended and the panel included many high profile public leaders.
Research was provided that shows that jobs for youth are declining and that African American and Latino youth living in cities like Chicago are further behind. These studies show the link between education and income, and illustrate that for each youth who gets a high school degree there can be a savings over a lifetime, to the public, of more than $300,000.
This is powerful information, and I'm sure the organizers hope that everyone in the room would run out and begin to evangelize this message so that more public and private sector actions would lead to lower high school drop out rates and higher levels of employment for minority youth. I encourage you to read the reports, which are available at http://www.asnchicago.org
The problem I have with this meeting is the lack of vision, on the part of the organizers, to use collaboration technology and elearning tools to connect the speakers and the participants in on-going elearning and collaboration forums. This meeting was particularly frustrating because it started late and most of the people on the panel had to rush their comments. I had to leave before the final two speakers. I'm sure that out of all of the participants, there might have been only a couple of questions.
What if the speakers had each posted their comments on a blog, like this, and all of those blogs were links on the web sites of ASN, The Chicago Community Trust and the Woods Fund. This would have enabled each of the participants to go in on their own time to read what each speaker had to say, and to read and reflect on the comments of each participant. The participants themselves could have connected with other participants, and anyone with a plan to actually resolve the issues discussed, could have invited others to come to his own web site/blog to talk or work together.
This is the third such meeting I've attended in two weeks where I had the same frustration. The money spend on a fancy breakfast at the Union League Club could have been much better spent on setting up an electronic collaboration forum.
Last week I received an email from Debrah Finn at Harvard telling me about an electronic meeting held in Boston. I encourage you to read Deborah's Wednesday, April 27 blog http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2005/4 that is titled What's Next? Can We Foster Civic Engagement and Leadership Development with Online Tools? She describes the same type of meeting and the potential to support such meetings with electronic collaboration.
As I learn of groups who are innovating ways to collaborate on-line, I'll build links to their pages on the T/MC web sites. I'll invite them to participate in T/MC conferences. I'll look for volunteers and donors who will help the T/MC integrate these processes into our own growing networking and collaboration process.
I believe that there are some people in the country who are already moving ahead and fostering real collaboration. Some day when someone says, "We talked to everybody," as one panelist said Friday, they will really mean everybody, not just those in their own circle of decision makers.
We can have this in Chicago. We can have this in the Tutor/Mentor Connection. In the Alternative Schools Network. In the Voices 4 Illinois Network. In the Juvenile Justice Initiative. In the Charter Schools Network. In the Illinois College Access Network.
Will be have it by each of building these tools in competition with each other, creating a redundancy of costs and a duplication of effort? Of can we create an open source platform and a tech support network, that would enable each of us to use the same technology, but in our own organizational strategies.
If we do this, and link our networks to each other, we'll create a path to involvement and collaboration for anyone who wants to get involved.
Is anybody listing? Will you help us pave the way?
Research was provided that shows that jobs for youth are declining and that African American and Latino youth living in cities like Chicago are further behind. These studies show the link between education and income, and illustrate that for each youth who gets a high school degree there can be a savings over a lifetime, to the public, of more than $300,000.
This is powerful information, and I'm sure the organizers hope that everyone in the room would run out and begin to evangelize this message so that more public and private sector actions would lead to lower high school drop out rates and higher levels of employment for minority youth. I encourage you to read the reports, which are available at http://www.asnchicago.org
The problem I have with this meeting is the lack of vision, on the part of the organizers, to use collaboration technology and elearning tools to connect the speakers and the participants in on-going elearning and collaboration forums. This meeting was particularly frustrating because it started late and most of the people on the panel had to rush their comments. I had to leave before the final two speakers. I'm sure that out of all of the participants, there might have been only a couple of questions.
What if the speakers had each posted their comments on a blog, like this, and all of those blogs were links on the web sites of ASN, The Chicago Community Trust and the Woods Fund. This would have enabled each of the participants to go in on their own time to read what each speaker had to say, and to read and reflect on the comments of each participant. The participants themselves could have connected with other participants, and anyone with a plan to actually resolve the issues discussed, could have invited others to come to his own web site/blog to talk or work together.
This is the third such meeting I've attended in two weeks where I had the same frustration. The money spend on a fancy breakfast at the Union League Club could have been much better spent on setting up an electronic collaboration forum.
Last week I received an email from Debrah Finn at Harvard telling me about an electronic meeting held in Boston. I encourage you to read Deborah's Wednesday, April 27 blog http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2005/4 that is titled What's Next? Can We Foster Civic Engagement and Leadership Development with Online Tools? She describes the same type of meeting and the potential to support such meetings with electronic collaboration.
As I learn of groups who are innovating ways to collaborate on-line, I'll build links to their pages on the T/MC web sites. I'll invite them to participate in T/MC conferences. I'll look for volunteers and donors who will help the T/MC integrate these processes into our own growing networking and collaboration process.
I believe that there are some people in the country who are already moving ahead and fostering real collaboration. Some day when someone says, "We talked to everybody," as one panelist said Friday, they will really mean everybody, not just those in their own circle of decision makers.
We can have this in Chicago. We can have this in the Tutor/Mentor Connection. In the Alternative Schools Network. In the Voices 4 Illinois Network. In the Juvenile Justice Initiative. In the Charter Schools Network. In the Illinois College Access Network.
Will be have it by each of building these tools in competition with each other, creating a redundancy of costs and a duplication of effort? Of can we create an open source platform and a tech support network, that would enable each of us to use the same technology, but in our own organizational strategies.
If we do this, and link our networks to each other, we'll create a path to involvement and collaboration for anyone who wants to get involved.
Is anybody listing? Will you help us pave the way?
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
The Mouse that Roared like a Lion
I just posted a message on the blog of David Duchovny. I was one of several hundred who meet at his blog every week.
It looked like most of the discussion centered around his new movie. Wouldn't it be great if just a bit focused on helping people engage in community service?
A new Star Wars movie is coming out soon. A few years ago when the second set of movies was being created, I emailed George Lucas and said, "If Luke Skywalker can have a mentor, why cannot every other kid?" My goal was to encourage Lucas to add a trailer to the movie with this message, and with links to web sites where Star Wars fans could learn where and how they could support tutor/mentor programs in their communities. He did not do that, but I keep trying.
Now that many celebrities are creating blogs and connecting directly with fans, it is even easier for someone to show support for a cause and provide links that encourage fans to get informed and get involved.
The mission of Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection is to engage a growing number of workplace adults in actions and strategies that help inner city children succeed in school and move successfully to jobs and careers.
This strategy intends to support an entire city of tutor/mentor programs, not just a few good programs in a few neighborhoods. As we gather volunteers and connect them with kids, we try to encourage thinking around one central question: What are all the things a community needs to do to assure that all kids born in poverty in one year are starting jobs/careers by age 25?" If we knew what all of these things were, what would it take to build the resources and commitment of business and government to support these actions?
Most people who receive our email newsletter or read our blog do not live in poverty neighborhoods and only understand the challenges inner city kids face through what is read in the newspapers on seen on TV.
Our goal is to connect people on a daily basis with information and with personal experiences that help them understand poverty and the challenges kids and families face, and then provide opportunities for reflection so that more comprehensive and sustained strategies can develop that lead kids to jobs and careers. While we host information on our web sites that several thousand people use each month, we also host May and November conferences and Internet forums that encourage people to come together for networking, idea sharing and collaboration. We have done this since 1994.
A major goal of these conferences is to increase public awareness so that more people in business, professions, media, philanthropy and government become involved in supporting the growth of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs. As we end the school year our conference is intended to focus on actions that lead to better tutor/mentor programs as school starts in the fall, or that create new programs where now there are voids. As we do the November conference we're hoping to influence year-end charitable giving, so that every tutor/mentor program has the operating dollars they need to innovate constant improvement.
We recognize that face to face conferences can only be attended by a few people, so we've launched Internet based workshops and discussions. We hope these make it possible for business leaders and volunteers to participate and stimulate thinking, that leads to more and better programs in the places where they are needed.
Me writing this on my blog is like a mouse writing "give me cheese" in the middle of the Sahara Desert. No one is listening.
However, if actors, sports figures, politicians and other public leaders write the same message in their blog, there will be many people listening. If they do this frequently, and if they take the next step of participating in on-line conferences, many of those who are listening will get involved, and stay involved.
If any of you can deliver this message to public figures, via comments you place on their blogs, maybe you can help this mouse create a roar that is heard around the world.
If any of you would like to know more about how to become involved in the Tutor/Mentor Connection or our Cabrini Connections program, please call me at 312-492-9614 or email tutormentor2@earthlink.net
It looked like most of the discussion centered around his new movie. Wouldn't it be great if just a bit focused on helping people engage in community service?
A new Star Wars movie is coming out soon. A few years ago when the second set of movies was being created, I emailed George Lucas and said, "If Luke Skywalker can have a mentor, why cannot every other kid?" My goal was to encourage Lucas to add a trailer to the movie with this message, and with links to web sites where Star Wars fans could learn where and how they could support tutor/mentor programs in their communities. He did not do that, but I keep trying.
Now that many celebrities are creating blogs and connecting directly with fans, it is even easier for someone to show support for a cause and provide links that encourage fans to get informed and get involved.
The mission of Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection is to engage a growing number of workplace adults in actions and strategies that help inner city children succeed in school and move successfully to jobs and careers.
This strategy intends to support an entire city of tutor/mentor programs, not just a few good programs in a few neighborhoods. As we gather volunteers and connect them with kids, we try to encourage thinking around one central question: What are all the things a community needs to do to assure that all kids born in poverty in one year are starting jobs/careers by age 25?" If we knew what all of these things were, what would it take to build the resources and commitment of business and government to support these actions?
Most people who receive our email newsletter or read our blog do not live in poverty neighborhoods and only understand the challenges inner city kids face through what is read in the newspapers on seen on TV.
Our goal is to connect people on a daily basis with information and with personal experiences that help them understand poverty and the challenges kids and families face, and then provide opportunities for reflection so that more comprehensive and sustained strategies can develop that lead kids to jobs and careers. While we host information on our web sites that several thousand people use each month, we also host May and November conferences and Internet forums that encourage people to come together for networking, idea sharing and collaboration. We have done this since 1994.
A major goal of these conferences is to increase public awareness so that more people in business, professions, media, philanthropy and government become involved in supporting the growth of volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs. As we end the school year our conference is intended to focus on actions that lead to better tutor/mentor programs as school starts in the fall, or that create new programs where now there are voids. As we do the November conference we're hoping to influence year-end charitable giving, so that every tutor/mentor program has the operating dollars they need to innovate constant improvement.
We recognize that face to face conferences can only be attended by a few people, so we've launched Internet based workshops and discussions. We hope these make it possible for business leaders and volunteers to participate and stimulate thinking, that leads to more and better programs in the places where they are needed.
Me writing this on my blog is like a mouse writing "give me cheese" in the middle of the Sahara Desert. No one is listening.
However, if actors, sports figures, politicians and other public leaders write the same message in their blog, there will be many people listening. If they do this frequently, and if they take the next step of participating in on-line conferences, many of those who are listening will get involved, and stay involved.
If any of you can deliver this message to public figures, via comments you place on their blogs, maybe you can help this mouse create a roar that is heard around the world.
If any of you would like to know more about how to become involved in the Tutor/Mentor Connection or our Cabrini Connections program, please call me at 312-492-9614 or email tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Saturday, April 23, 2005
The Price of Action: Giraffe Hero, Marla Ruzicka
In my email today I received a notice from the Giraffe Foundation, telling me that Marla Ruzicka, a young woman killed in last week Iraq, was also a Giraffe. Here's the link to the page that recognizes how special Marla was: http://www.giraffe.org/heroes.html
Giraffes are people who stick their neck out to help others. The Giraffe Foundation has been recognizing such people for more than 20 years.
In 1997 I was honored to be named a Giraffe. I wear my pin often. I'm proud of it. It recognizes my on-going effort to stick my neck out to help make this a better world. However, this is not without sacrifice. The time spent helping others often takes away from the time spent with your own family and friends. Some times leaders are so out in front with their vision, that they are alone in a wilderness of ideas, with few others to turn to for support. It's a lonely place.
In reading the Giraffe article about Marla, one quote in the article read: "Her high school principal once advised her that "a good leader does not try to make change; a good leader does what they are supposed to so that others will follow their example." But Ruzicka's resolve, commitment and enthusiasm are unflagging, as she prefers to live by the example and words of Mahatma Gandhi: "Inaction in a time of conflict is inexcusable."
I agree with Marla.
The war in Iraq is one of many conflicts in this world. We need more Marlas and more Giraffes who are willing to sacrifice everything to help others have brighter futures.
Hurrah! for Marla.
Giraffes are people who stick their neck out to help others. The Giraffe Foundation has been recognizing such people for more than 20 years.
In 1997 I was honored to be named a Giraffe. I wear my pin often. I'm proud of it. It recognizes my on-going effort to stick my neck out to help make this a better world. However, this is not without sacrifice. The time spent helping others often takes away from the time spent with your own family and friends. Some times leaders are so out in front with their vision, that they are alone in a wilderness of ideas, with few others to turn to for support. It's a lonely place.
In reading the Giraffe article about Marla, one quote in the article read: "Her high school principal once advised her that "a good leader does not try to make change; a good leader does what they are supposed to so that others will follow their example." But Ruzicka's resolve, commitment and enthusiasm are unflagging, as she prefers to live by the example and words of Mahatma Gandhi: "Inaction in a time of conflict is inexcusable."
I agree with Marla.
The war in Iraq is one of many conflicts in this world. We need more Marlas and more Giraffes who are willing to sacrifice everything to help others have brighter futures.
Hurrah! for Marla.
Friday, April 22, 2005
eLearning and Collaboration ... Connecting the Dots
It's the final day of the Tech Soup forum on eLearning and Collaboration. I've enjoyed being a co-host. Many people have shared information ranging from experience in organizing on-line learning to experience in facilitating an on-line community to variations in technology available.
(2023 note: The link to the Tech Soup forum no longer works. Here's a more recent post that I made at Tech Soup).
I posted my summary comments this morning, encouraging those who attended this week, and those who might attend in future weeks to take the ideas and begin to work together to create the next generation of on-line communities.
My suggestion was sort of 'anti collaborative'. I said, take this fruit and plant it in your own back yard so it can multiply. If we all wait for someone to take the lead, we'll be all waiting for a long time. Why? Because everyone in the Tech Soup forum (and in many similar forums) has a full time life responsibility that is not aligned to the goals of most of the others in the same forum.
Until people go back into their own jobs and organizations and begin to try to apply elearning and collaboration to achieve the mission of their own organization, they will not devote the time, energy and innovation capital needed to build on what is being learned in forums like Tech Soup. And unless they are motivated to link what they do to others, or share it freely in an open source type environment, most won't benefit from what a few are able to achieve.
I post my messages here on this blog, in the Tech Soup forum, and in dozens of other forums. My goal is to inspire people to develop new and better ways to work together to help kids and to draw attention and support to my organization, so I can also have the time, talent and resources to constantly innovate ways the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections can help kids in the Chicago area and in the Cabrini Green area of Chicago.
I just launched my blog last week, thanks to the help of one of my volunteers. So far I cannot see any comments. Yet, in 1998 when we first launched the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site, we also did not see any traffic during the first week. However, we've had more than 100,000 visitors to the site since then and many people from around the world are using the resources on that site. Many of the volunteers working with us now connected with us via that web site.
I'm hoping that this blog will become a journal that others will use in the future to connect with us, or to build tutor/mentor connections in any place where people need to work together to solve deeply embedded problems.
As you visit and learn from this information, I'll look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.
(2023 note: The link to the Tech Soup forum no longer works. Here's a more recent post that I made at Tech Soup).
I posted my summary comments this morning, encouraging those who attended this week, and those who might attend in future weeks to take the ideas and begin to work together to create the next generation of on-line communities.
My suggestion was sort of 'anti collaborative'. I said, take this fruit and plant it in your own back yard so it can multiply. If we all wait for someone to take the lead, we'll be all waiting for a long time. Why? Because everyone in the Tech Soup forum (and in many similar forums) has a full time life responsibility that is not aligned to the goals of most of the others in the same forum.
Until people go back into their own jobs and organizations and begin to try to apply elearning and collaboration to achieve the mission of their own organization, they will not devote the time, energy and innovation capital needed to build on what is being learned in forums like Tech Soup. And unless they are motivated to link what they do to others, or share it freely in an open source type environment, most won't benefit from what a few are able to achieve.
I post my messages here on this blog, in the Tech Soup forum, and in dozens of other forums. My goal is to inspire people to develop new and better ways to work together to help kids and to draw attention and support to my organization, so I can also have the time, talent and resources to constantly innovate ways the Tutor/Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections can help kids in the Chicago area and in the Cabrini Green area of Chicago.
I just launched my blog last week, thanks to the help of one of my volunteers. So far I cannot see any comments. Yet, in 1998 when we first launched the http://www.tutormentorconnection.org web site, we also did not see any traffic during the first week. However, we've had more than 100,000 visitors to the site since then and many people from around the world are using the resources on that site. Many of the volunteers working with us now connected with us via that web site.
I'm hoping that this blog will become a journal that others will use in the future to connect with us, or to build tutor/mentor connections in any place where people need to work together to solve deeply embedded problems.
As you visit and learn from this information, I'll look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.
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