Navigating the information world

This week I decided to spend some time listening to presentations of the 2017 Global Education Conference.  It's still going on, so here's the agenda for next two days. All sessions will be archived, so don't worry if you miss anything.

As I listened to sessions I shared some of what I was learning on Twitter, using #GlobalEd hashtag. Then this morning I tuned into a discussion of #GlobalGoals and #MakeourWorld, which both talked about some of the same things that were being discussed in the Global Ed Conference, such as how do educators engage youth in solving global problems defined by the United Nations, by 2030.

I added links to all three chats in my hashtag map so I could go back later and look more deeply into ideas and links that were shared, and add relevant ones to my own web library.

Since I focus on aggregating information that anyone can use to help youth in high poverty areas I was especially interested when others pointed out information libraries I was not familiar with. For instance,

MERLOT, is a Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and On-Line Teaching. The site hosts thousands of on-line learning objects that focus on Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Literacy.  Click on the link above and on the first page you'll find a list of collections that educators and leaders of youth tutor/mentor programs should find interesting. For instance this link points to Fake News teaching resources.

Then through today's #GlobalGoals chat I learned about The Global Opportunity Explorer Platform which is collecting hundreds of sustainable solutions and market opportunities which address the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals).

I created this cMap to show other organizations in Chicago who were working to help youth succeed in school and life. On each node is a link to the organization's web site, where ideally you'd find links to information related to the work that organization, and members of its network, are doing.

At the bottom of my map you can see four categories, highlighted in dark pink, which focus on business, philanthropy, faith groups and universities. I'd love to find a site like The Global Opportunity Explorer, aggregating stories about what business or philanthropy is doing to help non-school tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in high poverty areas of Chicago, or any other city.

View Influence article

The library I've been building since 1993 has tried to collect links to organizations doing good work, as well as resource providers doing good work in helping them.  I don't have nearly enough information in some categories, so I point out the Merlot and Global Opportunity Explorer platform as two examples of organizations that are aggregating information to support others who are trying to create a better world.

The challenge is, that there is too much information, or too little time for people to dig through all the sites to find what they are looking for.

I have long recognized this problem. In the four-part strategy I launched in 1993, Step 3 focused on facilitating understanding so more people find and use the information that I'm collecting.

That's why the Global Ed Conference session I watched yesterday, led by Barbara Bray appealed to me.  In preparation for her session Barbara created a Google doc, with a list of links she was talking about.  Instead of saying "wade through 2000 links, she pulled out about 20, then talked about them in her recorded presentation.

click here to view

This is what interns were doing for me between 2006 and 2015 during projects that lasted from a week to a year.  Visit this page and find visualizations done to show information and ideas of the Tutor/Mentor Connection which were communicated in a variety of formats by many different students.

With so much information and so many problems to solve, this is a role that schools and volunteer-service organizations from thousands of places could be taking on an on-going basis to get more and more people engaged in solving problems, capitalizing on opportunities, and creating a better future.

In one of the final posts to the #makeourworld chat today, +socialgood posted a message asking "what is something you need help with".

Q7: What is something that you need help with in order to better make progress on achieving the #GlobalGoals? #MakeOurWorld pic.twitter.com/neXxBn8kyd

— +SocialGood (@plus_socialgood) November 14, 2017

My response is shown below.

A7: I've maintained list of nearly 200 #Chicago youth orgs since '94, w goal that people would reach out to EACH to offer help. That means I've needed help, too. #makeourworld https://t.co/nz8rev5lRU

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) November 14, 2017

read about this

I need help in many areas to re-build the Tutor/Mentor Connection and to continue to collect and share information intended to help youth have access to non-school programs, volunteer tutors and mentors and other resources that help them move safely through school

It's the work at the bottom of this pyramid that supports what all others need to be doing.

Click here if you want to provide financial support or reach out via social media if you want to help in other ways.

Thanks to Veterans for your past, and future, service

These are a couple of guys I served with when I was in the US Army and stationed in South Korea during 1970-71.  Prior to that I spent a year in Washington, DC in an Army language school, then 9 months in Baltimore at an Army Military Intelligence training school. Before that I did my basic training, starting in Nov. 1968, at Ft. Polk, Louisiana.

I met some great guys, from many different backgrounds, at each of these postings. I kept contact with some for many years after leaving the Army, but in the past few years I've not had contact with any of them.

This was home while I was in South Korea. It had no  insulation so during the winter I used the holiday cards people sent me to cover seams in the walls to keep the cold out. 

While I was stationed about 30 miles from the demilitarized zone, I never was in much danger while in the service.  My greatest fears came in my first couple of years as I wondered if I'd be sent to Viet Nam, where the dangers were far, far greater.

I had majored in history while in college at Illinois Wesleyan, so being part of Military Intelligence was a natural progression for me. In both situations you're collecting best available information and using it to support decisions and problem solving. Maps are a vital tool in this process.

I've applied that thinking for the past 40 years in my work, but as a retail advertising writer/manager with the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago, and as a volunteer tutor/mentor and program leader, starting in 1973 and continuing through 2011.

I have also applied that thinking in the work of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, which I formed in 1993, and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, which I formed in 2011,  with the goal of helping high quality, mentor-rich, non-school youth programs reach k-12 youth in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago.

For the past three year's I've used this graphic in blog articles (click here) that invited veterans, and active duty military, to get involved and support the work I'm doing.  The planning skills military leaders develop could be applied in any city to support a T/MC type structure.  The leadership skills officers and NCOs learn would make them excellent mentors, tutors and program leaders.  The network of military men and women would provide a rich support system for those who get directly involved.

As we honor veterans and their memory, let's give time to think of the men and women who served in the Armies of other nations. I took this photo in 1970, at the South Korean Military Memorial Cemetery.  I hope our leaders think of these lives as they talk about taking the US into new wars around the globe. 

What Tutor and/or Mentor Programs Operate in Chicago Area?

Since 1993 I've led a small organization with a huge vision. I think every k-12 youth living in a high poverty neighborhood should have access to a well-organized, mentor-rich, non-school tutor, mentor and learning program. When I say access I mean it needs to be close enough that elementary school kids can walk there and safe enough that youth of all ages, and volunteers from different parts of the region, will participate weekly, for a year or longer.

I launched the first Tutor/Mentor Program Locator survey in 1994 and 120 organizations responded. Thanks to donated software and volunteer talent, I've been plotting that information on maps for the past 24 years, so that people could see which areas have programs and which still need more programs.

I never had much help to do this and since 2011 I've had no help. Thus, keeping the program list updated has been a challenge, and keeping the web sites updated and working properly has been an even greater challenge....which I'm currently losing.

However, you can help.  Below is a map I created in Jan 2016 to show programs in my web library. I updated it today to show the number of organizations I have in my web library, for each section of the city and suburbs. 

click here to see 2016 map and click on icons to see name of organization

I've divided the region into sections, and for each section I've shown the number of web sites that I have in this library on the Tutor/Mentor Connection site.

Thus, you can see that I have 13 web sites for Evanston and the North and Northwest suburbs. I have seven web sites for every area West of Chicago out to Elgin and Aurora.  I show 13 web sites in the South and Southwest suburbs and one (1) for NW Indiana.

In Chicago I show 23 web sites for the North part of the city, 46 for the middle, 29 for the South Central and 21 for the far South.

Some organizations are community based or have multiple locations, so I include them in a separate category. It includes 31 organizations.  Other organizations only offer services at schools, meaning youth who don't attend that school don't get those services. I show 27 organizations in that category.

There are at least 200,000 high poverty youth in Chicago who could benefit from organized tutor, mentor and learning programs and thousands more in the suburbs and Northern Indiana (where I only find one program).   There must be more.

I'm sure there are other organized non-school tutor and/or mentoring programs in the Chicago region. 

That's what I hope you will help me with.

Here's a map showing police districts in Chicago.  If you click on this article you'll see schools. If you click on this article you'll see libraries. And, if you click on this article you'll see maps of faith groups.

Volunteers from any of these groups could adopt a neighborhood of the city and suburbs and determine if there are any organized tutor/mentor programs in that area. If you find one, send me the link and I'll check it out and add it to my list.

Volunteers can also review sections of my web library and look at the web sites. If you see one that no longer is operating, or that I've placed in the wrong area, please send me an update.

Here's the survey I was using in the 1990s to collect this information.  You can see the level of detail I was looking for.  You don't need to fill this out, but it  might help you as you look at youth program web sites.

Building Better Understandi... by Daniel F. Bassill

Here's another presentation that shows what I think volunteers, donors and parents should see on a program's web site. Many show some of this. Few show all of it.

As you learn about programs in your area help draw regular attention to them by talking about them on social media, or in company and faith group newsletters and blogs.

If we have better information on who is already operating we can do more to help each program become world class in how great it is at helping kids.  We can also provide better information that groups in other places can use to start new programs where too few exist.

I'm not able to do this by myself, but I don't think I'm the only person who cares about the well-being of youth in our region and the quality of life and future workforce. I think many can help me do this work.

Send updated to me at tutormentor2  at  earthlink dot net.

Now, if you have tech skills and want to help update the tutor/mentor program locator I could really use your help.  The map I created in 2016 does not sort by age group served, type of program or zip code and does not include overlays showing where programs are most needed (based on poverty or school performance).  The Program Locator has those features, but I've not been able to add info since 2013 and the census data is from the 2000 census.  I don't have the  money to hire help, and so far have not found volunteers who would help. 

If you're interested or would like to partner and/or sponsor this work, and help carry it into the future, please reach out via the email above.  

Solving World Problems - Mapping Solutions

I watched several of the presentations from last week's Obama Summit via livestream and shared ideas via the Twitter chat at #ObamaSummit.  I'm still going back through the Tweets to read some of the recaps from the event.

So far I've not seen any uses of maps and visualizations to show places where people  need help, or to show the work that needs to be done, and the resources and talent needed, to solve the problems of Chicago or the world.

I've been following systems thinking work by Gene Bellinger for several years and this week I watched Gene present an introduction to systems thinking tools.  If you visit this link you can go through that presentation yourself.

I've been using visualizations and concept maps since the 1990s to share my ideas. You can find these embedded in many articles on this blog.  Thus, I've seen a lot of potential in using some of the tools Gene points to, but I've not wanted to invest the time to learn how to use them and launch my ideas onto a new platform, without the help and involvement of others who might want to use those ideas.

For the past few years I've been connecting with a group of innovative educators via a Connected Learning Community, that uses the #clmooc hashtag to connect on Twitter.  One way this group has stayed energized is that each year, and often during the year, they encourage each other to "make" things, using resources they know about, or resources they learn about from each other.

Thus, this November, they are encouraging people to make maps. You can read the introduction here.

As I watched Gene's presentation I thought to myself, "What if I could start a project on Kumu.io, then invite interested folks from #clmooc to come in and help me?"

So, this morning I took the plunge.  Below you can see a screen shot of a project that I've launched. I hope that some of the #clmooc folk, and perhaps some who are inspired by the Obama Summit, will take a look at this information and begin to use these tools to map their own ideas and network.

mapping the network

Last week I shared an article about how where you're born affects what your life outcomes will be with Terry Elliott and other #clmooc members. I'd written it in 2012 (click here).  Terry turned this into a poem, which he posted on his site.   As I was writing my response on his blog, I thought I'd format it as a poem. Then, I thought, why not share this on a Lumen5 video, which I'd learned about through Terry a few months ago. So I created the video below:



If you follow #clmooc on Twitter, or Facebook, or through their G+ community or web site  you'll see many examples of how one person launches an idea and others re-mix it in many creative ways, often in collaboration with others.

Systems thinking is not a new idea in parts of the education community. The Walters Foundation and the Creative Learning Exchange both focus on education applications. I suspect many in the social sector are also  using systems thinking and concept mapping, but I've not seen many examples on web sites of youth development, tutoring and/or mentoring program web sites. 

I hope that my contribution today will lead to new ideas shared in the coming month and years that use systems thinking, Kumu, InsightMaker and the ideas Gene Bellinger has been sharing. Maybe some of these maps will point to others who are already using these tools effectively.

4-26-2023 update - my friends from #CLMOOC shared a short video today, showing how to create concept maps using Artificial Intelligence, using a platform called Whimsical.  I'd like to encourage people to test this tool, creating new versions of my own concept maps. 

Obama Summit and CLMOOC's #mapvember

I'm listening to the presentations of the Obama Summit, being held in Chicago, and Tweeting out ideas at the same time, using hashtag #ObamaSummit.   If you're not able to watch today, the archives will be available.

As I've listened to the aspirational nature of this event, I hope that participants will be thinking of how they map the steps that get us from "where we are now" to "where we want to be. That's what this graphic represents.

At the same time, the Connected Learning #clmooc community has launched a November activity around the idea of making maps, using hashtag #mapvember to share daily creations, or makes.  Here's the page where this activity is described.  I was really honored, and pleased, that my own map making was included as one of the inspirations people were encouraged to consider.

Since #mapvember focuses much on fantasy maps, I created a version of the graphic above, to show the journey described in Toiken's Lord of the Rings novels.

From the start there was a destination in mind, Mt. Doom and a place where the Ring could be destroyed. Along the way friends and resources had to be located, challenges overcome, and disasters averted. 

Apply this to real world problem-solving journeys.

I included this graphic in an article I wrote in August 2017.  My "Race-Poverty" map is shown at the top while the United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals are shown at the bottom.

Each node on these maps represents a complex, entrenched problem that appears in many places throughout the United States and the world.  It will take many years of consistent effort, innovation, and resource flow, to make a dent in these problems.

Without creating a map, building a team, and launching a journey, not much is likely to happen.

My primary concern with the Obama Summit is that young people are being encouraged to go forth and create new solutions to old problems.  In 1997 I was a delegate  to the  President's Summit for America's Future, where people were encouraged to go forth and find solutions to the poverty affecting more than 13 million children in America.

In 1997 the result was many people energized to find new ways to solve problems that I and many others had been working on for many years. Instead of the event bringing reinforcements to help us do this work, it actually drew resources away from us into "new ideas" launched by others.

If this cycle repeats, the new ideas generated in the next few years will be "old ideas seeking support" in a few years.  What the Lord of the Rings journey represents is a commitment to one purpose that was sustained over many months, despite the obstacles.

So, do your  homework. Who's already working in the field you want to support. How can you help them become great, or stay great.  Only start something new if nothing exists in the area  you want to help, or if what does exist is under-performing and can't be fixed.

I encourage you to dig deeper into my "here to there" graphic. Here's one article.

Obama Summit starts today in Chicago

Today is the first day of the Obama Summit being held in Chicago. I was not invited, but will follow the on-line sessions at https://www.obama.org/summit/ and tweet ideas using hashtag/#obamasummit

I encourage you to join in.

Add caption

I met Michelle Obama in the mid 1990s when she was at the University of Chicago and Barack Obama when he spoke at a Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conference in May 1999. They both were introduced to the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and its ideas, which I borrowed from how companies support multiple stores from central office teams and how United Way campaigns depend on CEOs of major companies asking leaders of other companies to run campaigns and make personal gifts. Since 2011, I have led the T/MC from the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC organizational structure. 

During that conference and one before then I was trying to generate "best practice" ideas around topics like recruitment, volunteer training, fund raising and communications, with awards presented at the Conference.  In this photo Barack Obama is presenting an award to a program leader from Quincy, Illinois.  In the background is Betsey Densmore, who was the Executive Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation in 1994 when I reached out to create a partnership intended to draw operating dollars to tutor/mentor programs in all Chicago neighborhoods.  The Lawyers Lend A Hand Program is still operating today, 24 years later.

Here's a graphic that I created several years ago to show the year-round attention we need to give to support youth tutor, mentor and learning programs in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago in order to draw volunteers, ideas and operating dollars to every program on a continuing basis..and to help new programs grow where more were needed.

I used President Obama's photo from the 1999 conference to illustrate how people with higher visibility have greater impact and influence than people with less visibility, such as myself.  I describe this year-round strategy in this PDF and this video.

So far I've not seen any leaders consistently use maps, and a data-base of youth serving organizations, the way I demonstrate in articles on this blog and on this page of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC site,  yet I've shared these ideas freely for over 20 years, as you can see from this page of a 1990s printed newsletter.

Unless some of you share this with others, and duplicate my own efforts, we still may not see leaders take this role in today's Summit or in future years.

Unless a few of you provide financial support (click here) I may not be able to continue this beyond 2018.

Helping ALL kids through school and into careers.

I'm a sports fan, so during baseball, basketball and football season I'm following stories about the Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Bears, which all focus on a common theme: How can we do this better?

Each team is constantly trying to improve, to be great, and drawing on a vast range of resources in this effort.

Now let's apply this thinking to helping kids born or living in poverty areas of Chicago and other cities with pro sports teams.  Are there groups of people using graphics and maps like I use in my blogs, with the goal of helping constantly improving youth serving programs be available to k-12 youth in every high poverty neighborhood of each city?

The graphic above has many elements. Let me focus on two:

This arrow graphic can be seen in the upper left corner. It shows the 20 to 30 year long journey each child takes as they move from birth to work. 

Kids living in areas of concentrated poverty have too few people modeling the many careers kids might aspire to, or helping open kids move from one age group to another.

If you stand the graphic above vertically, it resembles an oil well, or a skyscraper. and emphasizes that the work done in the preschool and elementary school years is essential foundation work that propels kids through high school, college, vocational training and into jobs and careers.

Schools and youth serving programs need to be located in every high poverty neighborhoods, providing age appropriate support as kids move through school. Teams of adults from the community and the larger geographic region, including businesses, faith groups, hospitals and universities, need to be part of teams working to help individual programs grow, and helping many individual programs fill different neighborhoods.

All of the articles on this blog and the resources on the Tutor/Mentor Institute,  LLC web site are intended to support groups of people who are trying to figure out "How do we do this better?"

There are dozens of business, civic, government and philanthropic groups in Chicago and other cities looking for ways to help reduce poverty, violence, inequality while improving working conditions and preparing people for the workforce. 

The information I share can be used by any of them. I'm not sure most of them even know I exist.

As you watch pro sports today, I hope you'll spend some time thinking about this.  I'd like to be a coach and mentor to help you and your team dig through the massive playbook that my web resources represent. If you are part of some of these planning groups, or know people who are involved, please pass on an invitation and encourage them to read some of the articles I've posted.

Connect with me on any of these social media sites.

Nobel Prize, Giraffes and Tutor/Mentor. What's the Link?

I wrote this article in 2006 and thought I'd update it today.  

In October 2006, I received the following email from the Giraffe Foundation:

A Second Giraffe Wins Nobel Peace Prize
There was much jubilation here at the news last week that Muhammad Yunus (www.grameenfoundation.org ) had won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006. Yunus was commended as a Giraffe way back in 1987. He follows Giraffe Wangari Maathai (www.greenbeltmovement.org) , who was commended as a Giraffe in 1990 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. We happily suggest that the Nobel Committee check our files now for potential future winners.

What's the connection? Daniel F. Bassill (that's me), founder and president of Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC), was commended as a Giraffe in 1997. I've been proud to wear the Giraffe pin on my coat for almost a decade.

I keep telling people that we can earn awards like this, if they will join me in the efforts of the T/MC. Over the past couple of days, I've been talking to Phil Cubeta at GIFT HUB and Sean Stannard-Stockton at tacticalphilanthropy.com about ways generous acts of kindness can add up as strategic, long-term support of non profits working to help kids grow from first grade to first job, or working to help solve other long-term challenges.

My goal is to use maps, databases, the Internet, and social networking/collaboration tools to draw donors and volunteers to maps where they see where the need for charity dollars, or volunteers is, and choose among many agencies to decide who to help, and how much to help. By using information as a middle man in this process, we can improve the distribution of support to all places where help is needed, and sustain it for the many years it takes for organizations to grow from good to great.

If we can make this work, I think it deserves a Nobel Prize.

While I've not received a Nobel Prize or MacArthur Foundation Genius Award, here's a list of recognition I have received.

That's what I wrote in 2006. Much has change since then in my ability to do this work, yet my vision is the same.

A few years ago I created this graphic to show the obstacles that have contributed to my inability to fully develop my vision for using maps and building a community of support for well-organized, non-school, tutoring, mentoring and learning programs in all high poverty areas.

You can see several dips on this time line. The 2008 financial sector melt-down ultimately caused me to separate from the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program and form the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC to continue doing this work.

I continue to believe that there are people in the world who would support my work, partially fueled by stories of multi-million dollar donations to local universities. In 2008 I wrote this article, following news of a $300 million donation to the University of Chicago by an alum.

In my article I made this observation:

I read in today's Chicago Tribune Business Section that now that the University has the donation, "the hard part" is to figure out how to use that $300 million donation. Not for me.

This week I'm reading about another huge donation to the University of Chicago. That tells me the money is out there.

I keep sharing this graphic, which illustrates how people who read my blogs could be passing on what they read to people in their own network, via social media, traditional media, phone and email and plain old fashion one-on-one conversations.

Using the six degrees of separation rule, that means that the people they know, who also share this information, will ultimately reach someone with very deep pockets who is interested in investing in the Tutor/Mentor Connection and completely upgrading it for the next 20 years.

Maybe he/she will win the Nobel Prize as a result.

Take a Look. Create Your Own Version. Pass it on!

Step Up-Take Action

I've been sharing ideas using Power Point/PDF presentations and printed newsletters for more than 20 years. Since 2005 I've been using this and other blogs for that purpose.

And I've been encouraging others to look at what I do, then create their own versions.  That's what Kevin Hodgson, a middle school teacher from Western Massachusetts did this weekend.  Kevin took time to look at this Role of Leaders pdf, then created a comic strip, with his own interpretation. 

The image above is from a cartoon you can see in full on his blog.

So how did we get to this point?  I joined Kevin and other educators in 2013 for a Connected Learning MOOC (#clmooc), and I've re-connected every year since then, using my blog posts to introduce work I was doing and to encourage them to involved their own students in doing this work.  Browse the #clmooc tag and you can see past articles.

So earlier this week I posted a Tweet on Twitter showing how an educator from the Chicago area was creating a geography text book, using a comics format.  As folks from #clmooc responded to my Tweet I repeated my invitation that others use comics to tell the stories I've been telling.  You can see the thread and Kevin's response in the Tweets posted below:

This looks like something you'd like. @dogtrax @NomadWarMachine @wentale #clmooc #mapvember https://t.co/6ok1UW2HiZ

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) October 19, 2017

then

I'd love to find someone(s) who would re-do ideas I share at https://t.co/85UGitcYDB in cartoon/comic format. Apply to any city.

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) October 19, 2017

then

it seems to be about personas. Comics appeal to the storytelling by relating to a person in the map.

— Wendy Taleo (@wentale) October 19, 2017

then

Point me to something at your site that you might want to see in comic form and I will take a look (can’t promise right now but … will try)

— KevinHodgson (@dogtrax) October 19, 2017

then, Kevin posted his comic today in this Tweet

Step Up and Take Action: A Webcomic Interpretation https://t.co/htqV8uuuOS #clmooc #comics pic.twitter.com/79mqrxvH8S

— KevinHodgson (@dogtrax) October 22, 2017

then, others in #clmooc group passed on Kevin's Tweet, adding some kind words endorsing my efforts.

Thanks for honoring the continuing work of Daniel Bassill. Every prophet should get such honor. Most wonder what to do, Daniel just does it

— Terry Elliott (@telliowkuwp) October 22, 2017

Interns from various universities in the US, South Korea and other countries have been looking at my ideas and creating their own interpretations for many years. In 2013 I asked two interns to look at work others had done in previous years. He created this graphic and used it in this Prezi presentation.

A second intern created the video below, to share the same information:

You can view the collection of intern work at this link.

These illustrate that there are many ways to communicate and share ideas that are launched by myself or others.  I'm a small voice, with few resources to create and share ideas that I feel are important and apply to every major city in the world where poverty is concentrated in small areas surrounded by the power and wealth of the larger urban area.  (These ideas apply in rural areas and smaller communities, too, but the size and population density of the geography make challenges and solutions somewhat different.)

When people like Kevin and others in networks like #clmooc begin to look at my articles, then create their own interpretations, they are building their own understanding and passing on the ideas to people in their own networks.

This graphic illustrates how this network-building and idea sharing can ultimately lead to people with greater wealth, power and influence looking at the ideas and adding their own support.

We need to find a lot of these people....in Chicago and in every other city.

If you'd like to help me continue to do this work, create your own interpretations, or visit this page and give your financial support.

Hospitals as hub for urban development and reducing inequality

I have written many articles over the past 12 years, focusing on the role hospitals could be taking to reduce inequality, improve public schools, lower health care costs and draw more young people into health care careers. Here's one article. Find others by clicking the #publichealth tag at the left.

In many of these I'm pointing to articles and research written by others to support my efforts to motivate hospital leaders to take on a broader set of goals (and to invite me into their conversations).

Today I was pointed to an article titled The Often Overlooked Solution to Income Inequality, which shows that hospitals, as the major employer in many inner city neighborhoods, could take on a much broader set of goals "to help make cities truly livable".

Below is a strategy plan template that was started by a team of DePaul University grad students in 2001. I've updated it a few times since then.

Tutor/Mentor Hospital Connection: A Vision by Daniel F. Bassill on Scribd

If you're involved with leadership at an urban hospital or teaching university I encourage you to use this and other articles I've written to stimulate thinking and discussion of strategic goals for your institution.

Archiving discussions as part of knowledge-building process

Over the past few years I've written posts following the annual #onthetable event hosted by The Chicago Community Trust, in which people get together in small groups to discuss issues important to them. Last night a friend asked me if I knew of David Gurteen, while we were talking about the knowledge base I've been building since the mid 1970s. He sent me the link today and I took a look at the Knowledge Cafe's which David has been supporting.

As I've looked at these I have felt that something was missing.  Below are a few graphics that show my thinking.  The first is a planning cycle graphic which you can see in this blog article.

The #onthetable events and Knowledge Cafes would be part of the middle steps on  this graphic. At the left would be a knowledge base, including maps, that people draw from to be better informed about problems, and potential solutions, when they get together to talk.

If people come together without any specific issue in mind, the talk could be random and cover a wide range of topics. I use graphics like the one below to focus on one issue: How do we assure that kids born in high poverty areas today move safely through k-12 and post  high school learning and into jobs and careers and adult responsibilities?

I posted an article earlier this year showing the different components of this pyramid.  In the  middle of this the steps are "creating a better understanding" and "creating actions that support the operations of needed programs in all places on the map where they are needed".  These two steps would be well supported by #onthetable and Knowledge Cafe processes, if they were focused on single issues.

At the bottom of this pyramid I focus on the knowledge base, or library of information and ideas, that people need to use to expand their understanding of the problem and solutions.

I have been building a knowledge base to support this process since I started leading a tutor/mentor program in 1975. It's been growing on the Internet since 1998. This map shows the four sections.

I'd like to find concept maps and visualizations like this on web sites of people who are facilitating conversations and looking for solutions to complex problems.  In one section of my library I point to blogs written by many others, and to places like G+ communities, cMOOCs, etc. where people are archiving what they learn in events they are part of.

This archiving of information should be a regular part of the process, so that each future gathering and conversation builds upon what has already been discussed and learned by others.  The graphic at the right, showing a carrot, represents the ideas in a knowledge library. View this presentation to see my interpretation of this.

What do you think about this? Do you find many web sites where event organizers and discussion leaders are mapping their process and pointing to knowledge bases where people can learn more about problems they are interested in solving? 

Connect with me on one of these social media places or share your ideas in the comments to this blog.

Helping Youth Through College - Solving Other Problems

I attended the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute's To&Through Project's briefing this week and shared some ideas on the MappingforJustice blog site. I hope you'll take a look, and take time to get to know the information on the To&Through web site.

In my comments I emphasize the use of maps to show where schools are located, with overlays showing demographics of the neighborhood as well as non-school support organizations and assets, such as business, colleges, hospitals and/or faith groups.

There's a strong emphasis on collaboration on the To&Through Project site, engaging members of the community not just people within each Chicago Public School. That commitment is visualized with this graphic.

To&Through goals are visualized using a time line starting in 9th grade and continuing through high school graduation. The data on the web site for each school shows eight to 10 years of history, showing changes in student success and progression through school from year-to-year.

I use a different set of graphics to show the long-term support kids need, starting as they enter school and continuing past college and/or vocational school, and leading to jobs and adult lives free of poverty.  I use geographic maps and concept maps to emphasize the need for great support systems in every neighborhood. 

I created the graphic below today to illustrate that the commitment, and actions, leaders need to make and take to help youth move through school to adult lives is the same commitment needed if they were focusing on other issues.

Let me break this down for you.  Below is the strategy map shown in the upper left of this graphic. In this blog article I describe this vision and the information shown on this map. 

If you open the links under the yellow box at the top left on this map you'll find a village map, which emphasizes the need for leaders in business, religion, higher education, hospitals, media and other sectors to adopt this commitment and help Chicago's kids grow up safely and thrive as adults.

However, there are other causes people care about, and similar commitments are needed in each issue area.  On the graphic I show above I've enlarged the left part of the Race-Poverty map shown below.

Race-Poverty Cmap - http://tinyurl.com/TMI-Race-Poverty-Map 

Every node on the map represents a complex problem affecting how kids perform in school and affecting people in many parts of Chicago, the US, and the world.  Someone could create a "my goal is" strategy map similar to mine, to show their own vision of steps to reduce these programs and they could share that map on blogs, the same way I do.

In every one of these areas, the "what do I know" and "where can I find more information" and "who else is working on this?" questions are being asked.  In the graphic I started with I show another concept map in the lower left, pointing to a four-part strategy. You can see the map below and find a description in this article.

 

I have a link to the To&Through project in the research section of the web library I've been building for more than 20 years.  Tha's all part of step 1 of this strategy map. I constantly add new links to the library because new information is being generated all the time. Navigating this is a huge challenge.

To help more Chicago students move through school, college and into jobs and careers many more people will need to dig deep into this information and find ways they can offer time, talent and dollars in many places.  That's step 2 and step 3 on this 4-part strategy.  Too few focus on these steps.  

Step 4 uses maps showing where help is needed, where schools and non-school organizations are located and seeks to motivate on-going actions that draw talent, attention, ideas and dollars to each area of the map where indicators show more help is needed. 

So that leads to one final graphic for this article.  Daily media stories and social media posts remind us of tragedies affecting lives of Chicago youth and families. When people read these stories there are steps they can take to be part of solutions. the ENOUGH graphic is described in this article. 

Would be great if someone would create a data entry form where people could document good deeds and actions they take, and code them by one of the steps shown on my graphic, as well as what address or neighborhood on the map was intended to benefit. Such maps could be on many web sites documenting who's involved and what they are doing and helping people who are involved find and collaborate with each other. 

Thanks for reading.  If you are interested in these ideas I look forward to hearing from you.