Wednesday, July 8, 2009

New Map Gallery Launched! A One Stop Shop For Tutor/Mentor Support

Apologies for not posting in a couple weeks, but rest assured I've had my sleeves rolled up, creating an all-inclusive Map Gallery... a one-stop shop for all the maps I've produced, with links to each map's associated Mapping For Justice blog story.

Here's a quick screen capture of the Map Gallery:


Notice that the left side features links to everything we do with maps: How-to documents and interactive animations, the interactive Google maps, the Tutor/Mentor Institute's strategy documents, the Program Locator. There is also a link to the awesome maps other volunteers made prior to my arrival at Tutor/Mentor Connection in 2008.

But the highlight is of course, the new gallery of all our maps:

Each of the 7 map categories in the Map Gallery have text that explains that category's significance in the overall mission of T/MC and its strategic use of maps to support tutoring/mentoring programs. If you read from top to bottom, you'll get a clearer sense of why maps are so important in our mission.

Click on a particular map's thumbnail, and the full map will load in high resolution:


At the bottom of each expanded map, there is a blurb from that map's associated blog (posted on Mapping For Justice)... with links to the blog if you want to read the full story.

In a nutshell, everything you need to find and then support a program is here, whether you are a media, political, business, spiritual, or other community leader... or perhaps you are looking to start a program where the maps show there is a need... or maybe you're just a volunteer looking for a program near your home or commuter route...

No organized and successful journey starts without a good map!

A few important words before you go and look through the maps:

1. Thank you for your support over the past year and a half while our mapping resources were being developed. These maps, the interactive project, and this gallery wouldn't exist without a generous $50,000 act of charity from an unknown benefactor.

We really need to find a new source of income to continue this not-for-profit map work... for the improvement of our workforce and economy, and for the welfare of our children and communities.

If you know any potential benefactors, with an interest in community and workforce development... education... social justice... or simply "maps," please forward this to anyone with the capacity to help us continue our work.

2. I will be continuing to add new maps weekly, so remember to bookmark http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/mapgallery.html and come back each week!

3. And last thing - realizing there are still probably a few issues here and there with the Map Gallery, since I just launched it... I invite you to take a look around and give me feedback as I tweak and improve the design... is it user-friendly? Are there things you'd like to see added or modified? What else do you like or not like?

Thank as always for returning to this site, and for your continued support for tutoring/mentor programs!

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