Unleashing the Power of Faith Communities

Helping You "Do Unto Others." Helping Chidren in Need.
(Part 2 of T/MC's 2010 "Mapping Solutions" online gallery)
Imagine if the evangelism of thousands of faith communities in the Chicago region was focused in part on connecting faith groups from more affluent parts of the Chicago region with tutor/mentor programs in high poverty areas.

Maps can show where churches, mosques and synagogues are located. Faith leaders can use these to build communications strategies that engage their member institutions to help tutor/mentor programs grow, and to bolster programs that are already hosted within faith based institutions.

Such strategies, which supplement T/MC maps, are available at tutormentorexchange.net, an info hub of shared knowledge started by T/MC president Dan Bassill, who writes,

"Every dot on this map represents a faith based organization. Some are in high poverty areas where tutor/mentor programs are most needed. Others are in middle class neighborhoods where people may be struggling to keep jobs and pay mortgages and deal with their own family health. Others are in areas of high affluence, where there may be more ability to give. In all of these communities we hope that groups are forming and reading [Mapping For Justice] blog articles... If you read and reflect on what we write each week, each of these dots will begin to have strategies that connect them to tutor/mentor programs in one, or more parts of the city, as well as to people in other faith groups who are discussing the same issues. Let us know if we can help your congregations form such groups."

This particular map focused on a selection of known Christian churches in relation to known tutor/mentor programs.

Of course, this is also Hanukkah season! So check back early next week for a look at Jewish congregations, via another map that is featured in this year's "Mapping Solutions" gallery.

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We at Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) have spent the past several years using maps to identify and analyze areas of our city where support for at-risk youth needs to grow, in order to make our students brighter, our workforce stronger, and our streets safer.

We operate on a non-profit budget and rely on donations and charity to continue our work, using state-of-the-art GIS technologies in support of our community-based mission.

Note: since 2011 the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been operated by Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. While this is not a tax exempt organization, it still depends on contributions to continue this work. Please consider a small donation this holiday season.