Be a story-map-maker. Draw needed resources to neighborhoods.

This map shows the Austin neighborhood on the West side of Chicago. It also shows the Eisenhower Expressway that draws commuters through the West side as they travel to and through work.

I've used this and similar maps in several stories on this blog in past years. Please look at them and use them as examples for ways you and others can use maps in stories that draw attention, volunteers, dollars, ideas and other needed resources to youth serving organizations in every poverty neighborhood in the Chicago area,  the USA, and the world.

Here's another article, showing ways to make your own maps to influence public policy and willpower.

This blog was started in 2008. There are nearly 10 years of articles showing ways to use maps and visualizations in stories, which also point you to many other resources that help you understand poverty, inequality and racism in America.

The purpose of my map stories is to help well-organized, volunteer-based, tutor, mentor and learning programs grow in all high poverty neighborhoods of the Chicago region. Ideally, such programs connect with youth in elementary and middle school, then stay connected as they help youth move through high school and into adult lives.

With social media, such programs can be a hub connecting youth, volunteers, ideas and opportunities for a lifetime.

I know of very few programs who actually do this. One reason is that the system that funds non profit  youth serving organizations is inconsistent and short-term in who it funds, and how long it funds, as well as what it funds.  Another might be that there is no university or apprentice program training leaders to come into this field, drawing upon the multi-year experience of current and past program leaders, such as myself. 

While I provide these map stories, I host a library of articles and web sites that you can use to expand your understanding of problems and solutions. For instance:

List of Chicago youth programs - visit this link and see the way I share links to Chicago youth programs. You can use this list to find programs. You can also use it to learn ideas from well organized programs that you can apply to help other programs.  Or you can use this to frame a vision for new programs that need to be created in areas where no programs now exist.

Learn  more about challenges of funding these programs - click this link and read articles I've been collecting for the past 20 years.  Unless we find better ways to fund programs, making talent, technology and operating resources consistently available to EVERY program, little will change in the availability of programs or the number of kids being helped through school and into adult lives.

Browse sections of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC web site and use it as an on-going resource to support your own efforts. 
* Use this "getting started" page to help you navigate the site. 
* Visit this page to view the library of "strategy presentations" that I've created since the mid 1990s.

If you value this information and these resources, click here and use the PayPal button to provide financial support to help me keep it available to you and others.

School Segregation in the US. Long history. Intentional.

In several articles on this blog I include maps that show segregation in the US school system.  In the video below, Soledad O’Brien discusses with Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative reporter for New York Times Magazine, and a MacArthur Genius Award Winner, why she says the segregation in American schools is intentional and why it’s hurting the country’s future.
 


 Read articles on Tutor/Mentor blog and this blog that focus on ways to get more people involved in learning about issues like this, and in using their time, talent, dollars, influence and votes to create needed systems of support for kids living in high poverty and segregated America.

MapCorps - engages youth in data collection

MapCorps

This is a map on the MapCorps web site t hat shows neighborhoods of Chicago where they are collecting data. Browse the site to see other maps and learn how they are engaging and employing students in this process.

Visit this YouthCounts site to see how MapCorps partners to help collect data about homeless youth in Chicago.

Arts Vibrancy in US Counties

Arts Vibrancy map

Here's another example of how maps can be used. This link points to an interactive map that shows how strong an arts community is in different counties throughout the USA.

Visit the site to learn more about the map and the data/research behind it. 

Racial Segregation in Metro Areas - Brookings report

Map from Brookings.edu report

This is one of four sets of maps included in this article describing continuing racial segregation in 24 large metro areas of the United States.  Take a look.

Read other articles that focus on race and segregation that I've posted on this blog.

Racial Imbalance in U.S. Public Schools - Interactive map

See this map here

I've posted several articles over the past few years that point to the Brookings.edu site and their use of data maps to show poverty and race issues in the U.S.

This link points to an article and interactive map showing the racial imbalance in U.S. public schools. 

You can zoom into the map and look at the school and neighborhood demographics for every public school (traditional and charter) in the U.S. 

Cook Country GIS Portal - Cook Central

Last week at Chicago Hack Night we were introduced to a new GIS portal, called Cook Central, which was launched on December 1, 2017.  View the video below to see some features, then browse the site and get to know it better.

Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the American City

This map is from a web site that tells the story of racial segregation in St. Louis as a result of deliberate policies enacted from the 1900 through the 1970s.  Click on the interactive maps to understand the impact of different policies and to see changes by decade.

In this blog I've included maps of Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago and other cities to show that racism led to concentrated poverty and inequality that is present in every city. Maps can be used to not only show where the problem is, and why it occurred, but also to support leadership efforts that help put programs in place that help overcome these challenges.