How Many Youth Programs are Needed?

Last week I posted two articles on the Tutor/Mentor blog that included the maps I'm showing below.  These show 15 Chicago community areas with high levels of shootings and homicides, considered 'high priority' by the Chicago SunTimes. 

I've combined the community area maps created by the SunTimes, with maps from the Tutor/Mentor directory to show the same  neighborhoods, locations of existing non-school, volunteer-based, tutor and/or mentor programs, and the number of high-poverty youth, age 6-17, in the area.

Here's an example: North Lawndale is on the far West side of Chicago and 4178 low income youth, which is 61% of the total youth population in that area.  

The green icons of the Tutor/Mentor map are youth programs in the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC's directory. (see map here). While there are seven programs, they are on the edges of the community area, except for the Better Boys Foundation (BBF Family Services).   We don't know how many youth each existing program serves, nor the age groups they serve, but if each served 100 kids weekly, it would mean 700 out of 4178 had access to a non-school tutor and/or mentor program.

Here's another example:  This shows Englewood, on the South side of Chicago, West of the Dan Ryan Expressway.  Click to enlarge the map.

The goal of creating these maps is to stimulate planning teams that help existing programs each get the operating resources needed to continue to serve youth and (hopefully) constantly improve, based on what they can learn from each other. At the same time, planning teams should identify where more programs are needed, and work to fill those voids.  

This should be happening in every community area of Chicago, as well as in Chicago suburbs and other cities.

Take a look at the two articles on the Tutor/Mentor blog. July 29 and August 1.

Since the mid 1980s I've seen stories of violence in Chicago, followed by editorials saying "demand something" or with quotes by parents saying "we need more youth programs for these kids".  Yet, there's never been an on-going, map-based planning process, intended to fill high poverty areas with a wide range of youth tutor, mentor, learning and jobs programs.

Unless that changes, it's likely the violence will continue.

If  you're using maps for this type of analysis or interested in learning more you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN and Instagram (see links here).   Let's connect.