America: More Diverse. Still Segregated

Map from Washington
Post, 5/2/18

This map shows segregation in the Chicago region and is part of an extensive article titled: Segregation Map: America is more diverse than ever, but still segregated",  in the May 2, 2018 Washington Post. click here

This is not a new issue. I've been adding stories about racism and segregation to this article and this section of my web library for many years.

The Washington Post article draws it's data from a new book titled Cycle of Segregation, written by Kyle Crowder and Maria Krysan . Here's an interview on WGN Radio with one of the authors.

The challenge continues to plague Chicago and other parts of the country. It's a complex problem and as Maria Krysan said in the Washington Post article:

We don't have the integrated social networks. We don't have integrated experiences through the city. It's baked-in segregation,” Krysan said. “Every time [a person] makes a move [they’re] not making a move that breaks out of that cycle and making a move that regenerates it.”

 I've supported well-organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs for more than 30 years because these programs are integrated social networks connecting youth and families from inner city neighborhoods with a mix of volunteers from many different parts of Chicago, many different business backgrounds, and many faith, age and racial backgrounds.

While I've led the Tutor/Mentor Connection since creating it in 1993, few leaders have adopted the strategies I've shared and/or made consistent, long-term commitments to helping this type of program start and grow in all high poverty areas of the city and suburbs. Furthermore, of the nearly 200 youth serving organizations I point to on this list, very few show a strategy and theory of change that describes their program as a social network connecting youth in poverty to people, experiences and opportunities beyond.

Next week The Chicago Community Trust will host it's annual On The Table event, where people from throughout the region gather in small groups to discuss issues important to them, and to Chicago. 

My hope is that many of these groups will use maps like I share and point to on this site, and discuss ways they and people they know can build a better understanding of the places and problems of racial segregation in the Chicago region, then map out strategies and action steps that people can take daily to try to close the gaps.

Example of using maps to connect communities & reach more places

Since 2013 I've participated in several on-line events and some have used Google maps to show participant locations.  

I started creating maps to show participation in Tutor/Mentor Conferences in the mid 2000s.

Thus, I was pleased to find this interactive map on the Our Revolution political organizing web site.


You can zoom into the map, to the zip code level, and click on the icons to find out what group this represents and how to get connected.

I've posted articles about the #onthetable event hosted the past four years by the Chicago Community Trust and suggested that they create a map like this to show people hosting their informal meetings and another to show locations of participants, as part of an evaluation process and also as part of an organizing effort intended, as Our Revolution does, to keep people working with each other to understand and solve problems important to the Chicago region, or the nation.

If you've examples of maps being used this way feel free to post a link in the comment section.

Why I Attend Chicago Hack Night events

I've been attending Chicago Hack Night events for at least 2 years and I'm writing this article to help celebrate their 200th weekly gathering.  This image is from this week's event, where the Heartland Alliance presented information. You can see me in the middle, sitting by the wall. That's my usual spot. Helps me see better.

So why do I attend?

First, I'm not a technologist. I've been using technology as a tool to work smarter, think better, share ideas and network with others since the early 1980s.  I attend Hack Night meetings because I'm inspired by the ideas shared by speakers. I'm inspired by the talent and the work being done by people who are attending. I'm also  hoping to share from my own knowledge and experiences, while finding volunteers to help with my own work.

Here's a few highlights from my journey through technology and innovation, starting in 1980, when I was one of the first people at the Montgomery Ward Corporate Office in Chicago to have an Apple Lisa on their desk.  Ron Mantegna and Ken Novak, peers in the Retail Advertising department, were the catalysts who suggested that using the computer to create ad diagrams and update them would be more time efficient that doing them by hand, since the company changed ad plans so frequently.  At first, pepole laughed at me sitting at the computer, and called it a toy. By 1990 the entire multi million dollar ad planning and development process at Montgomery Ward was computerized based on the work we started in the early 1980s.

I tell this story because it has repeated over and over for the past 30 years. Others with better knowledge of how computers and the Internet work have prodded me to adopt new ideas and have supplied the tech talent to help me implement those ideas.  In the early 1980s it was Ken Novak who introduced me to Excel and helped me create a forecasting system that was used in the advertising planning process and generated millions of dollars of benefit. Later it was Ken who introduced new versions of technology, and this idea called "email".

As I applied these tools for my retail advertising job, I also applied them in my role as the volunteer leader of the tutoring program at Montgomery Ward.  While we spent millions on mass communications to draw people to 400 stores around the country, I spent time and talent to create mass communications (starting with duplicating machines) that told our 200-300 volunteers what to expect each week at the tutoring sessions.

In 1997 my first web site was created by the brother of one of our volunteers. Then, in 1998, Matt Mead, another one of our volunteers, said "I understand you're trying to build a web site. I can do that for you."

When Matt and I started talking I said "We'll need people with different talents to help us."  So, he created this graphic as the home page for the www.tutormentorconnection.org site that he built for me, using a technology called 'revista' which enabled me to edit text on the site. In 2005 this site was rebuilt using dot.net.nuke, by a team from IUPUI in Indianapolis. 

I've used this hub and spoke design over and over since then to communicate how I was trying to connect others to myself, and each other, in a constantly growing community of people and ideas focused on helping inner-city kids have the extra support they each need to move through school and into jobs.

In 1999, Steve Roussos, who was then a PhD student at the university of Kansas, used power point to create this visualization to describe the work I was doing. He called it a "Tutor/Mentor Learning Network", and drafted this paper to describe it to donors. I've built hundreds of power point presentations since then, inspired by Steve's work, including this PDF.  Steve was also the creator of the www.tutormentorexchange.net web site in 1998, which now is the home site for the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. In 2000-2001, he also created an on-line documentation system called OHATS (Organizational History and Tracking System), modeled after work being done from the University of Kansas.


While I started collecting information about Chicago tutor/mentor programs in 1993, I did not have an idea of how to display that information until the librarian at the United Way/Crusade of Mercy showed me a geography magazine, and one of my volunteers at IBM introduced me to GIS mapping, and to the Metro Chicago Information Center in 1993.

I started mapping the database of programs in 1994 and published the first Chicago Tutor/Mentor Programs Directory in 1995, with contact information and address for more than 120 different youth serving organizations, along with dozens of more organizations who were working in some way to improve the life-outcomes for kids in poverty.

When I started the T/MC web site in 1998 this list of other organizations became the core of a web library that now points to more than 2000 other web sites, including Chicago Hack Night and similar data networking groups.  If you look at the link to the web library, you'll see it's outlined  using a concept map (CMAP tools), which was introduced to me by a former Peace Corps worker in 2005. I've created a whole library of concept maps since then.

In 2004 an intern from IIT and India recognized my goal of sharing this information on the Internet, and created a searchable program locator that duplicated what was in the printed Directory. This enabled users to search by zip code, type of program and age group served, to produce a map showing that program, and others in the same zip code.

In 2007 another volunteer from India, added an interactive map feature to the program locator, enabling us to zoom into neighborhoods to not only find organizations based on age group, type of program and time of day, but to also see indicators showing where the programs are most needed, and what assets were in that area who could be collaborating to help sustain existing programs or build new programs.

Now (when this is working properly) users can create their own neighborhood map view, to help bring others together to help support existing program or build new ones to fill voids.  This PDF describes how to make your own map using this program locator, or other data maps that now are available on the internet. Browse this blog, and the Tutor/Mentor blog, and you'll find many examples of this type of map-story.

In 2009 Valdis Krebs, one of the world's foremost experts on Social Network Analysis, spoke at the Tutor/Mentor Conference that I hosted in Chicago, then donated software that interns could  use to create maps showing participation in Tutor/Mentor Conferences.  This blog shows maps created in 2010. This article shows how I'm still trying to find interns and volunteers to create maps and visualizations that show how networks grow as a result of the work I and other innovators do.

When I attend Chicago Hack Night and similar gatherings of tech and data visualization people, I'm trying to connect with talented people who will help me continue to build tools and visualizations that bring people and ideas together and focus actions on places where time, talent and dollars will be needed for many, many years. I'm also sharing ideas from my own experiences and library, that others can apply in their own work.

The Chicago Hack Night has a tradition of letting everyone introduce themselves at the beginning of each week's gathering. As I do this, I am posting my intro on Twitter, as I did this week.

#chihacknight intros. I'm Dan. Search Tutor Mentor on Google. My Web sites in first 10. View images; see my use of #maps, #visualizations

— Daniel Bassill (@tutormentorteam) March 29, 2016

Last September I saw a Tweet with a network analysis map like this. I followed it and introduced myself to Marc Smith, who then pointed me to information that I could use to learn about NodeXL, and how I could ask him to create similar maps for me.  I created this tutorial so others could learn from my own journey.   

If every participant of a networking event, or conference, hosted by someone in Chicago or another city, were to post a tweet with #chihacknight , etc. maps using NODEXL could show who was participating and how they are connected to each other. Such maps can demonstrate the impact event organizers are having, while also helping participants expand their own networks and find talent and sponsors who will  help them with the work they are doing.

I really appreciate Chicago Hack Night and it's organizers and sponsors for creating a space where I can be inspired by the work of others, where I can share ideas that any of the participants might apply in their own work, and where I might find people who will volunteer time, talent and dollars to help me keep doing what I've been trying to do for the past 20 years.

I encourage anyone who has read this far to go to this site and see the many ways Chicago Hack Night is supporting technology innovation in Chicago.

Thus, I'm not a data scientist, or coder, and I depend on the talent of other people to create and maintain the technology platforms that share my ideas and bring people together to help youth in high poverty areas of Chicago. The examples posted on this blog are just a few showing how others have helped me in the past, and can help me again in the future.

They also may serve as inspiration for a project someone in Chicago, or elsewhere in the world, will develop and apply in the future.

While I'm not able to stay each week and contribute on the many projects in process, I'm available to connect between sessions to offer suggestions and/or point people to some of the resources and ideas I share.  Just Tweet me @tutormentorteam or introduce yourself in the comment section below.

Holding Systems Accountable for Violence Prevention - Use of Maps

I attended the quarterly meeting of Strengthening Chicago's Youth today at Lurie Hospital in Chicago, along with about 100 other people. The focus of the event was on "Holding Systems Accountable for Violence Prevention".  Following a panel discussion breakout sessions looked for ideas about holding systems accountable. Part of that included defining what we mean by "systems" and "accountability".  SCY is compiling the notes from the event and will post them on their web site. When that is available I'll update this link.

To me "systems" are the various institutions who occupy space in a geographic area, such as the Chicago region, or smaller segments, such as community areas on the West or South side of Chicago, where high poverty contributes to greater levels of violence.

Accountability, is what institutions and individuals do to "look in their own mirror" and say, "What have I done today with my time, talent, wealth, status, etc. to bring needed violence prevention services to the neighborhoods where I have a reason to be involved?"

Holding political leaders accountable means, there is some way of knowing what they do to help their district overcome violence, and there is a voter turnout to elect, or re-elect, representatives who actually demonstrate consistent actions intended to reduce violence in their district.

A while back I created the presentation shown below, and posted it in this article on the Tutor/Mentor blog. I hope you'll look at it. I hope that people in different sections of Chicago, and in other cities, will create their own versions of this, share it on their blogs, and then encourage others who should be involved, to share the presentation so it reaches a larger percent of people in the region.

Violence in Chicago: Where Will We Be in 10 Years? by Daniel F. Bassill

This is one of many strategy presentations I've posted on my web sites, blogs and platforms like Scribd. Below is an image from another presentation, which describes four concurrent strategies that I feel must be happening in order to create the change we want to see in our communities.

The articles on my website, the SCY-Chicago web site, and on sites I point to from my web library, represent ideas people can use to build collaborations and solve complex problems. However, if we don't find ways to tell millions of people these ideas are available to them, too few will find them,  understand them, and act upon them. Since the social sector and individual citizens don't have the millions of dollars that corporate advertisers use to draw customers to their products, services and stores, or the billions that political campaigns spend in every election cycle, we need to find other ways to draw daily attention to these ideas.

That means you need to share this and other articles I and others are writing, on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and in your weekly Sunday School meeting.  It means you need to create similar presentations, showing your own "theory of change" and "problem solving strategy" and post it on your own blog or web site.

You need to follow me and each other. We need to create attention even when the story is not on the front page of the local newspaper.

At the end of each day, look in your mirror, and check off the things you did to make change happen.

NOTE: On Feb. 4. I posted an update to this on the Tutor/Mentor blog.

Building Partnership with other countries - Jellyweek

I've been connecting with a group of social entrepreneurs from around the world in a Facebook group. Their aiming to build a project during Jellweek2012, which will be January 16-22, 2012. The map below shows project locations around the world and is another demonstration of how mapping can be used to connect people and create understanding.


View WORLDWIDE #JELLYWEEK /// January 16 to 22 2012 in a larger map

While I've been contributing ideas to the group on Facebook I've also been reaching out to mentoring networks around the country as well as my peers in Chicago because January is National Mentoring Month. A map like this could be a platform for people from different places to show where they participated in a tutor/mentor program. It could also be a tool that existing programs could use to show where they operate.

To learn more about Jellyweek, click here.

Sponsoring Dragons To Assist Youth Programs

Occasionally, Mapping for Justice gets a chance to get out of the cubicle and work with kids in the tutor/mentor programs I write about.

This month, Mapping For Justice has decided to support a team of students in the Cabrini Madness tournament – a yearly fundraising “tourney” that brings together "teams" of students, volunteers, program staffers, and outside leadership like you.

The tournament helps teach students to advocate/compete for themselves, while helping the Cabrini Connections program raise a few bucks (which is vital for a non-profit to continue pairing adult mentors with youth from all over Chicago) - all while having a little fun. Check out the tourney website.

So this Cabrini Madness season, Mapping For Justice has decided to support and help promote... drum roll...

Team 5Ds (aka The 5 Dragons), captained by an amazingly talented young man, Charles Hill, with lots of help from other bright Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students, Sean Mayfield and Erin Smith.

Every small donation you make with me, and every time you pass this article to friends and colleagues, we help support student efforts to support themselves, while raising awareness about the virtues of these programs - programs that not only help each student, but in turn help society, and help you and me as taxpayers.

Additionally, 10% of your donation will go to Cabrini Connections Tech Club, a weekly club that teaches tech-related volcational skills to a group of students who want a little extra help on their way from the CPS to college and career.

Meet the students captaining this effort:
Charles Hill
Sean Mayfield
Erin Smith (profile coming soon)

Please consider helping Mapping For Justice help Team 5Ds by making a small tax-deductible donation here.

Wish us luck, and please check in occasionally to find continued tourney updates here.

Map Gallery Online, By Popular Demand!

As readers of this blog know, 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.

T/MC maps indicate areas and neighborhoods where at-risk youth might need additional support in their studies and life direction. The maps then try to reveal available resources that local tutor/mentor programs and community leaders can mobilize to improve that new support for students.

Thanks to everyone who came to see the “Mapping Solutions” art at Webster Wine Bar this past month, and who provided feedback about what they saw. The response was incredible actually, from servers who told me they never saw so many people stop to look at art work in the gallery before, to the many local business owners and mapping professionals who suggested I take the gallery “on the road.” (Stay tuned!)

Of course not everyone could make it to the border of the Lincoln Park and Bucktown neighborhoods of Chicago, so by popular demand (thanks to everyone who asked to see pictures), I’ve decided to put the gallery online this month.

As I put the maps up, I will explain the reason I chose to feature these “samples” of what we can do with T/MC map technologies. This will serve to demonstrate our current mapping capacity, hopefully get you thinking a bit about how you could use the map (and what additional cities and neighborhoods you'd like to explore), and hopefully lead to a discussion of how we can find the investment needed in 2011 to use state-of-the-art GIS technology to better support students and the non-profits who serve them.

If the response at the gallery was an indicator, you don’t want to miss this month’s “Mapping For Justice” blog installments. So go ahead and subscribe or bookmark us!

And check back this weekend for the first set of “Mapping Solutions” gallery maps.

Onward friends!


===============================

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.

Please consider a small tax-deductible donation to this important charity this holiday season.

Map Gallery Opens!

Tutor/Mentor Connection is a Chicago non-profit whose maps chart instances of issues like crime, violence and failing schools against the prevalence of student tutor/mentor programs. By showing this relationship, we want to create connections between at-risk students and business leaders, politicians, educators and citizens who are willing to help.

I've worked on, and featured these maps on this Mapping For Justice blog for the past three years.

Here is your chance to see them up close and personally. With a glass of wine in your hand :)

The main gallery event – with $5 wine specials and complementary appetizers – is this Wednesday, November 17 (“GIS Day”) from 6pm till 10pm at Webster Wine Bar (1480 W Webster, Chicago).

Join us to see for yourself how Tutor/Mentor Connection is Mapping Solutions... to the issues that concern all of us!

(If you can't make it, the maps will be up through Saturday, November 26... so drop me a line and I'll try to meet you over there at your convenience... without a great $5 wine deal though :)

And a side note:

If this is a cause/technology that you feel is important, please consider a tax-deductible donation to this event.

We have made a lot of progress with our mapping over the past two years thanks to a $50k donation in late 2007, and also thanks to your continued generosity toward our various fundraisers.

As a non-profit, however, it is an ongoing struggle even in the best of times to continue investing in new technologies , toward the organizational goals, and toward continued momentum. With the state of the current economy, charitable contributions are at a 20-year low, and more than ever, we're in jeopardy of losing that momentum we've created.

I know times are tough, but if this is a cause that you feel is important, please consider a tax-deductible donation to this event, and/or please help us find new investors. (If you you or anyone in your network would like to help us take our technologies to the next level, in support of helping at-risk youth, please drop us a line today.)

But enough heaviness. Let's drink some wine!

Mapping Solutions Gallery Sample: US Rep Luis Gutiérrez and his 4th District

See how Tutor/Mentor Connection maps connect politicians and ideas to help inner city kids

Here is a sample of the type of map you are going to see at the Mapping Solutions gallery at Webster's Wine Bar on November 17, as part of international GIS Day.


Luis Gutiérrez currently represents Illinois's 4th U.S. Congressional District. He will soon be running for mayor of Chicago. He is one of several politicians (with the power to build support for tutor/mentor programs) that will be featured in our Mapping Solutions gallery.

Our maps show where tutor/mentor programs are needed most by showing, in the maps above for instance, "poorly performing schools" and high levels of poverty - two indicators that there are many "at-risk" youth who need extra guidance away from the streets and toward college, jobs and responsible decision-making in their adult lives. (Click on the map to get an expanded preview.)

Then click here for a detailed look at why this should concern you, and what politicians like Gutiérrez can do to take the lead in saving us money, protecting our streets, and guiding our future neighbors through tutoring/mentoring.

Come out to the event, talk with us, and see similar maps.

And please click here to contribute a small donation so we can continue Mapping Solutions to poverty, crime, and the drop-out crisis for our politicians.

==========================

Who are we?

Tutor/Mentor Connection is a Chicago non-profit that helps connect business leaders, politicians, educators and citizens with afterschool and tutor/mentor programs, in part through a series of web-based maps. Using technology donated by Esri, our maps chart instances of issues like crime, violence and failing schools against the prevalence of afterschool and tutor/mentor programs. By showing this relationship, we want to create connections between at-risk students and business leaders, politicians, educators and citizens who are willing to help.

What are we going to do?

We are raising money this fall to continue and improve our map capacities, to build new support for students through tutor/mentor programs, and to forge new alliances among community leaders who want to help.

Additionally, this year, we are hosting a map gallery , entitled Mapping Solutions , on Wednesday, November 17 2010 to draw support to GIS Day by displaying our unique maps for the general public, business and political leaders. Maps will be on display for purchase starting Monday, November 15 to Sunday, November 27.

The fundraiser event will take place on Wednesday, November 17.

Webster Wine Bar , 1480 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, IL 60614.

Why are we doing this?

In this day and age, maps can show a lot more than how to get from Point A to Point B. By mapping the geographic relationship between social issues in Chicago and their critical solutions, we want to show where our community has opportunities for Chicago leaders to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children.

Please consider a donation, and try to come out on November 17 to see for yourself how Tutor/Mentor Connection is Mapping Solutions.

Mapping Solutions: Celebrate GIS Day with us November 17th

See how Tutor/Mentor Connection maps connect adults and ideas to help inner city kids

Mapping Solutions is one of the things that Tutor/Mentor Connection does everyday. Can you help?

Where do poverty, violence, school performance and community support intersect? Our maps can show you.


Who are we?

Tutor/Mentor Connection is a Chicago non-profit that helps connect business leaders, politicians, educators and citizens with afterschool and tutor/mentor programs, in part through a series of web-based maps. Using technology donated by Esri, our maps chart instances of issues like crime, violence and failing schools against the prevalence of afterschool and tutor/mentor programs. By showing this relationship, we want to create connections between at-risk students and business leaders, politicians, educators and citizens who are willing to help.

What are we going to do?

We are raising money this fall to continue and improve our map capacities, to build new support for students through tutor/mentor programs, and to forge new alliances among community leaders who want to help.

Additionally, this year, we are hosting a map gallery , entitled Mapping Solutions , on Wednesday, November 17 2010 to draw support to GIS Day by displaying our unique maps for the general public, business and political leaders. Maps will be on display for purchase starting Monday, November 15 to Sunday, November 27.

The fundraiser event will take place on Wednesday, November 17.

Webster Wine Bar , 1480 W. Webster Ave, Chicago, IL 60614.

Why are we doing this?

In this day and age, maps can show a lot more than how to get from Point A to Point B. By mapping the geographic relationship between social issues in Chicago and their critical solutions, we want to show where our community has opportunities for Chicago leaders to make a difference in the lives of at-risk children.

Please consider a donation, and try to come out on November 17 to see for yourself how Tutor/Mentor Connection is Mapping Solutions.

Music For Maps... New Maps Coming Soon!

Wow what a month.

The first annual Tutor/Mentor Jam was a huge success.

Last Sunday, we put on a show for a community of business, political, and media leaders... who join forces with local artists/musicians, volunteers in mentoring programs, and curious/concerned music fans on the West Side of Chicago.

Community coming together to network and make a difference! That's why I'm here - this is what my maps work to accomplish.

We had a pretty good turn out for the first year too, on a warm Sunday afternoon - we ended up with somewhere around 175 in attendance (about 75% capacity)... they got to hear new local music, meet local radio reps, hear media leaders and volunteer mentors talk... there was a lot of networking, we brought new visibility to a great cause, and it was a ton of fun.

I'm hoping to ride that momentum into the school season, as the school year starts...

Check back soon for details about:

1. A partnership between students at Loyola University and Mapping For Justice...

2. A map gallery at a local bar/restaurant coinciding with International GIS Day in November...

3. Our bi-annual Tutor/Mentor Conference in November...

4. New innovations in our online mapping capacities.

If any of this seems interesting to you, drop me a line.

We're always looking for volunteers and investment for next year's Tutor/Mentor Jam, and with everything we do!

Football, Music, Maps, and Justice

A former wide receiver for the Northwestern Wildcats, “Cabrini Connections” Tutor/Mentor Program Coordinator EL D’asheon Nix maintains a blog that documents the daily challenges faced by a non-school tutor/mentor program for at-risk youth. EL often cites parallels between the year-round training, performing, and measuring cycle of a football team, and that of a mentoring program. He writes in his “Cabriniblog” this week,

“This summer we have been reaching out to all of our returning players (students and their parents) and our returning coaches (volunteers) [to take] part in individual workouts over the summer … We are hoping that each and every player and coach on the team [is] ready to hit the ground running before the official team meetings (orientations) … and the opening season kickoff on Wednesday September 15th.”

A similar process is happening right now in dozens, if not hundreds of non-profit programs all over the city. Despite their efforts however, drop-out rates and youth violence continue to grow. Tutor/Mentor Connection (a related non-profit that specializes in building maps and strategies that facilitate this process of building tutor/mentor “teams”) maintains that more volunteer “coaches” are needed to recruit and train new student and parent “players” in new program “teams” everywhere, to attack these social woes at their core.



Against this backdrop, Tutor/Mentor Connection is calling community leaders and concerned citizens to join them at Tutor/Mentor Jam 2010 on August 29, 2010, at Darkroom in Chicago's West Town Neighborhood. This annual August/September volunteer recruitment event aims to mobilize volunteers and donors to be take action and be a part of tutor/mentor “teams.”

I will be performing with my band and plugging my maps and efforts from the stage, and I'm excited to announce that the indie hip hop coalition, The Black Temple 21, joined the bill last week, and this week, another former Wildcat football player joined our team. Come see former Northwestern Wildcat quarterback Alexander Webb perform a set of his acoustic blend of classic motown and modern rock at the event.

* More details at http://www.tutormentorjam.org/
* Darkroom, 2210 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622; 773-276-1411;
* 21+, Sunday, August 29, 2010; 5pm doors; Show at 6pm.
* FREE FOOD from ManBQue (cash bar);

TICKETS - HURRY! $10 until August 10th. After, going up to $15 through August 29th. $20 at the door; Purchase at http://www.tutormentorjam.org/

?!?! Can't make it?
Every donation helps our effort! http://www.giveforward.org/tmjam2010/

Benefit Concert for Tutor/Mentor Programs... Mapping For Justice Involved

My role with Tutor/Mentor Connection is always exciting - I get to wear many hats and utilize my diverse personal skillset every day: Mapmaker, Public Speaker, Marketing/PR, Web/Tech guy, and graphic designer. I get to meet politicians and business leaders... and I get to work weekly as an educator (I'm an M.Ed.), with the kids who attend Cabrini Connections Tech Club on nights when their peers might be on the streets.

I've shared on this blog how our political and business and other community leaders need to step up to the plate to ensure programs like Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) can continue to serve our students and ultimately you and me. These are programs our leadership often cite as necessary in the fights against crime, escalating taxes, and the drop-out crisis. I make maps to help people like them and people like you visualize the problem, create strategies, and take action.

Now I'm taking new direct action myself... and putting on two more hats...

I'm picking up my guitar and am making a direct call to you to join me... at a benefit concert I'm producing at Darkroom in Chicago on Sunday August 29 at 6pm on behalf of the T/MC and Mapping For Justice. (Come at 5pm for FREE BarBQue!!!)

* BUY TICKETS NOW

* DONATE to help if you can't make it.

More details?....

(This show is for adults, 21 years of age and older.)

WHAT? Tutor/Mentor Jam 2010, a Back To School Benefit for Tutor/Mentor Programs, programs that aid public school students.

WHEN? Sunday, August 29, 2010... 5pm = doors & FREE FOOD (cash bar)... Shows starts at 6pm.

WHERE? Darkroom, a music venue situated in the heart of Chicago's West Town Neighborhood, just west of Cabrini Green.

HOW? PURCHASE TICKETS NOW! $10 Advance July only ($15 in August, $20 door).

WHY? This coming-together of bands, entertainers, and the local business community represents a village, coming together to draw public attention and support toward volunteer-based, non-school tutor/mentor programs in high-poverty/high-crime neighborhoods throughout the Chicago region.

Such programs provide safe places where youth can connect with caring adult tutors, mentors, and career coaches who volunteer to help at-risk youth gain the academic and decision making edge that just might be the difference in a few years, when that child is deciding between a book and a gun.

* Official Website: Tutor/Mentor Jam 2010

* Darkroom, 2210 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60622

* Sunday, August 29, 2010; PURCHASE TICKETS NOW!

T/M Conference May 27-28: Come See Me Present My Maps!

It's that time of year again... At the end of this month, Tutor/Mentor Connection will host its first of two annual conferences at Loyola University's Rogers Park campus.

The conferences bring tutor/mentor professionals together with members of the media, and political/faith/business/community leaders (like you!) who wish to share ideas and explore tutoring/mentoring as a part of any comprehensive attack on poverty, crime, inadequate education for our youth, and the associated tax burdens that eventually fall in all our laps.

Come join us May 27 and 28 at the May Tutor/Mentor Conference! In fact...

On Thursday May 27th, 2010, I will host a workshop, explaining how maps like to one at the left can help draw attention and resources to tutor/mentor programs in neighborhoods where more are needed. I will also show how local programs, youth groups, students in service-learning classes, journalists with local media, and you can create your own maps using our program locator. Come with one or two addresses that you would like to map, and you'll leave knowing how anyone can create a blog article and map for justice.

If you cannot join us, please consider helping us raise scholarships for students and other future leaders who cannot afford the admission.

Art Gallery Benefit Announced! (Another Partnership with Business Leadership for Mentoring!)

Last week, we announced our 2010 Back to School "Musicians For Mentoring" benefit concert, a show that will feature local cause-minded artists and bands this coming August. This is a co-production between Mapping for Justice and business leader Shore Capital Management LLC.

But that's not all we're doing in 2010 to partner with business leadership, to find new ways to bring the maps to the people who can use them, and to provide new ways for you to join us in the war against poverty though mentoring programs.

In addition to the music benefit, we are also taking up an offer to contribute to an art gallery benefit this year. The gallery will be curated by a prominent member of a leading global risk management and insurance company, currently headquartered in the Loop, and all proceeds will be donated to Tutor/Mentor Connection.

Mapping For Justice will be contributing maps and other resources to the event, which will explore the past, present, and future of one of Chicago's high-poverty and high-crime neighborhoods. The gallery will provide a look into the lives of people who live in the neighborhood, and then examine how Mapping For Justice maps can be utilized by local leaders to build new tutor/mentor programs for students who make choices every day between the streets, and reinvestment in themselves, their community, and our economy.

The Art Gallery and Music Benefit provide two ways you (or someone you know) can join our growing team of sponsors, or provide press, radio, PR, or other promotional support... for the events... but also in support of mentoring as part of the long-term solution to poverty and its associated ills.

Many of you might think this is a "nice thing" - helping those in poverty. But you might also be asking yourself, in these trying economic times, "Isn't this something that they should be handling? Shouldn't their parents be the ones doing something about poverty? How is this really my concern?" Please take a look at this report, which makes a case for "the cost of poverty" as a huge additional (and often under-discussed) economic burden that you and all tax payers are carrying.

If we can work together to put a dent in poverty, we stand to be rewarded with safer communities and a stronger economy for everybody.

Leaders of the business community are understanding this and stepping up for mentoring. Why don't you join us?

(Stay tuned for the announcement of exact dates, event details, and ticket information.)

Meantime, have a little fun, from the comfort of the seat you're sitting in right now! You don't have to even move! Click here to learn about Cabrini Connections "Cabrini Madness 2010" Tournament!

Join community leaders Shore Capital Management LLC, Loyola University, LALA Images, Webster's Winebar, and Mapping For Justice in support of "Team TEMS," the Cabrini Connections Tech Club entry in the tourney by making a small tax-deductible donation - anything you can offer - to these Cabrini Green 7th-9th grade students, who meet weekly with local IT and design professionals, to learn marketable tech skills.

Learn more about the tech club here!

Benefit Concert Announced! (Partnership with Business Leadership for Mentoring!)

In my last blog, I presented a case for poverty as your problem, and discussed ways Mapping For Justice and Tutor/Mentor Connections are fighting to alleviate the costs of poverty to you, me, and our fellow taxpayers.

I promised to begin introducing you this week to a few new exciting events we are proud to be co-producing this year - opportunities for you to get involved with mentoring as sponsor, participant, or simply by passing the word along through your network. The first event I'm announcing this week is something that really excites me!

Together, Mark Shore, CIO Shore Capital Management LLC, and Mapping For Justice will be co-producing a Back to School "Musicians For Mentoring" benefit concert in August.

A business leader who understands the sense in "giving back to the community," and a musician himself, Mr. Shore recently relocated from New York City, where he had experience organizing similar fundraisers.

And me? Well, I'm an independent working musician in Chicago and my new CD will be hot off the presses right about the same time!

Together this summer! Mentoring, maps, music, business leadership, and YOU!

Exact dates and details as they are confirmed...

Meantime, please contact me if you or anyone in your network might be interested in joining our growing team of press, radio, PR, and other back-end support for this fun event... in promotion of mentoring, students, and our community.

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Oh and don't forget to join Shore Capital Management LLC and Mapping For Justice in support of Team TEMS, the Cabrini Connections Tech Club entry in the Cabrini Connections "Cabrini Madness 2010" Tournament!

Head here to learn more about Cabrini Connections Tech Club (or "Team TEMS" - Technology Expertise for Mentoring Students - as they've dubbed themselves)... These Cabrini Green 7th-9th grade students have been meeting weekly with local IT and design professionals, and together they are in the process of developing a video game (to be released later this year!) In the spirit of advocacy, the video game will provide an interactive look into tutoring/mentoring. It casts students from Team TEMS as the heroes, and examines the challenges they face in building awareness and raising the funding needed to keep Tech Club operational.

Together with you, Team TEMS will continue to fight for students' futures, for your community… and for the glory of the “Cabrini Madness Tournament 2010” championship!

Invest in Maps to Help Leadership Spend Your Money Wisely

Earlier this week, I argued that poverty is your problem.

I cited “cost of poverty” reports that estimate the costs to the U.S. associated with childhood poverty at $500B per year, or the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of GDP.

Burdens associated with the costs of poverty (social-, crime-related, and welfare-related programs) are yours, even if you live far from the ghetto. See, it's your tax money paying for the bandaid policies our leaders often use when they aren't listening to researchers who urge "social investment" - investment in programs, projects, and policy that attack the roots of poverty over the long-term...

Tutor/Mentor Programs attack the roots of the problem with an eye on the future, working to empower inner-city students at young ages with the tools, guidance and edge they will need to advocate for themselves, make good decisions, and ultimately make positive contributions to the economy.


WE ARE WEAPONS WAITING TO BE UNLEASHED

Tutor Mentor Connection (T/MC) and Mapping For Justice (MFJ) are potential weapons in this battle to curb poverty-related costs.

See, The T/MC and MFJ provide strategies and innovative map tools – a toolkit that helps community leaders analyze need, build alliances, and take action to support new tutor/mentor programs. Together, we are helping to connect at-risk youth in their formative years with guides who know what it takes to get better grades, and navigate their way to careers.

With more social investment from Chicago's business, political, faith, and community leaders, we can do even more in 2010.


DON'T KID YOURSELF

Many argue, "This is their parents' job, not mine!" ignoring the reality: Many of these kids don't have parents with this guidance. Instead, many of our current and future neighbors get their direction and "career" training from the streets.

And it's costing you and me to continue gambling that this will suddenly changes on its own overnight.


NEW WEAPONS LAUNCHING IN 2010

In 2010, MFJ will co-produce a few events, and provide new stories/maps that make more sense of all this – stories you aren’t likely to see in the media (until we start demanding it).

It is my hope to continue blending my map/tech/education skills with T/MC strategy to directly impact the way we look at poverty, the way media addresses this crisis we all face, and the way leadership looks at policy.

It is my hope to increase my capacity to equip more leaders with these weapons... these tools... and take T/MC and MFJ to a new level of effectiveness in doing what we can to address the costs of poverty.


WHAT NEXT?

We are looking for new social investment: appropriate grant money, PR and marketing assistance, and sponsorship for our 2010 events, in order to maximize impact, and get our quality tools into the hands of more community leaders and policymakers. Contact me if you have grant, marketing, or sponsorship leads!

Check back next week for a preview of the 2010 events we're co-sponsoring, and how you can participate!

Meantime, have some fun with a few of the kids at Cabrini Connections Tech Club: http://www.giveforward.org/tems/

Map Projects To Make Impact in 2010

Mapping For Justice is making a stronger push in 2010 to tell a story that is often ignored by politicians and the media:

Poverty and high poverty neighborhoods affect you, your economy, and your pocketbook.

In fact, current “cost of poverty” reports estimate that “the costs to the U.S. associated with childhood poverty total about $500B per year, or the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of GDP.”


YOUR TAXES, YOUR ECONOMY, YOUR POVERTY

Those statistics consider lost earning/spending potential, crime and prison related costs, the cost of poor health on our health care system, and other social costs to you… burdens that policy makers continue to address with a money pit of policy that often ignores these poverty-related statistics.

The research on the cost of poverty, cited above, was conducted by Georgetown University, the Urban Institute, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. Their findings recommend long-term “social investments” to “generate returns to society over time in the form of higher real gross domestic product (GDP),” and they propose that "the investment of some significant resources in poverty reduction might be more socially cost-effective over time than we previously thought."

Significant investments over time... this might require a paradigm switch for a nation that tends to think in terms of immediate gratification, quick fixes, and short-term "return on investment." We are working to change the way Americans look at poverty and its costs to all American everywhere.


HOW WE ATTACK POVERTY AND SERVE YOU

* Since the 1990's, Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) has been stockpiling strategy documents, compiled from the shared knowledge of mentoring leadership across the nation. This ongoing effort works to ensure mentor-to-career programs fit as easily as possible into any comprehensive anti-poverty initiative.

* Two years ago, Mapping For Justice (MFJ) was created to build an infrastructure that provides community leaders and policy-makers with maps, to help visualize mentor program availability/need... and then target where investment in mentorship is needed to make a bigger long-term impact on the costs of poverty.

* The MFJ is finally attracting the attention of business, education, and political leadership in Chicago... leaders who recognize the importance of long-term social investment in our children over many years... and who recognize the long-term impact T/MC and MFJ can have in providing more student with the tools and guidance they need to side-step the lure of the streets en route to productive futures that won't continue to burden YOU.


COME BACK LATER THIS WEEK FOR...

* A detailed look at partnerships that are taking form between MFJ and Chicago community leaders in 2010...

* How you can get involved in the exciting map- and mentor-related events these partnerships are co-producing in 2010... events that will raise new awareness and draw new investment to poverty-fighting through Mentorship and Mapping For Justice.

City Camp: Connected by a Friend Like You!

Thanks to a friend like you, I met dozens of people at the CityCamp conference at University of Illinois-Chicago this weekend... an informal but extremely informative gathering of people from across the area (and the country), who gathered all weekend to network and exchange ideas...



People who are using their tech, media, and political skills/backgrounds every day, on behalf of adapting government and representation to the challenges of the new decade. (For more on the concept of Gov 2.0, see this article. )

I was invited to give a workshop and lead a discussion about Mapping For Justice, and our use of GIS (mapping)... I introduced our map technologies and how they can be used to address the costs of poverty that affect us all. We then discussed new ways to help students advocate for themselves through maps, as well as new ways to generate awareness for the tools we have.

Here's the thing though! I would have never learned of this opportunity, had it not been for someone in my network who took the 5 minutes to ask me, "Hey do you know about this event? Do you know these people? You should! They can help you!"

So here is an example of how YOU can help us fight poverty today - FREE... at a very small sacrifice of your precious time!

All you need to do is think about who you know who can collaborate with us in our mission!

Need ideas?

Do you know of conferences and organizations with a community-minded agenda, where we can meet others working in similar capacities? (Poverty, Education, Economic/Workforce Development, Crime, Tech Innovations, GIS/Mapping, Volunteerism/Service, Non-Profits.)

We are looking for tech and/or GIS volunteers to help improve the interactive Google map interface we rolled out last year.

Honestly, anyone can probably help, even they don't have tech skills.

Contact me!

We also need:

* Benefactors , foundations, or businesses who can help us take our map tools to the next level of impact, through tech/data improvements, and advertising that will build further media/business/political/general awareness of Tutor/Mentor Connection's mission, tools, and data. Of course, with more awareness, we can develop new interest in mentoring, leading to an increase in volunteers and students served... and new innovations, perhaps including development of training programs, and better tracking systems to show short and long-term impact. Ultimately, investment in our tools will lead to an increased capacity to help the next generation of kids contribute more productively in our economy and society. We are looking for this investment.

* Political leadership can use their leverage to stir up awareness and build alliances that lead to action in the fight against poverty in their districts. Any political leaders you know can find tutor/mentor-building strategies here.

* Faith leaders can preach action for mentor programs through their congregations and communities. There are examples and maps elsewhere on this blog (see "faith group" tags to the right). And here is an important strategy document called "How Faith Communities Can Lead Volunteer Mobilization For Tutor/Mentor Programs."

* University leaders can ally on behalf of the safety and education of neighborhood kids. This is discussed here.

* Hospital leaders can also ally on behalf of tutoring/mentoring, for the well-being of the community. Look here for reasons why. Look at this strategy document, called "Tutor/Mentor Hospital Connection" for details on how to get started.


Thanks to everyone I met at CityCamp this past weekend. And thanks to everyone who reads this, for your continued support. Let's build this network and really make a push for mentoring.

Please send all ideas my way.

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Tutor/Mentor Connection is at the forefront of knowledge/data collection, strategy building, and tool provision for anyone who wants to get involved in the fight against poverty through volunteering, donating, or building alliances in support of non-school tutor/mentor programs.

Mapping For Justice is a department of Tutor/Mentor Connection, and offers state of the art map tools for leaders to use in developing plans of action, to mobilize available resources and find new resources that will provide mentor-to-career assistance for students in every neighborhood.