Interactive map showing home price data

WBEZ91.5 Chicago is doing some of the best research and mapping that I see in the Chicago region so I encourage you to visit their web site, Facebook page and other links and find ways to  use these tools in  your own communications.

Here's map/article that shows home prices in metro areas around the US.

Chicago's Public Housing Changes Not Good for All

Today I read this report on the Better Government Association web site, titled "CHA's Transformation Reshaped a City".  It shows while the displacement of public housing residents led to gentrification in some neighborhoods, which had a positive impact on CHA residents who were able to obtain vouchers and live in these areas, most of the benefit went to those moving in, and less went to the poor people who most often moved into other neighborhoods which already held concentrations of poverty.

In 2010 I included the map of Cabrini-Green (shown above) in this blog article, under the title, "Cabrini-Green gone. Are you sure?"

The BGA article includes a statement that 3200 families now live in Chicago's Near North area.  If families average 3 children per family, that would mean there are at least 9,000 low-income kids hidden in this area and I'm not aware of a lot of non-school tutor/mentor programs still there to help them.  Maybe they don't need as much help since affluent families tend to support schools with better trained teachers and more learning opportunities. That benefits poor kids, too.

In January I created a new map showing locations of the youth serving organizations in my database.  If you set my map next to the map in the BGA article, you can begin to determine what level of non-school, volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring and learning programs are available in areas where former CHA residents have been moving.

This is an analysis that should include business, political, government, religious, university, CPS, media and residents, with neighborhood groups focusing attention on each of the high poverty community areas.  It's something that should be funded by the major foundations, or by the city, or the CHA.  

The result should be the growth of more and better services to youth and families in the high poverty areas where former CHA residents live, as well as the development of needed programs in the areas where poor people are living mixed in with people of more affluent backgrounds.

CHA relocations - still in poverty

I'm Dan Bassill, President of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. I'm guest writing articles on the Mapping for Justice blog while we look for financial support to add a part time map-maker back onto our staff.

This map was part of a Chicago Tribune story from Friday, April 15, 2011 that you can read here. The dark blue areas are the former locations of Cabrini Green, Henry Horner and Rober Taylor CHA high rises. It shows that the neighborhoods receiving the largest number of displaced residents are in Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, Woodlawn, Roseland and Englewood. If you view some of the maps we've created, or use the Interactive Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator to create your own map, you'll see that these are neighborhoods with high poverty, high numbers of homicides, large numbers of poorly performing schools, and very few mentor-rich non-school tutor/mentor programs.

Our goal is to use this information to increase the number of volunteers and donors who help non-school tutor/mentor programs grow in high poverty areas. For us to do that we need philanthropic investors who will support our efforts so that we can keep this map-based resource available to Chicago and continue hosting May and November Leadership and Networking Conferences to help programs grow.

I've created some videos that show the Tutor/Mentor Connection strategy. I hope you'll view them and show them to people who might support our efforts, and the efforts of tutor/mentor programs throughout the Chicago region.