Don't "ride by" poverty. Get involved.

In the May 13, 2013 issue of Crain's Chicago Business a map was shown of Metra transit routes through the Chicago region, connecting people with the downtown business district and the places where they live.  The intent was to show how some routes go through wealthy communities and others through poorer communities (I think).

I created a map analysis, using this image, along with one that the Tutor/Mentor Connection had created a few years ago.  On the left is the map from the Crain's article and on the right is one showing Metra routes along with major expressways. 

The first time I  used this maps was in 2009, in this article titled "Don't Drive By Poverty, Get Involved."

That was four years ago. I've been creating maps since 1993. My goal is that leaders in business, media, politics, religion, universities, etc. would use the maps to mobilize others in an on-going effort to build and sustain mentor-rich, non-school programs IN EVERY HIGH POVERTY NEIGHBORHOOD, where youth would be safe during non-school hours and would find an extended network of adult support and learning opportunities intended to help them go to school every day better prepared to learn and succeed, while also building a network of peers and mentors who would help them through school and into jobs and careers in future years.

I've been collecting information about Chicago area non-school tutor/mentor programs since 1993 and share it in a map-based directory and in this list of program web sites.

I've shared my thinking on a daily basis in blog articles, like this one, and in web pages, comments on media articles, web forums, and conferences I've hosted in Chicago every six months since May 1994. yet I find few reaching out to support the map-making and information collection/sharing that I do, or who are adopting these mobilization tools in their own efforts. 

This was the headline of the Chicago SunTimes in October 1992. It said "7-Year-Old's Death at Cabrini Requires Action".  Chicago and other cities are still waiting for leaders to become strategic, using maps and other available data, to build the on-going systems of support that might result in more kids finishing school and going into Chicago area jobs and careers rather than dropping out and/or getting involved with gangs and the state's prison system.

Take a look at some of these leadership ideas. Form a Research & Development team in your company, faith group, college, etc. to study this information and offer strategies you can adopt. 

If I can  help you with these please connect with me on Facebook, Twitter or Linked in.

Christmas Week! Charity, Kindness, and Love... with Maps!

Doing Unto Others this Christmas Season with Maps.
"And now faith, hope, and charity abide, these three; and the greatest of these is charity." - Corinthians 13:13
(Part 9 of T/MC's 2010 "Mapping Solutions" online gallery)
Earlier this month, our Jewish friends celebrated Hannukah. This week, we're rolling quickly into Christmas.

I am not a spiritual leader by any means, but it's hard to not find a common message, shared across faiths during the holidays: People of faith are encouraged to give as well as receive.

I have been helping Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) make maps since 2007, as part of a mission - and often at great personal sacrifice - to help maximize the number of at-risk youth making the best decisions they can.

Through mentoring and tutoring, we volunteers, staff, and donors at T/MC give to those in need every day...

Our efforts supplement the barrage of negative news we get about economy and crime - with solutions - working to guide at-risk and marginalized, yet able and willing students (some of whom may be otherwise lured to the streets, and many of whom simply need a little extra attention) so that they aren't everyone's problem later.

Our maps are designed to help politicians, faith-based, and other community leaders locate areas where these students live, and then build tutor/mentor facilities to help the kids onto paths that lead to college and career, versus welfare and crime.

As an added bonus to you, through our community service, T/MC maps support strategies that can work toward improving everyone's general safety, while fighting the cost of unemployment and poverty to taxpayers of all backgrounds everywhere.

Like all Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), we rely on continued support and contribution from the community. Thanks to everyone who has supported these efforts in the past. I hate to have to continually raise funds, but with NPO donations at a 20-year low, many services like ours are threatened to disappear now more than ever. And I think you'll agree, especially after reading those links above, if we aren't making an effort to uplift children from families in poverty, who will? And what will be the cost to us all if we fail?

Please click on the links above again to see what's at stake, and feel free to take a look at the overview/history of these maps if interested, and then...

Please consider a small tax-deductible donation to this important charity this holiday season, to help this work continue into 2011.

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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.

Happy Hanukkah!

A Selection of Chicago's Jewish Congregations, in Relation to Poverty and Known Tutor/Mentor Programs

"For it is said, 'You shall strengthen the stranger and the dweller in your midst and live with him,' {Leviticus XXV:35} that is to say, strengthen him until he needs no longer fall [upon the mercy of the community] or be in need." - Eight Degrees of Charity: Rambam, Hilchot Mat'not Ani'im 10:1,7-14 (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts of [that belong to] the Poor)

(Part 3 of T/MC's 2010 "Mapping Solutions" online gallery)
As Hanukkah continues this holiday season, I have chosen to quote Jewish rabbi and philosopher Maimonides, from his writings in the Mishneh Torah, regarding charity or tzedakah. I am also featuring the map Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) has designed to show the locations of over 100 known Jewish congregations (as exists in the T/MC database. Please let us know if yours is not here).

It is our hope (not just during Hanukkah, but every day) to find spiritual leaders in these locations that might help us tie scripture to our mission... and help us make sense of our work to the area's religious community.

Leaders at these locations have the power to increase the reach, frequency and consistency of tutoring/mentoring programs for the poor... ultimately helping thousands of kids make better decisions and find success in life, in spite of high concentrations of poorly-performing schools in high-poverty areas. It is our hope that our work contributes to safer communities and stronger economies for all in the future.

Looking at the map, Jewish congregations are typically located in more affluent communities, and many are clustered near I94 (a major artery leading into high-poverty communities throughout Chicago). Thus, many Jewish congregations are in strong positions to take leadership roles that point volunteers, donors, and attention to tutor/mentor programs that already exist... or to neighborhoods where new programs need to be created.

This holiday season, you might choose to use our online map to locate a non-profit program near you or your congregation; programs like Cabrini Connections that would greatly benefit from a holiday gift of tzedakah.

Many blessings, and much peace and good fortune to people of Jewish faith in our community this holiday season! Happy Hanukkah!

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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.

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.

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

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.