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.

Haiti: What Are We Learning This Week?

Between June 2001 and and the beginning of this past week (over a span of nearly 9 years), the Chicago Tribune wrote about Haiti fewer than 100 times. Last year, Trib writers made just about 20 mentions of the island that everyone is talking about this week.

As I write this blog today, nearly 200 articles (and counting) have been written in the Trib about this week's major earthquake and ensuing natural/humanitarian Haitian disaster, which is partially due to that country's history of neglect and poverty.

Trib writers are furiously pumping out articles about Haiti's history alongside sponsored links where you can make donations to relief organizations. The articles detail up-to-the-minute reports of relief shipments and volunteer troop arrivals... case studies of individual suffering and of the heroes who are lending medical and rebuilding assistance... sports figures taking moments of silence with their fans in arenas throughout the U.S.A... celebrities and politicians using their influence to raise money... businesses donating astronomical sums... and about people like us who are responding via our cell phones and social networks to raise millions ourselves, a few bucks at a time. (AP photo by Ramon Espinosa / January 15, 2010)

Of course, this is all quite literally awesome.

But where was the attention before this week?

Why does it always take a catastrophe of "biblical proportions" (as I saw one headline stated earlier this week) to motivate people to learn (or care) about poverty, suffering, and corruption... and to then take action?

Because as many Americans are learning this week (guided by newly interested media and political leadership), the suffering in Haiti didn't begin on Monday.

"Haiti" is the #1 result on Yahoo's "Trending Now" list as I write this. Many Americans are surely running into essays like this one, published in 1986 by THE HAITI PROJECT, which details historical/colonial "root causes" of poverty... but also looks at "more immediate causes of poverty" in Haiti, such as a neglected and insufficient school system (leading to illiteracy problems); unemployment and an underdeveloped workforce; and a "self-defeating image of themselves... a self-image [that] creates its own cycle of misery."

I'll stop far short of comparing exact reasons for Haitian poverty to those of American poverty. Clearly there are huge differences in histories and available resources. But equally clear, there are some obvious similarities.

See this article for a look at "The Core of the Problem" in the United States, which features a look at the book American Apartheid, by Douglas Massey and Nancy A. Denton. The book is rooted in statistics and history, and details how hyper-segregated high-poverty American neighborhoods have been systematically neglected by politicians and others... and how generation after generation, families in these neighborhoods have faced unique barriers to resources such as jobs and education... and that their political and spatial isolation, combined with generations of hopelessness and frustration have created not only anger, but - as the author argues - alternative value systems and a self image that occasionally get the kids in trouble.

Now, by no means do I want to diminish the magnitude of this Haitian disaster, the suffering, and the need for you to take action and make a donation to a relief organization.

But again, I can't help but wonder what it is about human beings - who are so clearly compassionate in times of disaster - that prevents them from consistently addressing suffering before the suffering is tied to a catastrophe?

I ask you to read about poverty in the United States and get involved to address the physical, economic, and social suffering that is happening right here, right now, in your backyard... suffering that might affect you whether you feel it or not.

I urge you to then lean on people you know, or who represent you... people in positions of political, media, and business power... to create preventative leadership strategies that incorporate tutoring/mentoring as a part of the plan of attack.

What will it take? A catastrophe much closer to home?

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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.