Mapping Chicago's Shooting Problem

This map is from an animated map story on the WBEZ web site. The maps show the distribution of gun violence in Chicago from 2002 through 2011 and changes in intensity in different parts of the city from year to year. I'd like to see stories that focus on gun violence include links to other stories and research that focus on poverty as a root cause. Using the interactive Tutor/Mentor Program Locator I created this image. If you compare the areas of high poverty to the areas of high numbers of shootings you see a correlation.

My goal is that leaders use these maps as a planning tool to build and sustain high quality, mentor-rich, non-school mentoring, tutoring, arts, technology and learning programs in high poverty neighborhoods. Reach young people young and provide supports and alternatives to gangs and dropping out of school and perhaps there would be fewer people willing to pick up guns and do harm to others as a result.

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.

Include this strategy in your efforts to help youth in poverty

Since 2005 interns working with Tutor/Mentor Connection in Chicago have been creating graphics and visualizations to communicate our strategies in new ways, and to new audiences. Below is a presentation created from this pdf, by Byeonghui Kim, an intern from South Korea. Past presentations can be seen here and here. View this page to see how interns learn what the strategies are as they go from first day on the job and through their internship period. Students in high school and college, as well as volunteers in different industries, could be creating similar presentations and using them to mobilize resources to support birth-to-work mentoring strategies in every city in the world. If you'd like to be part of this project, introduce yourself on the Tutor/Mentor Connection forum.

Gang Territories and School Closing - View map

DNAInfo Chicago has created an interactive map showing gang territories around schools that Chicago Public Schools plans to close. Maps like this could be use by business, faith groups, political leaders, etc. to build non-school supports for youth and families in these neighborhoods so kids would a) come to school better prepared to learn; b) and be less likely to turn to gangs as a source of social/emotional and economic support. See the DNA Infor map here.

Responding to Growth of Suburban Poverty

I encourage you to read this article on Mother Jones, showing the dramatic growth of poverty in suburbs of Chicago and other cities.

Note: when I first published this article in 2013 I also included a link to a Brookings.edu article. That link is broken. However,  here are some other articles about suburban poverty.

The Growth and Spread of Concentrated Poverty: 2000 to 2008-2012. Brookings.edu. click here

Poverty is Moving to the Suburbs. The War on Poverty Hasn't Followed. Washington Post 2018 article

11-2018 update:  WBEZ report: An American Suburb, 2018.  Story shows how poverty is becoming greater in suburbs of cities like Chicago than in those cities.  Read the four part series. click here

4-19-2019 update: This US News report article is titled The Suburban Myth of Health and Wealth and focuses on the hidden pockets of poverty in wealthy suburbs like In New York’s Nassau County.

10-24-2019 update:  Suburban Poverty article on Tutor/Mentor Blog - click here

2-7-2026 update - WBEZ article "Dozens of Chicago suburbs have shifted to majority nonwhite" - click here

The strategies I've shown for building a distribution of mentor-rich programs in inner city neighborhoods will need to be expanded to reach youth in high poverty neighborhoods. Will you help?

Mapping Strategy Started in 1993

In 1993 I was telling a friend at Chicago's United Way/Crusade of Mercy about my new organization and it's goal of building a master database of non-school tutor/mentor programs in Chicago. She said "How will you show that information?" I said "I don't know.". She showed me a geography magazine and ways that data can be mapped, and I've been trying to harness this potential ever since then. The article at the left is from a 1994 Chicago SunTimes article.

The challenge with creating the types of maps you see on this blog are a) you need to collect the data on existing tutor/mentor programs in the Chicago region and keep it up-to-date; b) you need to collect demographic and school performance information from available sources; c) you need to be able to afford a mapping tool; d) and you need to have talent available who can use the mapping tool to create maps. I've never found a foundation and/or business partner who would fund this consistently, even though ESRI donated software and IBM provide money for computers back in 1995.

Yet, as this article in the this 1999 URISA trade association magazine shows, I've been able to create enough maps that stories have been told in various media at different times over the past 20 years. To many people I've become known as the "map man" because of how I constantly talk about ways maps could be used by leaders to guide the distribution of financial resources and support the growth of mentor rich k-12 non-school tutor/mentor programs in every high poverty neighborhood of Chicago, or any other major city with pockets of urban poverty.

I've been hosting Tutor/Mentor Leadership and Networking Conferences every six months since May 1994, and in these I've also shared maps via posters and workshops.

In late 2007 I received a $50,000 donation which enabled me to hire a part time map maker, Mike Traken, who created all of the maps shown and map stories on this blog, up till early 2011 when we ran out of money to keep Mike on staff. With part of the money we also hired a tech team from India who build the Interactive Tutor/Mentor Program Locator which you can use to create your own map view and maps. This PDF provides instructions for using the Program Locator.

If you think this use of maps has value, I encourage you to help me find sponsors, investors, business partners and volunteers to help me update the maps, build new maps, create advertising so more people know how to use them, and create new owners who have the same passion that I have for using maps to build a better distribution of needed services in high poverty areas of the country.