The Chicago Murder Report

Commuters were greeted first thing this past Monday morning with some grim news. Reporter Tracy Swartz has been keeping tabs on all murders that have occurred in Chicago through the first 5 months of 2009. This week her work made the front page of the Chicago Tribune affiliated (and widely-distributed) free commuter paper, The Red Eye.

(Click on Maps For Larger Versions)

The online version of the story links to a Google Map that plots each of the 100+ murder locations, and then breaks down the stats, showing us that "most of the ... murders … were concentrated in South and West Side neighborhoods." … "Most of the victims were black, male and between the ages of 20 and 25 years old." She interviews a representative from the police and reveals the neighborhoods with the highest murder rates – notorious names: Greater Grand Crossing, Englewood and East Garfield Park . She explores ties to gang violence and guns. She paints us a picture of "the typical murder victim … black, male, between 17 and 25 years old [with] a prior arrest history."

I suspect these numbers and images are easy for most commuters to digest. After all, I assume most purple line riders already avoid these neighborhoods, either having no reason to venture into them, and/or fearing the alleged "warzone" activity that is routinely brought to our attention by local media.

I was reminded as I was reading, of an article I wrote a few months back in reaction to a different Chicago Tribune story. I wrote of how the media seems to have a lot of success with "counters." It sort of reminds me of watching ESPN sometimes. As though people can't wait to check in to see what the score is up to: "What is the number of dead CPS students today?" "How many murders has there been in the first quarter of the year?" The media seems to have either created, or at least taken advantage of a culture that sort of dehumanizes the people who are living in these scary neighborhoods.

Sadly, there is rarely as much effort from the media to introduce us to the people and groups who are working with the tens of thousands of students who aren’t among the 100 dead. There is little coverage of how many volunteers go into those neighborhoods and come out alive after working with programs that are working for solutions.

I've been wondering a lot lately: Why is revealing a dead count "investigative journalism," but encouraging readers to work for solutions "editorializing"? It seems sometimes that that's the way media looks at its role in handling social issues.

With this said, I applaud Swartz for going a step further and introducing us to community leaders that say "more emphasis should be placed on giving children alternatives to violence."

She focuses our attention in particular to the fantastic work Phillip Jackson does with his Black Star Project, "which reaches out to black youths with education and job training programs." She quotes Mr. Jackson as saying that "the black community needs to educate youth and provide them with mentors so they don't look up to gang members or drug dealers."

I agree of course, and like what Swartz is doing here, but still think this report falls a little short in one important area.

How can a concerned commuter get involved with a program like the Black Star Project? They can look them up on the web, fine. But what about the hundreds of other programs that are working in other neighborhoods with other demographics? Wouldn't it be helpful to hear about them too. Because of course, this is not an issue that affects only the black community (although you might get that sense when reading articles like this one that throw the word "black" at you over and over again). And Black Star is only one of 200+ known programs that offer tutoring/mentoring services to kids who are more interested in passing college entrance tests than pulling triggers.

In fact, if you look at my supplemental map at the top of this article, you might conclude that "poverty" might be a stronger predictor of violence than neighborhood of residence (or certainly race).

And if you look at my maps of the whole city, instead of the regularly featured neighborhoods (places by the way where law-abiding and business-deprived residents really don’t need the media to keep piling on the negativity), you’ll see that there ARE "alternatives to violence" that exist already – tutor/mentor programs.

You also might draw the conclusion that there needs to be a lot more programs (each one can handle only a few dozen kids and many need more funding and volunteer interest).

(Ok - I'll take a moment to briefly address the obvious question that comes up again and again: "How do T/M Programs help fight poverty and crime?" I certainly encourage you to peruse the many reports and articles at The "Tutor/Mentor Institute" that explain the logical connections.)

I hope the media looks at these strategic documents at The "Tutor/Mentor Institute" as well, and decides to do more than just report the negative news. I hope they find a way (within the bounds of however they define "journalistic integrity") to point concerned readers/viewers/listeners to the Tutor/Mentor Connections' database, and its online searchable Program Locator, so citizens can find a place to help kids of all races and ages everywhere find alternatives to the streets.

I plead with the media to use its leverage to direct donors and benefactors to non profits like Tutor/Mentor Connection so that they have the money to survive and continue working to end poverty and violence.

And of course my big idealistic dream is that one day, the media decides to use its immense power of persuasion to start wowing and shocking commuters with stories of hope and solution.

In America where the media is almost entirely commercialized, its role, whether they admit it or not, has become one of "taste-maker." Please make it fashionable for your customers to want to read about how problems are not only found, but actively addressed by programs like tutoring and mentoring. Society is relying on you for information. Right now it seems sometimes you're only doing half the job.

WBEZ Explores The CPS Drop Out Crisis: An Opportunity to Work Together for Solutions

WBEZ is Chicago’s Public Radio, broadcasting at 91.5 FM from Navy Pier, with a strong signal that typically finds its way through the Chicago area and into Wisconsin and Indiana. Their position as a reputable leader in Chicago media is indisputable, and their mission, to "expand our outreach to the community and enhance our production effort through partnerships and educational programs with local and national institutions" represents welcomed support for schools and non school tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago, each fighting daily to help students and families in high-poverty neighborhoods.

(Click on any map to see expanded view)

Recently WBEZ’s "City Room" program produced an incredible series of case-studies that explore the Chicago Public Schools' drop out crisis, focusing on students, parents, and faculty at Robeson High School. (You might remember Robeson from the map I did in February that explored "The Rest of the Story" behind the print media report of Robeson student Johnel Ford’s murder.)

The series is titled Fifty-Fifty Project: The Odds Of Graduating, and is chock full of eye-opening investigative journalism, providing a glimpse into the lives of those at Robeson. I highly recommend reading the transcripts while listening to archived stories and interviews at the WBEZ City Room website.

While I listen, I just can’t help but wonder why an alliance in support of the kids and schools, among concerned donors, volunteers, a media leader like WBEZ, and us here at Tutor/Mentor Connection does not already exist.

Imagine:

1. WBEZ (and/or other media sources) investigate and report out to millions of concerned citizens, donors, volunteers, and other leaders…

2. Concerned leaders/citizens say, "Wow – now that you’ve taken me up close and personal… I had no idea! What can we do to help?"

3. Some of these concerned listeners are associated through work or family or friends with other people who can cut checks or roll up their sleeves, but don't know where to go or what to do... they need to be pointed in the right direction before they lose focus and are consumed with more Swine Flu news.

WBEZ and the media can be a liaison at this point. In fact, some might argue the media has some responsibility TO BE a liaison at this point, once they uncover issue.

I understand that WBEZ’s job is primarily to investigate and report, but I hope there is a way to bridge this gap that exists between the moment listeners absorb and concern themselves with negative news... and the moment they ask, "Ok so what can I do?"

I would hope media outlets at least post contact information for community leaders working to address the problems they broadcast. Occasionally it would be cool to see or hear a panel discussion among leaders (with a disclaimer perhaps that "opinions don't reflect the views of the station," if needed).

I mean look at what is uncovered by WBEZ in their Fifty-Fifty Project: The Odds Of Graduating feature... Look at this perfect opportunity to report a problem and partner on some level with those who can go to work fixing that very problem...

In the Fifty-Fifty Project: The Odds Of Graduating series, we meet one parent who is "raising a 17-year-old in a neighborhood where street life looms larger than school" and "relying on prayer to help her through." Volunteer mentors at a tutor/mentor program near Robeson can help this mother, if one exists... if the mother knows about it... if volunteers know about it!

Reporter Natalie Moore reveals that "Most of the incoming freshman at Robeson High School in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood read below grade level," and that teen pregnancy also contributes to drop outs. She reports that "Chicago Public Schools has nothing in place to address the problem. No prevention, no counseling once teens become parents. Instead it’s up to struggling neighborhood high schools like Robeson to figure out what to do." Clearly, academic tutoring can help the freshmen boost their reading skill and academic confidence... and mentoring can support better life decisions among the girls!

Reporter Julia McEvoy explores how "Teenage boys can face tough choices as they advance toward manhood. But the choices Demetrius Davis is making are critical. He knows he can go the way of his two older brothers—one of them is dead and the other in jail—or he can reject street life and focus on graduating high school." She also exposes how faculty at Robeson struggles to keep kids in school and on track. Tutoring and Mentoring can help CPS help keep students on track!

Linda Lutton reports that the Johnel Ford story we mapped in February represents only one of three Robeson student murders this year. She explores the violence crisis and introduces a teacher who "finds himself on the front lines of the dropout crisis, with few resources." Tutoring and Mentoring can be part of a comprehensive solution to the shortage of resources available to CPS teachers and students!

It's just such a wasted opportunity if all we do is listen to this amazing journalism, shake our heads in disbelief, and then do nothing proactive to address the problem.

But we need leaders. And with this in mind, I tend to think it's not enough for media leadership to simply expose problems. They can be leaders for change, while still maintaining their journalistic integrity.

For instance, when exposing negative news, why can't a media outlet's editorial staff mention the work people are doing in the field? Why can't their website point to directories of non profits and other organizations that offer service opportunities? (This seems to be particularly relevant when we consider the mission of community radio.)

In the case of the Fifty-Fifty Project: The Odds Of Graduating, why can't WBEZ direct concerned and action-minded listeners to places like Tutor/Mentor Connection, where listeners can get involved, ultimately helping to create more and better tutor/mentor programs for students in Englewood/Robeson and elsewhere?

I also call on the media to direct concerned donors, however ethically possible, to non profits like Tutor/Mentor Connection... who rely on charitable funding to survive, and to continue their important efforts.

And I call on YOU to do what you can... volunteer or donate if you can... but at the very least, contact media and business leadership and direct them to resources such as my blogs and maps, or this article at the "Tutor/Mentor Institute" that explains the logical connection behind combining adult volunteer mentors and inner city youth in one-on-one partnerships to help kids stay in school, succeed academically, find jobs, and alleviate our common concerns regarding drop-outs, crime, and poverty.

With media leadership, your proactive response to the negative news, and business dollars, there just might be a partnership out there that will make this work, before non profits that have the capacity for solutions run out of money, and Robeson just isn't news any more.

Obama's "Serve America Act": A Focus on Volunteering and Mentoring

This week President Obama signed the Serve America Act into law. The Washington Post reports that the $5.7 billion bill is “designed to strengthen national community service efforts by boosting federal funding for thousands of volunteers in fields ranging from clean energy to health care and education.”

To highlight this legislation's potential benefits for students living in high poverty urban conditions, Obama, along with former President Clinton and Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, chose to sign the bill into law on location at the SEED School in Washington D.C. R&B star Usher was even in attendance. SEED teachers beamed with pride. And rightly so. What SEED students have overcome in just over a decade is nothing short of amazing.

Washington Post Reporter Hamil R. Harris recalls that the corner where the SEED School operates "used to be a perilous intersection filled with the gunfire of drug dealers roaming in old sedans." My maps (such as the one above) have explored similar high-crime neighborhoods in Chicago. Who knows how many students live in these conditions in urban settings coast to coast.

Today, eleven years after SEED opened its doors, its students in the same D.C. neighborhood graduate at a whopping 98% rate. Compare that to the national average of 56%. Pretty impressive, huh?

So what's SEED's secret?

Similar to Tutor/Mentor Connection and mixed tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago, SEED operates on a nonprofit budget, partnering with community leaders "to prepare underserved students for success in college and beyond." They do this via an ambitious "boarding program, which teaches life skills and provides a safe and secure environment." Make no mistake, this is awesome, and SEED deserves plenty of attention, accolades, and funding from donors who have been waiting to learn about a great non profit to support.

But is this truly a volunteer/service-oriented setting?

I wonder after perusing their website, why the government chose a single school (whose website as far as I can tell gives little indication they work with volunteers at all) to launch a service-oriented bill? Is what SEED doing important and worthy of praise? Of course. Not taking away from the great work they do. But do they need the volunteers this bill is supposed to inspire? Apart from the one reference to a staff member who is in charge of "volunteer recruitment," and with no mention of volunteering on their employment page at all, I can’t help but wonder, after the fuzzy feeling generated by this photo op dissipates, if there will be an effort by government or media to guide the new army of volunteers to tutor/mentor programs - programs that rely exclusively on "volunteer service."

So I'm concerned.

I'm worried this "photo op" with SEED students and Usher today will be the end of the media's attention span on the issue. I fear this will mark the beginning and end of the government's exploration of how academics plus volunteer mentoring – the very thing the money is supposed to support – combine to help students. I worry that the public will be left with a misguided perception that our tax money is helping guide new volunteers to volunteer-reliant programs across the spectrum, when in reality it might only help the high-profile nonprofits. I worry that the $5.7 billion will be picked clean before it gets anywhere near the volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs that are reaching the hundreds of thousands of students SEED cannot – in D.C. and beyond.

Am I whining? Hell no... again, nothing against SEED, but I’m here to advocate on behalf of the rest of the students. I'm screaming for media and political attention to help volunteer-based tutoring and mentoring programs.


So I implore President Obama, whose barbers from the now-legendary Hyde Park Hair Salon visited Tutor/Mentor Connection yesterday and went home with my maps (!!!) to use as tools, as social and media leaders, to build awareness among potential volunteers and donors for nonprofit tutor/mentor programs... barbers taking the lead for overlooked and underserved students in high poverty conditions on the periphery of Obama's old Hyde Park stomping grounds:

Mister President, please work with the media to help us raise visibility and support for important volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs as well. Don't walk away from SEED thinking "Mission Accomplished."

... I also plead with community-minded businesses, politicians, media outlets, and volunteers to follow our President's lead and buy into the new national spirit of "service" ...

... and do something to invest in sustaining and developing volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs everywhere, to help the millions of students who don't have the resources offered by a "SEED" yet.

Please browse the links at the right of my blog to find examples of how you and your colleagues can help....

Or if you prefer, please contact Tutor/Mentor Connection or myself with questions of how to get started.

You might also want to take another look at the cool NEW IMPROVED Program Locator to find a program near you.

And don't forget to spend some time at the Tutor/Mentor Institute, which is chock full of resources that will help you get started forming partnerships and strategies in support of tutoring and mentoring.

A New Google-based Tutor/Mentor Program Locator!

The Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) is excited to launch a new version of its online Tutor/Mentor Program Locator.

Since 1993 the T/MC has been piloting the use of a mapping technology – GIS (Geographic Information Systems) – to create tools that help build and sustain comprehensive mentoring-to-career programs in every high-poverty neighborhood in the Chicago area, while providing resources that excite volunteers, donors, and community leadership about their roles in supporting this process.

(Click on the map to see an enlarged version.)

In May 1994 the T/MC first published a printed Directory of volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring programs serving Chicago, and operating in non school hours. The Directory was sent to about 3000 business, foundations, schools, libraries each year until 2001. The T/MC began to put its strategy on the Internet in 1998, and posted the Directory in a searchable on-line Program Locator in 2004. Its web sites recorded more than 100,000 visitors and one million page views in 2008. A search of Google for "tutor mentor" brings the website up first among thousands of listings. The new Program Locator is the next logical step in this technological evolution.

While the original Program Locator could be searched for type of program, age group served, and zip code, with the results plotted on a Google map, the new Program Locator takes advantage of Google technologies to provide interactive access to all poverty, asset, and boundary data – the same map layers used by the T/MC mapping department when we make the maps featured in stories at http://mappingforjustice.blogspot.com/ and elsewhere on the Internet.

For those new to the concept of tutoring and mentoring, tutor/mentor programs are nonprofit facilities that offer one-to-one volunteer-student tutoring and mentoring services during non-school hours. The programs are vital to the success of college-minded and career-oriented students who are a little behind the curve due to inadequate school facilities and the challenges of high-poverty.

(Please note: There is a wide variety of organizations that offer volunteer-based tutoring and/or mentoring in the Chicago region. The role of the T/MC Directory is to help people know where they are, and how to contact them, rather than to judge which program is better than any other. Through other services of the T/MC, we seek to help each program get ideas, volunteers and resources to constantly improve and expand the quality and impact of their services. See more about this at http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/ProgramLocator/disclaimer.asp )


Thanks to a generous donation received in November 2007, the T/MC hired me, Mike Trakan, in January 2008 to rebuild its desktop mapping capacity. If you scroll through the links on the side you can see the maps I’ve created since then, and articles that I’ve written to show people how they can use maps.

In each article, I use several different map images to illustrate my message. Each map shows different “layers” of information I have collected and mapped over the past year, using desktop ArcGIS software donated by ESRI. (Just a note: ESRI has been donating software to the T/MC since 1995. We would not have this capacity if these donations had not been provided.)

What’s special about the new Interactive Program Locator is that you are now able to create your own maps, very similar to the ones I make at the Chicago office of the Tutor/Mentor Connection.

In addition to plotting program locations, the new Program Locator offers a visual Google-style representation of T/MC data, highlighting relationships among existing programs, poverty, and available community resources.

With a T/MC mapping tool like the new Program Locator in hand, any community leader – from businesses, universities, hospitals, or churches for starters – can quickly zoom to a high-poverty neighborhood to see where programs are needed or missing completely. Leaders can then find geographic relationships among programs, themselves, and potential partners – and ultimately organize alliances that support existing programs or build new ones if needed.

You can review the features of the new Program Locator at http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/Programlocator/TMCHelp.aspx

You can also review this animated presentation to learn more about the features of the new Program Locator: http://www.tutormentorprogramlocator.net/Programlocator/Intro.aspx

Of course, important features that were a part of the original Program Locator remain. Browse program locations to find addresses, phone numbers, contact names, hours of operation, age-group served, and website links. The new Program Locator simply offers you – the volunteers, donors, parents and youth – new depth, and an additional understanding of where support for tutor/mentor programs is most needed.

How are these maps to be used?

The articles I’ve written for the past year show how the maps can be used. I encourage you to read these. I also encourage you to read the articles Dan Bassill, President of the T/MC writes, at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/.

We’re illustrating how maps can be used by business, religious, political and education leaders to mobilize resources that make constantly improving, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs available to more of the children living in high poverty neighborhoods of the Chicago region. We’re demonstrating how leaders in other communities can use maps for the same purpose.

We’ll keep writing articles and creating new maps so please bookmark or subscribe to our blogs and use them as a training course for your own staff and community leaders. As you look at these maps, and articles, ask yourself these questions:

“What are the actions I or my organization can take to assure that every youth born in poverty today is starting a job and career by age 25?”

“How do we assure that there are great tutor/mentor programs in all of the neighborhoods where they are needed, rather than a few great programs in a few locations?”

“How do we help all of these programs have the resources and ideas that enable them to have a growing impact on helping kids move through school and into 21st century jobs and careers?”

To help get the creative juices flowing, Dan has collected and/or designed a bunch of strategy templates and documents which he shares in the Tutor/Mentor Institute at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net/


Please take a look at the new Program Locator and build your own understanding. Then please let us know what you think.

We want to know from you how you are using this tool. We also want to know what might work better.

Since we’re a non profit and have built this service with the help of volunteers and a few donors, we’re also looking for other people who will provide money needed to manage this service, and make the improvements that many of you will want as you begin to use the site.

Again, please post your comments below. And thank you for supporting tutoring and mentoring programs in Chicago!

Volunteering: Easy to get to Programs. Small Investment. Big Rewards.

I make maps that show city boundaries, locations of "failing schools," the 2000 Census bureau's poverty tracts... and then overlay these with locations of community assets and known non-school tutoring and mentoring programs.

The feedback I receive on patterns that emerge range from concern to shock to outrage.

But we at Tutor/Mentor Connection don't stop at exposing the clear lack of quality tutoring and mentoring programs - programs that exist as options for students who need a little help to compete for college placement, jobs, and ultimately community/business/political leadership.

We also propose comprehensive solutions.

My maps are free tools that business leaders can use in creating strategies that invigorate the local economy through investment in - and philanthropic funding of tutor/mentor programs.

We propose solutions to the problems that concern communities - strategies that universities, hospitals, places of worship, and concerned parents can use to address issues of crime, violence, and poverty.

We also provide district overviews of resources and assets for politicians to incorporate into the work they do for their constituency...

And we encourage the media to provide tutoring/mentoring-based solutions when discussing problems associated with inadequate school facilities, poverty, and gangs.

But one part of a comprehensive solution to the lack of non-school tutoring/mentoring options... a part that I frequently tend to gloss over... is you and your ability to volunteer as a one-to-one mentor for students at the programs.

Simply, without volunteers, there are no programs.

That's what this is all about: Pairing students with volunteers in long-term relationships whereby the student gains needed help on homework (tutoring) and needed direction in developing a course of action that will put her/him on college and career paths (mentoring). Many of these kids do not receive this guidance at home and are a bit lost on how to get there from here.

You've been there. For an investment of a couple hours each week, you can answer so many questions that seem simple to you but are not for the students. "How do I research schools? How do I fill out an application? Where do I start?"

For this same investment, you get to meet an amazing kid, and grow yourself. The volunteers at a tutor/mentor program like Cabrini Connections almost invariably report personal fulfillment and growth as a primary factor in staying on year after year.

Some of you think this sounds great, but how do I get there? "I commute on train... I don't have a car. I don't have a lot of time!" Not surprisingly, many programs are within seconds of a stop on your Metra line. If you have a monthly pass, as I do, perhaps you might consider jumping off for a few hours and then jumping back on after working with a student on an art or tech project?

Even more programs are within minutes of the route your CTA "el" train takes:


... And if you think outside the box a little bit, you might be able to combine efforts/communter options to make an even easier customized solution to your transport/volunteer concerns.

For instance, many people may be concerned with venturing alone into unknown high-poverty areas of the city. Who wouldn't be? Look at the highways in relation to programs and commuter rail in the maps above. Perhaps a safe, effective, and efficient strategy might involve carpooling to your downtown job with friends/coworkers (saving gas), heading to a program near a Metra stop with one or two members of the carpool, and then using Metra to head home together after a couple hours of tutoring?

I hope you use these maps to find a route that takes you to a program of your choice one night a week. Without your help... without volunteers, programs can't grow. New, needed programs can't start.

Please click on either of the maps above to get larger, detailed maps, to get started.

For details on the specific CTA Stations, please visit the CTA system map. For details about Metra Stations, their website is here.

And for details about the programs that are near stops on your commuter line, visit the Tutor/Mentor Connection's online searchable Program Locator.

For information about volunteering in general , go here.

Suntimes Explores Solutions to the "Crisis" of Chicago's Teen Violence

Recently I blogged on separate occasions about a frustrating phenomenon whereby the mass media rehashes the same "CPS Student Murdered" stories over and over - only to let the story go when distracted by something else. There's rarely a discussion of solutions before they leave.

I'm happy to report that an editorial in the Suntimes this week does just that.

Please review my recent blogs here and here...

and try to imagine how easily my maps, and Tutor/Mentor Institute strategies might be incorporated into the "comprehensive strategy" proposed the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), political leaders, and the editorial writer, in the fight against teen violence.

So how do I think adding tutoring and mentoring to a "comprehensive strategy" to fight teen violence would help?

Well let's start by looking at what is being proposed by those mentioned in the editorial.

The editorial reports that Ron Huberman (former CTA chief, and newly-appointed Chicago Public Schools boss) is "identifying schools that have what he calls a 'culture of calm' (respect between adults and kids, no kids hanging out in the hallways) and trying to export that culture to schools that clearly could use it."

Ok. School culture. I would ask: Is a chaotic school culture the root of the violence problem or a symptom? Let me say that I understand that the CPS boss is looking at the schools themselves in finding solutions. Fair enough - that IS his jurisdiction after all, right? But I hope he would look deeper than "culture" in his pursuit.

So what else is he doing?

"School officials compiled [shooting] data to look for patterns."

This makes perfect sense to me. I deal with data and reveal patterns (with maps) all the time. Here's one that shows a recent triple murder of CPS kids...

... with some clear patterns. We see a lot of poverty in the vicinity, a bunch of "failing" schools, and a notable absence of non-school tutoring and mentoring program facilities for kids who are hanging out at 3:15 in the afternoon. Most of my "Rest of the Story" maps have the same patterns.

What is Mr Huberman doing with his data and patterns?

"Huberman, well-known for his love of data, is analyzing shooting patterns, transportation routes, gang turf boundaries and school attendance boundaries. That data will be used to devise safer routes to school for kids in risky areas, with a team at each school monitoring and updating the routes."

(I'll refrain from any jokes related to the effectiveness of CTA transportation routes under Huberman's management, because this is a serious thing, and in all seriousness, I REALLY do hope he has success in finding an effective (albeit short-term) solution to keeping kids safe on their route to and from school.)

Anything else in the comprehensive strategy?

Well, according to the article, the CPS points out that none of the shootings actually happened in school, and that most of them occur near the students' homes. The CPS seems to be doing what they can to get students safely to their facilities, and trying to somehow import a "culture" of calm to maintain order in the hallways.

It almost feels like that's all they feel they need to do.

Ok, then who in the community will step up and offer leadership beyond the jurisdiction of the CPS? The editorial tells us that state Representative Monique Davis is introducing a bill that "would require schools in violence-prone areas to hire a full-time social worker (most have only part-time help)."

The writer of this editorial agrees that this would be helpful but is concerned that it is still "not sweeping enough and, without a clear funding source, could simply be another unfunded, burdensome mandate."

I agree, but would add that I am concerned that political leadership, in looking for solutions to violence in the community, is pointing fingers at the CPS as the place to address the problem.

So what does the writer of the editorial think would help?

The writer adds that "one answer lies in compelling schools to adopt a radical new approach to teaching -- one that ... teaches basic skills that many kids don't get at home, such as how to get along and how to empathize -- skills that research shows improve test scores and behavior."

(Mentoring.)

So now we have a "comprehensive solution" (with everyone pointing at the schools to fix the problem) that involves looking at shooting data to ensure safe transport of kids through war zones... magically funding additional social workers at schools... and adding 'mentoring' to the already-burdened workload and curriculum of a teacher (who also gets pressure to forego teaching in order to coach 'test-taking' in last-minute and desperate attempts by administrators to improve results on standardized tests... results which are often used to penalize and sanction "failing schools"... the ones in black on my maps... the ones engulfed in poverty and - according to the patterns my data has revealed on this blog - the ones likely to be found near the site of media-reported shootings).

Wow.

Here is an idea. And please do continue to make sure kids are getting safely to and from school, however that is implemented. Fine.

But can we PLEASE address the problem at its root?

What is the appeal of a gang? Why are kids violent?

Here is my guess as to how this might work. Granted I am no sociologist, but tell me if this doesn't seem common sensible: Poverty and no career options = hopelessness. Hopelessness breeds anger. Angry and impoverished adults and adolescents need to survive. We're all living in a capitalist system where money is needed to survive. If there is no career path, there is money on the streets. Can you see the appeal to crime? Crime is often organized by gangs. Violence is a natural product.

But what if there was REAL alternative "career path" to the streets? My guess is many would-be gang members would consider it.

Here's where Tutor/Mentor Programs fit in!

Tutor/Mentor Programs give kids a safe place to work on skills needed for the job market... with real volunteers who have been to college and have developed their marketable skills.

I hear skeptics scream all the time (referring to kids as "they" of course), "Their parents should be doing this job. Not me." The same skeptics tsk and moan about all the violence.

Look - the issue is not whether or how parents can do a better job. The reality is that these are KIDS. Kids who aren't getting the guidance and support you got, for whatever reason. Some of these kids end up playing an angry and violent game with the cards they've been dealt. Kids.

I propose that any "comprehensive solution" to violence might include proliferating tutor/mentor facilities, and stocking them with volunteer tutors/mentors who can offer kids living in poverty skills to use in careers, versus those learned on the streets.

Without the programs, the burden of providing kids this training falls on overworked teachers, and parents who may not have the experience to properly guide children out of poverty and into functional society. This is the current system. This is the "new comprehensive strategy." It doesn't work alone. Tutor/Mentor Programs are at least one of the missing components.

So it is my hope that, in addition to finding funding to staff more social workers in CPS schools (good luck)... and in addition to procuring safe passage to schools, political, business, and community leadership will include my maps in their analysis of data... and explore strategies that improve support for tutoring and mentoring when developing their "comprehensive strategies."

And it is my hope that WE ALL do what we can to encourage the leaders to support this vision, the programs, the kids, and a less violent society.