Process Maps and more

The Tutor/Mentor Connection seeks to use more forms of visualization than just geographic maps. This map shows participation in a Tutor/Mentor Connection conference. It is one of several conference Social Network Analysis (SNA) maps that you can see here.

These I-Open process maps provided by Betsey Merkel are very good.

Here are maps showing the process of ...culture building, one aspect of the I-Open Civic Forum Process

Here are maps showing a timeline and repeating activities

View the various slides and you'll see many examples of applying social network analysis to understand how groups are forming around common purpose. We have been doing this for 18 years but don't have the capacity to demonstrate this yet due to lack of funding. We do have donated software that interns have been trying to learn. You can follow our progress in this forum.

The maps Bestsy has created demonstrate what the Tutor/Mentor Connection would be doing if it had the philanthropic support needed. We'd go a step further and apply these concept maps to the process of building volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in all poverty areas of the Chicago region and helping more k-12 youth finish school prepared for 21st century jobs and careers.

Can you help us find that support?

Rosland raises $2 million for Promise Neighborhood

I read an article in Catalyst Notebook today about the Roseland Children's Promise Zone, a project that will coordinate educational and social services for young people in the far South Side community.

This is one of the maps we've created in the past, showing the Roseland neighborhood, and showing how leaders such as the Rev. James Meeks, could be supporting the growth of youth serving organizations in the area.

I hope the group leading this effort has found and used these maps. We've not had any contact from them, so don't know if they are planning to incorporate maps and marketing into their efforts to build a distribution of k-12 support programs and services in the area.

We'd be available to help if someone can help us raise the money to keep this service available to Chicago.

We're hosting a Tutor/Mentor Conference on May 19 and 20, 2011 in Matteson, Il. We've tried to spread the word to people in Roseland and other neighborhoods that need Promise Zone strategies. So far we're just too small a voice to be heard.

Spread the word if you want to help.

Collective action in South Suburbs

This is a map showing the South part of Chicago, the South Suburbs and Northern Indiana. If you compare this to other maps on this blog you can see that there are many concentrations of high poverty in the city, and in the suburbs.

Yet, if you look at the Chicago Program Links section, we don't show many volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in these areas. Furthermore, if you compare the web sites of organizations we show, to this list of features we feel a tutor/mentor program web site should include, you'd see that some need help in telegraphing that they are a tutor/mentor program and why they are needed in the neighborhood they serve.
We're holding a Tutor/Mentor Conference in Matteson, Il. on May 19 and 20, which is right in the middle of this area. It's intended to connect people and organizations who are concerned about poverty and want to do more to make high-quality, mentor-rich programs available in many parts of the region.

As of today the registration is less than 60 people.

Margaret Mead said "a few people can change the world" and maybe this is all that's needed. However, if you're in this part of the Chicago region and want to change the way poverty impacts you and other people in this region, I encourage you to try to attend, or to be an evangelist and encourage other people to attend.

Different kind of maps

Most of the articles and graphics on this site use traditional maps, showing the Chicago region and places where volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs are needed.

However, the Tutor/Mentor Connection has been creating many different types of maps, showing the ways people might get involved to help tutor/mentor programs grow, or the range of information we host on our web sites to support involvement by an infinity of people and organizations.

This graphic is from a Trailmeme web site that enables visitors to map the path they take through the internet to discover information. In this case, a volunteer from the UK has built a map showing a progression of places in the Tutor/Mentor Connection library that she has located, and which she is sharing to help others follow and learn more about the T/MC and its resources.

When you go to this site, double click on each graphic and see how it points to a section and/or article on the T/MC web site. For instance, when you double click on "where to start" you go to this page.

See more uses of maps and graphics on this site.

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.

New layer of info on T/MC maps

Mike Trakan added a new layer of information to the Interactive Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator maps, showing 2010 homicides. This is a map created in just a few minutes, that I imported to Adobe Photoshop, then converted to a JPG and put in this article and one at the Tutor/Mentor Blog.

Mike added this feature this week, even though he was laid off a week ago, due to lack of philanthropy donations to fund the Tutor/Mentor Connection and our mapping project.

I hope you'll browse the articles Mike has written over the past three years and see how important his contribution has been to the T/MC and to helping volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in Chicago get more visibility, and hopefully, more volunteers and operating resources. You can also visit the Map Gallery that Mike created to host the maps he has made.

We were able to bring Mike on staff in January 2008 and rebuild our mapping capacity thanks to a $50,000 donation from an anonymous donor. That money ran out in mid 2009 so we've not been able to update the program locator or do some of the technology improvements we know need to be made. Until we can find new philanthropic investors to support the T/MC we seek volunteers who will help us maintain the map project, as they did between 2000 and 2008.

If you can help just call 312-492-9614 or email Dan Bassill at tutormentor 2 at earthlink dot net.

If you're looking to hire a really creative map-maker, Mike would be your man.