Post on 21-Feb-2015
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In the October 6, 2011 Chicago Tribune is a commen-
tary titled: Economic inequality: The real cause of the
urban school problem This was written by economists
from Harvard and the University of California at
Berkley.
The authors write, "Our findings show that the root of
the problems facing urban schools can be found in
gradual but extremely powerful changes in the nation's
economy — not the least of
which is the increasingly
unequal distribution of family
incomes."
I've been using maps since
1993 to try to show this in-
come inequality and the con-
nection between high poverty
concentrations and poorly
performing schools. We in-
clude maps in many of the
articles we've written on this blog and in the Mapping-
forJustice blog. Our interactive Program Locator can
be used to create your own map story for your own
communications.
Every time I've hosted a leadership conference in Chi-
cago (the next is November 4) I've put maps on easels
to help others see the power of these as a tool to focus
attention and resources to volunteer-based tutor/
mentor programs in all high poverty neighborhoods.
I've tried to get attention of leaders who've attended
the conferences so they would incorporate maps and
our strategy of volunteer-based tutor/mentor program
growth into their own leadership.
Today there was another editorial in the Tribune, chal-
lenging the way TIFF money seemed to go to charities
favored by the Mayor and his wife.
If the Mayor had incorporated T/MC maps into his
efforts to help kids in poverty perhaps the aldermen,
state legislators and others would do the same. Were
that happening there would now be a much stronger
distribution of high-quality tutor/mentor programs in
all of the poverty areas of the city and suburbs and
perhaps there would be a different future for some of
the youth who have grown up in neighborhoods of
high poverty and under-performing schools.
That's the past. We have a new Mayor and we have
another presidential election. We have new research.
Now can we interest some of the leaders and people
- continued on page 3
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem
Special points of
interest:
• Read these articles
at http://
tutormen-
tor.blogspot.com in
order to follow the
links
• These are two of
hundreds of articles
written since 2005.
Follow these stories
and share them
with your network
• The problems won’t
go away until more
of those who don’t
live in poverty are
involved on a daily
basis
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
October 20, 2011 Volume 1, Issue 1
The Rest of The Story Articles from Tutor/Mentor Blog Archive
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
On April 27, 2011 I attended a
panel discussion titled “The Rela-
tionship Between Racism and
Unemployment” at First Unitarian
Church in Hyde Park, Il.
The day before I wrote about an
article about poverty written by
Clarence Wood, President of Jane
Addams Hull House. It focused on
many of the same things as the
April 27 panel.
Then this morning, I read a paper
posted on a Social Edge discus-
sion forum, (see pdf link below)
where the researcher said "only
when upper-class individuals were
experimentally induced to feel
compassion – thus orienting them
to the needs of others – did they
exhibit levels of prosociality that
rivaled their lower-class counter-
parts."
- continued on page 2
Read these and follow the links at http://tutormentor.blogspot.com
In many ways, each of these
discussions focuses on the needs
of one community of people and
the need to have the wealthy
class, the political elite, and
those living beyond poverty
involved, and connected to those
who are working in the field to
solve this problem. There is
much "bridge building" to be
done.
This graphic illustrates this idea.
In the April 27 forum, panel
members (Dr. Finley Campbell,
Social Justice Council of the
First Unitarian Church, Dr. Dick
David, Cook County Hospital,
Nanette Campos and Samuel
Gutierrez, Primerica, and Walter
Bush IV, The Renaissance Col-
laborative, Inc.) provided infor-
mation about the connections
between racism and unemploy-
ment and shared ideas about
what can be done.
As I listened my mind was
shouting "Where are we con-
necting these people and this
information to all of the other
people and information related
to the same problem?" In just a
few minutes this morning I was
able to create a map showing
links to several places where this
topic is being discussed by dif-
ferent groups, as well as to links
on the Tutor/Mentor Connection
library that connect myself and
the people I know to thousands
of others.
After panel members shared
opinions and research related to
the problem of racism and unem-
ployment, recommendations for
solutions were discussed.
Among these were
* Educating yourself and others
about these issues
*Learn (teach others) to take
personal responsibility for your
learning, actions and success
*Believe that the “right to work
is an inalienable right” central to
the pursuit of live, liberty and
happiness in America.
*Organize. Form a movement to
create political change and make
this "right to work" idea a reality.
So how do we do this? In al-
most all events I attend people
say "we need..." and "we should"
but they don't provide a map or
blueprint showing how this small
group grows to an army that
makes that idea a reality.
There is plenty of evidence of
racism in America and gaps
between rich and poor, but too
few market-based strategies that
will change this dramatically in
the coming century.
As I said, I wrote a blog article
on Wednesday about a Perspec-
tives article in the 4/24/2011
Chicago Tribune saying “people
are not poor because they are
Latino or African America or
Caucasian. They are poor be-
cause they have not had the
opportunities to advance them-
selves.”
The authors concluded that “we
all pay for poverty” and we
need to find ways to work to-
gether to solve this problem.
Since only about 20 people at-
tended the Racism and Unem-
ployment discussion the first
thing we all might focus on is
“how do we expand the size of
the congregation?”
In the research study from this
week’s Social Edge forum led by
Charles Cameron, the writer says
“In Study 4, only when upper-
class individuals were experi-
mentally induced to feel compas-
sion – thus orienting them to the
needs of others – did they exhibit
levels of prosociality that rivaled
their lower-class counterparts.”
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building - continued from page 1
Page 2
Volume 1, Issue 1
Read these articles
at http://
tutormen-
tor.blogspot.com
“Where are we
connecting these
people and this
information to all of
the other people and
information related to
the same problem?"
Only when we move from 20
people to 20 thousand and then
20 million and then 200 million
people in this discussion can we
change the way we all under-
stand the impact of racism and
poverty in the world, and be-
come more consistently commit-
ted to actions that result in a
different world.
— continued on next page
— continued from page 2
So how do we do this? On the
Tutor/Mentor Connection site
I’ve created articles that show
how volunteers who become part
of well organized, long-term,
tutor/mentor programs can grow
in their understanding, and em-
pathy, to the point where they
become leaders inviting others to
become involved. In the T/MC
library, I post articles like this
one, that show how volunteer
involvement can create under-
standing and empathy, that is
essential for greater involvement.
If this is happening in enough
places, there can be a constant
expansion of the number of peo-
ple from beyond poverty who
are getting involved and becom-
ing informed.
Becoming informed of what?
There is so much to know. What
would be 10 things we’d want
people to understand that would
result in actions that increase
employment among those who
are chronically under employed,
or unfairly compensated when
they are employed?
What if we borrowed a chap-
ter from the education reform
movement? What if we devel-
oped a set of “learning stan-
dards” for ADULTS? What do
we want them to know about
poverty, racism, philanthropy,
capitalism, etc? How do we
teach this? How do we motivate
learning?
Then let’s develop standardized
testing that would determine
how well adults are learning this
information, and would also help
us understand how many are
involved in this learning. With-
out this we’ll never really know
if the congregation is growing
and/or if we’re all singing from
the same song book.
• what do people need to learn
• what test questions would de-
termine if this learning is taking
place
• how do we determine that a
growing number of adults are
involved in this learning and
mastering the knowledge
• what changes in behavior do
we want to see as a result of the
learning
• how will we know this is hap-
pening
Then, let’s tie this form of Adult
test-taking to privileges, such as
driving a car, or leading a com-
pany, or being elected for public
office, or taking a trip out of the
country, so we’re sure that the
people who don’t live in poverty
are being motivated to ‘attend
this school’ and take part in this
learning.
If it works for kids in America
why wouldn’t it work for
adults?
This is only an idea. But it could
be made into a reality if others
felt it had value and wanted to
use their own talent to develop it.
We've many ideas that need
resources and partners to de-
velop.
That's where philanthropic in-
vestors come in. Take a look at
the information we share and the
maps and graphics we're piloting
and ask "How much more could
the Tutor/Mentor Connection be
doing if I were its benefactor?"
If you see the potential please
come forward with your support.
program support infrastructure in Chicago and
other cities?
Read this blog article at http://
tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/
economic-inequality-real-cause-of-
urban.html
who are concerned with poverty and its impact on the
economy and quality of life for all of the people in the
region to participate in the next Tutor/Mentor Leader-
ship and Networking Conference, on Friday, Nov. 4 at
the Metcalfe Federal Building?
Can someone step forward to become the Steve
Jobs who brings a vision and financing to the Tu-
tor/Mentor Institute, LLC to help build tutor/mentor
Economic inequality, continued from page 1
Page 3
Volume 1, Issue 1
Cities need leaders thinking
of ways to make high qual-
ity learning and mentoring
available in all poverty areas
and around all high-dropout
rate schools.
Mayor Richard Daley and Gen-
eral John Borling at 1997
Tutor/Mentor Leadership and
Networking Conference
“Let’s create an adult
learning system and
test them on what they
know about these
issues”
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Merchandise Mart PO Box 3303
Chicago, Il. 60654
Phone: 847-220-2151
Fax: 312-787-7713
E-mail: tutormentor1@gmail.com
During 35 years of leading a volunteer based tutor/mentor program serving
inner-city youth in Chicago Dan Bassill has learned much about how to con-
nect youth and volunteers in on-going non-school tutoring/mentoring activities.
He also has learned much about what does not work well, and what might be
improved to support individual tutor/mentor program growth in all poverty
neighborhoods of a big city like Chicago.
Dan’s ideas are shared in the http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and through
essays shared at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net. If you’d like to have
Dan meet with your planning team, speak to a local leadership group or be
part of a conference you are organizing email tutormentor2@earthlink.net
Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC
This is the first time I’ve published my blog articles on Scribd. I’d like your feedback. It seems
that my habit of linking to many different sites in my blogs does not carry over well into the Pub-
lisher format I’m using to convert articles. Is there a different way to do this? Are you looking for
a volunteer opportunity where you could expand your writing, editing skills? Do you want to help
me publish my blog articles in more places? Email me at tutormentor2@earthlink.net. I need
your help.
To view the articles and links from the blog articles I posted today visit the following links:
Economic inequality: The real cause of the urban school problem
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/10/economic-inequality-real-cause-of-urban.html
Racism, Poverty, Unemployment - Network Building
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com/2011/04/racism-poverty-unemployment-network.html
Read more Tutor/Mentor Blog Articles
Connecting people and ideas to help inner city kids
The work we do to support volunteers and
youth once they join a tutor/mentor program
is what determines the long-term impact on
the lives of youth and the adults who become
involved.
Learn more at http://www.tutormentorexchange.net