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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