Using Maps to tell "The Rest of the Story"

A key part of the Tutor/Mentor Connection (T/MC) strategy is to "increase the frequency of media stories and advertising that draw attention to tutoring/mentoring and draw volunteers and donations to tutor/mentor programs in different parts of the Chicago region. Visit the Chicago Tutor/Mentor Program Locator  and Map Gallery to see this strategy in action.

Since the T/MC is a small, grass-roots non profit, with few advertising or public awareness dollars, it has developed a strategy that leverages the negative news of daily papers and broacasts media, with map stories that show where and why the bad news happened, and point to tutor/mentor programs in the area (if any exist) as places working to try to reverse these negatives.

The T/MC has been building a mapping capacity, to follow news stories, and create maps like this within 24 to 48 hours of when they first appear. Thus, if the Chicago SunTimes features a shooting on page 1, or an inside page, a T/MC story will leverage the money spent by the newspaper to reach its Chicago area circulation of more than 500,000 people, with another story that intends to convert a growing number of these people into advocates, volunteers and donors supporting tutor/mentor programs all over the Chicago region.

 This map is an example.  On Friday, April 30, 2004 the front page headline of the Chicago SunTimes was "Girl Gang Terrorizes South Side School".

The story told how a girl was beaten in class and another was attacked in a hall at Dyett Academic Center. However, this story did not link the school violence to academic performance, poverty, or long-term solutions that would provide teens will positive alternatives to involvement in gangs. That's THE REST OF THE STORY. The map below shows where Dyette Academic Center is located. It shows that there are several poorly performing schools and a high degree of poverty in the neighborhood surrounding the school.

If you search the Find A Program link on the TMC Program Locator web site you can determine what tutoring and/or mentoring programs are operating in this neighborhood (search 60609, 60615, 60636, 60621 and 60637 zip codes) where you can be a volunteer, leader, donor or business partner.  If you look at the business or faith group maps in the Mapping for Justice blog, you can also see assets who could be supporting the growth of tutor/mentor programs in these same areas.

In many cases there are no programs, too few programs, or not enough good programs in many of the zip codes where bad news is taking place.   The aim of the learning network is to provide knowledge that volunteers, business and faith leaders, and others can use to build their own vision of what a world-class volunteer-based tutor mentor program might look like, so that volunteers, donors and business leaders could help tutor/mentor programs in this and other poverty neighborhoods of Chicago grow to be good, and then great. 

We encourage Volunteers, Donors and Leaders to turn this negative into a positive. Get involved. Help the kids in the neighborhood near Dyett Academic Center have a full range of non-school tutoring/mentoring programs. Together we can help assure that No Child in Chicago is Left Behind. Visit the T/MC Map Gallery to see more maps like this.

This map is a service of the Tutor/Mentor Connection, a small non-profit organization. If you'd like to make a contribution to help us produce more maps like this, and maintain the Program Locator service, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for information.