Last August I shared an invitation for youth program leaders to talk to the team at Great Lakes Growth Works, a consulting firm in Michigan, about how the pandemic was affecting them.

They published this blog article on March 15, with their summary of those conversations. Among those interviewed were leaders from Highsight Chicago and A Better Chicago.

Read the blog to see the key takeaways, challenges and supports needed.

Data maps can be used to support decision makers in government, business and philanthropy. However, many maps have been built without a racial equity lens. For many years, I've used the cMap shown below to point to data platforms in my library and to blog articles where I've included maps. I updated it recently to add a section of links to websites that focus on racial equity in data (see node in upper right). These include:

* Tableau Foundation Racial Equity Data Hub - click here

* Urban Institute's Racial Equity Analytics Lab - click here

* We All Count - a project to increase equity in data science - click here

View the concept map here. If you're using maps in blog articles to inform public opinion or build donor support for specific areas, please share you articles on Twitter, Facebook and/or Linkedin.

I keep adding new links to the Tutor/Mentor library and this concept map. One area where I'd like to find better data maps is in mapping of philanthropic and government funding. If you know of such platforms please send me the link.

The data from Covid19 and before shows that poverty is a major contributor to the challenges many youth face in moving safely from birth to work. This is not a new revelation. It's been clear for many decades. And while billions of dollars have been spent on education efforts, and on non-school programs, the problem still persists for many kids in many places.

So what are we missing? I think we're missing a comprehensive and on-going strategy. As I've led the Tutor/Mentor Connection (1993-present) and Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC (2011-present) I've had a lot of time to think about this. I started using visualizations in the 1990s and concept maps in 2005 to share my thinking.

Below is one concept map that shows a sequence of thoughts, starting with "we need organized youth programs in more places" to "we need to find ways to build and sustain public will, and funding, that reaches youth programs in EVERY high poverty neighborhood.

This is just my thinking. I encourage others to create their own concept maps. You can see my entire library at this link.

While I try to send this only once a month, I write blog articles weekly. Throughout the newsletter I post links to a few of the articles published in the past month or earlier. I encourage you to spend a little time each week reading these articles and following the links. Use the ideas and presentations in group discussions with other people who are concerned about the same issues.