Connecting Rich and Poor in America - Follow-up to Reeves & Putnam

I just read an article by Richard Reeves, titled "Trickle-Down Norms" which talked about the growing gap between rich and poor in America and how the practices of the affluent often influence the habits and behavior of the rest of American society.

In the article he referred to Dr. Robert Putnam's "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis" book, which I've written about in several past articles.

I've supported organized, on-going, volunteer-based #tutor and #mentor programs for nearly 40 years because of their potential to build connections between people who don't live in poverty and young people and families who do.

As I said, I've written a series of articles that refer to Dr. Putnam's book. I'd like to highlight a few here.

March 24, 2015 - Closing Opportunity Gap in America. Making All Kids "Our Kids.  I included this graphic in the article, which I created in the  mid 1990s to show a vision of a tutor/mentor program with volunteers from many different business/professional backgrounds.  This depicts the expansion of mentors and learning experiences in the lives of kids who participate in these programs. It also shows the multi-dimensional support of programs by volunteers and donors from many different industries. It focuses on muti-year support, from first grade into jobs.  It also includes a map, showing that such programs need to reach kids in every high poverty neighborhood.

Putnam and Reeves both posted several suggestions. One was "invest in well organized mentoring" programs.  I'd like to see more of a road map that shows how we do this. How do we get to where we are today to a future when this opportunity gap has been significantly diminished.

May 5, 2016 - Follow up to Putnam Talk in Chicago.  I included this map story, which was first created in 1996, to illustrate a need to use maps to show the gaps between rich and poor, to show all of the high poverty areas of the Chicago region, and to force (and guide) a distribution of needed resources and mentor-rich programs to more of those neighborhoods.  I also demonstrate using map-stories as part of an on-going effort to draw more attention and to increase the flow of volunteer and donors to individual tutor/mentor programs.  I still don't see any leaders in Chicago using maps this way .

See at this link

March 16, 2015 - Making All Kids "Our Kids".  I've been reading books and articles like those by Putnam and Reeves for more than 25 years, along with other information that focuses on "What are ALL the things we need to know, and do, to help all kids born in poverty be starting jobs and careers by mid 20's".

As I've found articles like "Trickle Down Norms", I started putting them in a library I was building, which was originally intended to support myself and the leaders and volunteers in the single Chicago tutor/mentor program I started leading in 1975. When we formally formed the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993 we created an intentional process for finding this information and sharing it with leaders and supporters of tutor/mentor programs throughout Chicago. When we built our first web site in 1998 we began sharing this library with the world, while also finding ideas from other cities that could be applied to building new solutions in Chicago.

See at this link

October 27, 2016 - Understanding and Applying Social Capital Concepts.  Reeves and Putnam are writing about social capital.

In this article I wrote about the difference between the terms "bridging" and "bonding" social capital. This page on the Saguaro Seminar at Harvard University site provides those definitions

In my work, I focus on "bridging" social capital, or social ties that link people together with others across a cleavage that typically divides society (like race, or class, or religion).


There are several more articles that refer to Putnam's book on this blog and many others that focus on learning, network building, media, leadership, etc.  You can't read all of these in one day, or a week. Why not form a learning circle in your business, faith group, college or family, and read and discuss one article a week? Why not connect with myself and each other on Twitter, the way the #clmooc group has been doing since 2013?

Chicago Tribune 1994

This was the front page of a 1994 Chicago Tribune. Note the use of "Kids at Risk" and a MAP and the sub head "240,000 kids in poverty's grip".  I've been pointing to stories like this for many years, but following with a four part strategy that and a leadership commitment that can be used and supported by leaders in Chicago and any other city and state in the country.

I've shared ideas like these, since forming the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993, with most of the candidates running for Governor of Illinois, and with the current and former Mayor of Chicago.  Yet, if you visit their web sites you don't see any concept maps similar to those I've shared, nor a mobilization and learning strategy similar to the four-part strategy that I've shared.  You don't see their support on anything I've done. I'm not part of any of their planning committees, nor funded as a consultant to their own efforts.

I wonder if they have read Putnam, or Reeves, or any of my articles.

Nothing will change until more people read, reflect, share and then apply these ideas, and the many resources I've aggregated in the Tutor/Mentor Connection web library, using their own personal, and professional, time, talent, dollars and votes.

Search "Putnam" on this blog to find all articles where I've referred to the "Our Kids" book and talked about bridging and bonding social capital. 

Note: Since 2011 I've kept the Tutor/Mentor Connection operating under the structure of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.  If you'd like to support me, click here for information. 

7-20-2023 update - Read new report showing importance of relationships and intentional building of social capital via organized programs, and funding challenges of creating and sustaining such programs. click here

Closing Opportunity Gap in America. Making all kids, "Our Kids"

This morning I had the opportunity to join with other civic leaders in Chicago to hear Robert Putnam talk about his new book "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis". I had read the book on my Kindle prior to attending, but was pleased to receive a free copy of the book. I've already highlighted a number of passages that emphasize how important it is that we find ways to provide greater opportunity for kids now living in poverty.

The book, and Dr. Putnam's talk, provided a wide range of statistics and charts to show a growing "opportunity" gap between kids born to affluent parents, and living in affluent communities, and those born to parents living in poverty areas around the country. He said, and I agree, that "everyone should be concerned".

"The destiny of poor kids in America has broad implications for our economy, our democracy, and our values." (page 230 of "Our Kids).

What I want to focus on are "what to do" about it.

Putnam posted several suggestions in the final chapter of his book, and repeated them today. One was "invest in well organized mentoring" programs. However, I'd like to see more of a road map. How do we get to where we are today to a future when this opportunity gap has been significantly diminished.

This graphic was created by an intern, to illustrate the learning steps I have recommended in the past, in response to news stories about violence in Chicago. The same steps apply to closing the opportunity gap, too. Visit this page to see the animation, and the learning steps I recommend.

This is one of several graphics I've created to illustrate a four part strategy that expands the number of people who read and reflect on books like "Our Kids" and then supply time, talent and treasure to support youth mentoring and learning programs in high poverty areas. Read this article to see how a strategy is part of "getting from here to there".

In offering solutions, Putnam said "Surround them (poor kids) with responsible, caring adults that will help them through life." This graphic is a model of what that statement means to me. A well-organized tutor/mentor program has a diversity of volunteers involved over a period of many years. When you begin to investigate mentoring, look at this "shoppers guide" for ideas of what you should look for on an organization's web site. Don't just rely on the "brand name" to assure you that a program is meeting Putnam's goal.

Throughout the book, Putnam emphasized that this is a growing problem, that will only get worse if we don't begin to do something now. It reminded me of this image. Over the 40 years that I've been involved in leading a tutor/mentor program, and the Tutor/Mentor Connection, I've often been told how impossible the task I've embraced will be. Putnam said something similar today.

When I've been given that response, I tell this story. Imagine a snowball rolling from the top of a mountain, down toward the valley. As it grows it collects more snow, ice and rock, and gets bigger. Unless something stops it, it will eventually demolish every home in the valley.

The snowball is the problem of inequality, and the challenges of getting millions of people from beyond poverty personally engaged in helping kids born or living in poverty have the opportunities they need to climb the ladder of social mobility. In his book Putnam talks about economic costs of doing nothing. He also talks of a potential cost to our democracy. He writes "Without succumbing to political nightmares, we might ponder whether the bleak, socially estranged future facing poor kids in Americ today could have unanticipated political consequences tomorrow."

As in the case of the snowball rolling down hill, there are really only two choices. We can ignore it, and ultimately be destroyed. Or we can get in front, and try to stop it. If we're the first, or the only ones, to stand up to the snowball, our chances of success are slim. However, if others join us, our chances grow.

Those are the only two choices we have.

What can you do?

Become a network builder. Tweet this. Re-tweet my @tutormentorteam articles. Like me on Facebook. Do this every day.

Reach out to tutor/mentor programs in your city. Look at the list of Chicago your organizations that I share in this link. Visit their web sites and get to know what they do and how they differ. Adopt one, or more. Find their social media pages, Twitter feeds, blog articles, etc. and start forwarding them to people you know.

Dedicate time to learning. Start by following the links in this article, to other articles, and spend time learning from the articles I've posted for the past 9 years. In this article I talk about super heroes, West Point, and leadership.

Then, create a version of this strategy map, and put it on your web site, to show your own commitment to helping kids in poverty move up the ladder to jobs and careers. If you know Robert Putnam, maybe you can share this with him, and help put it on his web site, too.

Finally, become a sponsor, benefactor and/or partner of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC. I've been doing this work for over 40 years, partly as a volunteer, partly as leader of a non-profit, and how as a one-man crusade. If just one person who reads "Our kids" recognizes that I've been preaching this message for over 20 years and that they have the ability to help me continue for the next 20 years, then my ideas will reach more people and help communities across the country map a plan that gets them "from here to there".

Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis - follow up to Putnam talk in Chicago

Dr. Robert Putnam was in Chicago again last week to talk about his book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, and to  point people to a new publication titled, The Opportunity Gap, which contains the ideas of many deep thinkers who were gathered over the past year by Dr.  Putnam and The Saguaro Seminar, which he leads at Harvard  University.

I heard Dr. Putnam speak in Chicago a couple times in early 2015 and wrote a series of blog articles, starting with this one. 

I have been using maps since 1993 to focus attention on all the places in Chicago where poverty creates unequal opportunities for the American Dream so the case made in Dr. Putnam's book is nothing new to me.  

I spent time in the past week reading through The Opportunity Gap, to see what ideas were being suggested for closing the gap.  It's over 70 pages of text with lots of ideas.  My first thought was "Who's going to read this?"

A few years ago I read a book titled "Uncharitable" by Dan Pallotta, which challenges the way non profits are funded and offers suggestions of different paths. I spent some time creating a concept map, to outline chapters in the book, hoping people would use this as a study guide. I also wrote a series of blog articles, applying these ideas to the youth tutor/mentor sector, which I feel is a strategy that should be considered not just for the impact well-organized tutor/mentor programs can have on kids, but on how they might involve more adults. After his TED talk, I updated the concept map to point to places where people were talking about his ideas. 

I sent an introduction to The Saguaro Seminar, and posted a message on Dr. Putnam's Facebook page, encouraging them to do the same to help people dig through the book and the ideas in The Opportunity Gap white paper.

Then, I went ahead and created a concept map, that I'm showing below.

This map is a starting point, that people at Harvard, or any other university, high school and/or civic organization, could use to build their own study guide as part of an on-going effort to get more people involved in actions that make opportunities available to k-12 youth and families now living in the high poverty places that Putnam and others describe in their writing and research.

On the left side of the map I focus on the book, and the white paper. I don't know of a place that I could point to with links to specific chapters, but someone else could provide this. 

On the right site of the map I point to sections of my own web library, with links to hundreds of other web sites with information that learners should look at, including information about challenges facing non profits who we're asking to do much of the work.  I also show examples of data maps, and of ways maps and network analysis could be used to show who is joining in this effort.

One of the organizations I point to is the Community Commons web site, which is a resource many could use, and a model of telling map stories and focusing attention on others,  that I feel many could duplicate.  They create maps such as the one at the left, showing faith groups in the Chicago region.  And they create map stories, such as this, showing how leaders in the St. Louis area are responding to the 2014 Ferguson riots. 

I dug a bit deeper into this story, and took a look at the web site of For The Sake of All, which is a  multi-disciplinary project focused on the health and well-being of African Americans in St. Louis.  I really like the ways that they are breaking down segments of their report and featuring them on the web site.  I think others could duplicate this to help learners dig deeper into their own publications.

On pages 56 and 56 of The Opportunity Gap, I found this message:

Page 51

We agreed that any policy agenda designed to reduce segregation and its consequences should begin with several principles.

First, it must be place conscious. Community experts have long debated whether to invest in places or the people within them. We argue for a place-conscious approach that recognizes how inequality is organized along spatial lines, and includes investments both in places and the people within them.6

Second, the policy agenda must consider both structure and choice.7 To close the opportunity gap for children, we must reduce structural barriers that shape neighborhood inequality and block their success while encouraging individuals to make choices that will facilitate their own mobility.

Third, a community agenda must include multi-level and cross-sectoral interventions. Confronting the decline of communities requires policy from multiple sectors operating at multiple levels, from the nonprofit and private sectors to local, state, and national government.⁸

Fourth, dosage matters. Over the past several decades many exciting community-rebuilding policies have been diluted in the political process or abandoned before they could realistically transform communities.⁹ Any place-conscious policy should be assessed for its long term sustainability so it can forge durable change in families’ lives and their communities.

Page 56

We shouldn’t kid ourselves about quick neighborhood turnarounds. It takes time to create stable communities, establish partnerships, and change accountability. Organizations often resist the call to broaden their efforts to reach the community as a whole, claiming that a broader agenda will dilute their focus or make their task too hard.

The truth is that the stakes are too high for business as usual. We must begin by identifying actors within and outside of a community, core anchor institutions, and funders and policymakers willing to plan for long-term change, agree on these broader metrics and the importance of working together to achieve them, and have the public or private sector support this collaboration and the data systems that enable communities to track their progress.  

Can this have greater long-term impact than similar initiatives in the past?

I've pointed to past news stories, like the one below from 1993, to reinforce what is being said in The Opportunity Gap report.  

I've also attempted to fill an intermediary role, collecting, organizing and sharing information, that others can use in their own efforts, and long-term commitments, to help close this gap, in Chicago, or in any other part of the USA, or the world.

I hope that role is appreciated, and that the ideas and resources are used and applied.  I started doing this in 1975 when I began to draw volunteers together to support youth  in the Cabrini-Green area of Chicago, then expanded my role in 1976 and 1977 when I began to invite leaders from other programs in Chicago to gather and share ideas and resources.  I formalized this information collection and public awareness campaign in 1993 when the Tutor/Mentor Connection was created. I continue this effort under the structure of the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC, created in 2011.

This timeline shows some of the actions taken since 1992.  

I'd be happy to share my ideas and experiences with any of those who are also focusing on this problem. I'd love to have help to communicate these ideas more effective, more consistently, and to more people. I keep looking for a benefactor who would put his/her name on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, either as a stand-alone think tank, or as a policy/action center on a university campus.

Let's connect if you want to use the ideas or want to help.

Making all kids "Our Kids" - New Book by Robert Putnam

Over the past 40 years of leading a tutor/mentor program in Chicago, I've come to think of volunteer based tutor/mentor programs as an ideal structure to help connect youth from high poverty areas with volunteers from a wide range of backgrounds beyond poverty. This image is one that illustrates this diversity.

In the past ten to 15 years I've come to understand this as a form of social capital, greatly influenced by Robert Putnam and others. Thus, I was pleased to learn of his new book, titled “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis”. I picked up a copy last week and have read about 30%. Yesterday I shared a link to this New York Times book review with a college fraternity brother who lives in Bend, Oregon, which was profiled in the book. Today he sent me this article from his local newspaper, which has an extensive analysis of the book, and the problems it points out to communities all over the country.

I created the graphic below by combining a map showing poverty in the Chicago region with a concept map showing supports kids need as they move from first grade through school and into a post college or vocational school job and career.

The map can be seen here. The concept map can be seen here.

In the 1990s when I was first launching the Cabrini Connections tutor/mentor program, I coined the term "Total Quality Mentoring (TQM) to communicate the idea of site based tutor/mentor programs supported by volunteers from many different backgrounds, who were constantly learning from a network of peers, and constantly innovating ways to expand the support they were offering to youth.

The hub of the wheel represents a single child, or a group of kids. The spokes lead to the different careers kids might aspire to. In the Birth to Work chart at the left, you can see that there are a variety of age-appropriate activities that could be introduced to a youth, through school, or non-school programs.

It only takes motivation, talent, resources and some stimulation to recognize ideas that you might not otherwise be aware of.

The concept map above is just a different version of these, and illustrates how I've continuously looked for better ways to communicate this idea. You can see a map of Chicago is embedded in the TQM chart, and in many of my blog articles, illustrating the need for well organized programs in every poverty neighborhood. Since the early 1990s I've been using maps to show the gap between rich and poor, and graphics to show how well organized, volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs could offer the mentoring, tutoring, and other supports that rich kids take for granted.

The TQM idea never caught on, but I've continued to share the idea through printed newsletters, up till 2002, and email newsletters, blogs and web sites since 1998.

When I talk about "constantly improving" I mean that people in different programs, as well as resource providers, are digging into a library of information that shows what other people are doing in different places, that could be duplicated in many other places, if the motivation, talent and financial resources were available. Below is a graphic showing the four categories of information I've been aggregating.

One section of the library points to articles about social capital and ideas of how to map the networks youth and volunteers have when they join a program, and how that changes over time as a result of on going participation and consistent support by donors.

I hope the work Robert Putnam and others are doing to make this a focus of the 2016 national election will motivate more people to want to dig into the information and articles I've been writing for many years. Just wanting to make support systems available is not the same as building and sustaining age appropriate programs in cities and neighborhoods all across the country.

Just one last graphic. View this video to see how volunteer who become involved in TQM programs can grow to be leaders who get other people involved. If this idea is embraced in communities and neighborhoods throughout the country, we have a strategy for engaging a growing number of people from both sides of a community in efforts that close the gaps that Putnam and others fear is irrevocably dividing America.

I look forward to being part of the planning, brainstorming and innovations of others who are focused on this same issue.

Reading "Our Kids" book by Robert Putnam? Join discussion

I posted articles about Robert Putnam's new book, "Our Kids" the American Dream in Crisis" in three March 2015 articles, starting here.

Bryan Alexander is leading a discussion of this book, chapter by chapter, starting here. I encourage you to join in. As you do, refer back to my own articles that focus on actions individuals, corporations, faith groups and political leaders need to take to help close the opportunity gaps.

For instance "mentoring" is mentioned as a solution, and faith communities are encouraged to take a lead. I focus on volunteer based tutoring and mentoring as part of organized programs operating in high poverty neighborhoods. It's the programs that make one-on-one connections possible, and make connections to other forms of learning and experience also possible.

I started following Putnam several years ago after reading his book, titled "Bowling Alone". I see mentoring as a form of "bridging social capital". The positive impact grows over time and is enhanced with organized programs make a wide range of mentors available to youth, and keep the youth and volunteers connected for multiple years.

Building the flow of talent and resources to make good programs available in more places should be part of the discussion when reading "Our Kids" and similar books.

Closing Opportunity Gap in America. Building the Network.

Yesterday I posted a long article sharing my thoughts following hearing Robert Putnam talk about his new book "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis".

In order to close the opportunity gap we need to dramatically enlarge the number of people taking daily actions to grow the network. We need to increase the number of wealthy benefactors who are making $10 to $100 million commitments to support the growth of the network, as well as individual donors supporting long-term, mentor-rich, tutor/mentor programs with workplace donations and annual contributions. We also need others who support intermediaries who support the on-going learning required to support long-term growth. In this Tipping Points essay I show ideas that, if fully funded, could support the growth of mentoring programs, and the growth in the number of people who take long-term roles in closing the opportunity gap.

The illustration below is from this "network building" essay.

I've attended events hosted by the Chicago Community Trust and many other civic and business leaders in Chicago for nearly 20 years. With the growth of social networks, and network analysis tools I've encouraged people who host events, to create network maps showing who is participating, and what skills/networks they represent. I still don't see this being done.

The statement "It takes a village to raise a child." has been overused, but it fits with Putnam's "Our Kids" advocacy. However, unless you map who is active, using network analysis tools, you really don't know which parts of the village are pulling their fair share of the load. In addition, unless you keep doing these maps from year to year, you don't know if the village is growing, or if the people who took action in past years have continued those actions in future years.

On page 259 in "Our Kids" Putnam wrote this about mentoring: "The last thing that poor kids need is yet another unreliable, "drop-by" adult in their lives." He could have wrote the same about "drop by" donors who make short term grants that fund only a small percent of total costs for operating a mentoring program, or who don't sustain their funding beyond one, two or three years. If many leaders are mobilizing volunteers and donors to support programs in the same urban area, then every program ought to be able to create maps showing funding from multiple sources, and volunteer involvement representing many different career paths that youth might aspire to.

I don't know of anyone in the mentoring movement talking about mentoring as social capital, AND... talking about ways to use social network analysis tools to map participation. I've been trying to do this, but with the help of volunteers since I've not found investors and financial support. View the maps shown here and here to see some of the work I'm trying to do, and that I think others could also be doing.

I've written about this on my blog since 2005 and in printed newsletters, between 1993 and 2001. I've posted a variety of illustrated essays in the library on the Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC site. I encourage others to write their own strategy essays to show how they think we get from "here to there". Share them. Let's compare notes. Let's work together to build the "village".

If you're interested in this, let's connect and talk of what I've been trying to do and ways you can help. What we develop for Chicago can be used in any other city.

If we don't know who is involved, and how the network grows from year-to-year it is unlikely we'll ever mobilize enough continuous involvement to seriously close the opportunity gap.

Understanding and Applying Social Capital Concepts

Last week I sat in a workshop at an Afterschool Development Conference in Chicago where a discussion leader was telling others how I understand social capital.  I decided at that point to write this article, with the goal of expanding people's understanding social capital and of my perspective.

First, you need to understand the difference between the terms "bridging" and "bonding" social capital.  This page on the Saguaro Seminar at Harvard University site provides those definitions.  This video provides a quick understanding of bridging and bonding social capital.

In my work,  I focus on "bridging" social capital, or "social ties that link people together with others across a cleavage that typically divides society (like race, or class, or religion)."

I created the graphic below in the 1990s to illustrate the design of a mentor-rich, total quality, youth program, that connects youth to volunteers from many different work and career backgrounds, who can open doors to opportunities and experiences for youth in such programs.  You can see this concept in this pdf presentation.

Much of my thinking about social capital has been inspired over the past 15 years by books and articles written by Robert D. Putnam.  Instead of writing a 10 page article, which most of you won't take the time to read, and which might not do a complete job, I've created a concept map to guide you in your own learning journey. In the map I propose a reading of Putnam's latest book, "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis."  I've written articles about that several times on this blog.

In the concept map above I point to Putnam's book, and to a section in the Tutor/Mentor web library with more than 40 links to web sites and articles that provide a deeper understanding of social capital and how this applies to the different opportunities available to youth born in affluent areas and those born in high poverty areas. 

I urge you to form learning circles in your business, faith group, college or high school, and read these articles and discuss their meaning, and roles you and your group might take to help build "total quality mentoring" programs in many locations throughout your city or state.

As I was thinking about writing this article, my Twitter feed introduced me to an organization, The Center for Curriculum ReDesign, that is using interactive network analysis maps to show information within the Wikipedia universe.  The description on the map says 

"This graph shows the interconnections between knowledge disciplines contained within the links of Wikipedia. Similarly colored nodes belong to similar communities calculated within the entire network. The edge thickness indicates the weight of the connection or how strongly connected the disciplines are connected to one another. Click below for more information."

While social capital articles focus on people and how they are connected to each other, this shows how ideas are connected to each other, and how you can use social network analysis tools to draw out a set of ideas from a vast information library like Wikipedia.

I was excited to see this because while I've been creating concept maps to show the information and ideas in the Tutor/Mentor web library, I've constantly hoped to find someone who could create a map like this, to show the relationships between the ideas in the difference sections of my web library.

This "mentoring kids to careers" graphic is a different visualization of the Total Quality Mentoring graphic shown above, and of the mentoring-to-careers concept map that is embedded in the second graphic.

For kids born or living in highly segregated areas of high poverty, they often have strong bonding social capital but very weak bridging social capital.  Organized non-school, volunteer-based, tutoring, mentoring and learning programs are a strategy cities can use to help expand the networks of support available to kids with weak ties to people who can help them reach their full potential in life.

Such programs need to be available to youth in every poverty neighborhood, and stay available for the many years it takes for a youth to journey through school.  Building the public will to fund and sustain such programs is one of the topics I constantly focus on.

Let's just look at one more graphic. This also illustrates the goal of building richer networks of support for kids living in high poverty neighborhoods.

However, it also shows that the volunteers who become part of well-organized, on-going, programs also expand their own personal and professional networks.  I've posted many articles in the past showing the benefits to business of volunteer involvement in on-going tutor/mentor programs.

However, I've not yet found anyone who is surveying youth and volunteers when they join a program with the goal of creating network maps for each participant, and then repeating the survey in future years to show how, or if, the network has grown, and to identify milestones, like trips to the volunteer's company, or to a college campus, or graduation from middle school, high school, or college, that were aided by volunteers that the youth met while involved in these programs.

Or that have shown how volunteers have build life-long friendships with other volunteers they have met, or have gone from being a volunteer to being and advocate and a leader, as a result of their involvement.  Or, who have learned ideas or skills and built relationships that have aided them in their careers.  Such analysis might be a huge motivator for businesses to apply this Role of Leaders strategy, to support the growth of mentor rich programs around places where they do business.

These are all demonstrations of social capital put into action.

I hope you'll find some time to read, reflect and look for ways to apply these ideas.

7-14-2020 update - this article from The Christenson Institute is titled: The missing metrics:
Emerging practices for measuring students’ relationships and networks. It's one of the first that I've found that specifically is talking of social capital and ways to measure it.

12-11-2020 update - this paper discusses difference between bridging and bonding social capital. 

10-6-1021 update - this article titled "Breaking the Class Ceiling" urges research on social class differences when trying to understand inequality.  click here

Combatting extremism in USA - social capital thinking

On Monday I included this graphic in an article titled "Kids not living in poverty need mentors, too."

This was in response to the most recent mass murder of 10 people in Buffalo, NY by a teen who had adopted White Supremist beliefs, was able to purchase an automatic rifle, then acted upon his beliefs. 

What caused this? What might prevent it? 

I'm going to point to a lot of information in this article, so I hope you'll bookmark it, then refer to it often.

At the right is a graphic that I've used for more than 25 years to show the role of mentors and extra adults in "pushing" kids through school and into jobs and careers and the role of businesses,  universities, hospitals, philanthropy and government in "pulling" kids through school, using mentoring as one important strategy.   Providing part-time jobs and internships is another. View the graphic in this article. 

Over the past 30 years I've used maps to focus attention and resources on high poverty areas of Chicago, where tutor/mentor programs are a place where kids can connect with volunteers from many different backgrounds and help kids on their journey through school, while also opening doors to jobs and college opportunities for many.  

I've come to understand this as a form of "bridging" social capital, and have been influenced by writers such as Robert D. Putnam.  In this article I point to several articles where I've written about Putnam's "Our Kids" book and "bridging" social capital.  

In all of these efforts, I've focused on expanding "who you know" for kids who's family and personal network has too few people modeling the many types of careers they might aspire to if they had a college degree, or advanced vocational training after high school.  

Here are three more articles that show this strategy:

Mentor Role in Larger Strategy - click here

Transforming Adults Involved in Volunteer-Based Tutor/Mentor Programs - click here

Understanding and Creating Bridging Social Capital - click here

Much of my motivation has come from seeing stories like this 1992 Chicago Sun-Times article in Chicago media, over-and-over, since the late 1970s.  Too many inner city kids are losing their lives.  Street killings are just the  most visible sign of this. Poverty leads to more stress, more severe illnesses, poor performance in school, involvement with juvenile justice, and other things, all which reduce future opportunities. 

Yet, most of the mass shootings have not been black and brown kids killing people of other races. Those have mostly been done by White kids.  (see data)

So far I've written about strategies that reach and benefit kids living in high poverty areas, who might be less prone to acts of violence against each other if they had more hope and opportunity.  Providing these opportunities continues to be my focus.

However, we have a problem in America.   In the graphic at the top of this article I ask "What about kids who don't live in high poverty?"

In the third extra reading articles above is a link to a paper titled "Social Capital: The Bonds that Connect", written by Michael Woolcock.   He provides clear definitions of "bridging" and "bonding" social capital.  So far, I've focused on "bridging".

Now let's focus on "bonding".

Woolcock writes "Bonding social capital refers to connections to people like you. For example, classmates, work colleagues, and neighbors.

The lives of the poor are largely characterized by a rich set of bonding relationships, but little by way of bridging and, especially, linking ties."

If you are poor you might not be able to place names of people you know in some of the categories on this chart, but you do have many close ties among family, high school, faith group and neighborhood.

What if these close ties are people who model anti-social, racist, anti-democratic, and/or religion-based extremist views?  In this article I quote Bob Pearlman, who wrote an article about social capital in the early 2000s.

He wrote "But the most significant finding in the study was that a student's social network can have a significant impact on his/her career choice. Students whose parents are both in high-tech careers are more likely to be interested in technology careers themselves. In addition, 83 percent of students rely on personal connections for career-related information and guidance." 

Youth emulate the beliefs of their parents.  Strong bonding ties, without bridging ties that expose kids to a wider range of thinking, can be a negative.

I'm now getting into areas where I don't have enough expertise.  In the article I wrote Monday, I asked "What should I do?"  I answered, "Collect information about this topic". 

I don't have a section in the Tutor/Mentor library that focuses on extremism so started aggregating a few links using Wakelet. Click here to see what I've collected so far.

I've been building a web library for 20+ years. It's organized by category. Here are a few examples:

Poverty & Crime Mapping - click here

Race, Poverty & Inequality - click here

Saving our Democracy - Political Resources - click here 

I'd like to find a web library with a similar set of links, focused on extremism and solutions. 

Now let's look at a some maps:

This is a Washington Post map showing segregation in Chicago and throughout the USA. Click here to view. 

This is a map showing faith groups in the Chicago region.  Open this link, then zoom into the Chicago region. 

Below is a map created using the same platform, but I've clicked on an area, then hit the "profile" button. I then get maps showing different demographics, income levels, etc.  The faith groups in the area are still shown. If I zoom in, I can identify individual groups.

Using the two data platforms, and others with similar information, we can see where more affluent people live and where poorer people live. We can also see the faith groups within these areas.  You can do this for any city in the USA.

Further research (by someone else) would need to determine which of these groups might be more fundamentalist in their teaching and beliefs, or might be among the groups that strongly support the former President.  What can be assumed is that children growing up in these faith groups are being "groomed" to the same beliefs as their parents and the rest of the congregation.

That could be a problem.

There are plenty of stories showing far right religious beliefs affecting state legislation and restricting voting rights.

Across the country certain groups are now beginning to ban teaching of certain topics in school and are banning certain books from school libraries. Over the weekend I saw that someone is suing a Barnes & Noble bookstore for carrying a specific book.   Will burning books in the streets be next? 

Now, please go back and read more of the articles, like this one, that I wrote following the release of the "Our Kids" book by Robert D. Putnam. 

Poverty reinforces poverty and affluence reinforces affluence.  Kids in affluent areas are not building much empathy for kids in poverty areas because they don't have close ties, or "bridging ties" to kids who are economically different from them, or who have different religious beliefs.  That influences how they see the world and what they will do as adults to solve problems in the world.

Kids who are part of faith groups that support radical right-wing conspiracy theories and White Supremist world views are being "groomed" to carry those beliefs into their adult lives, and to force their beliefs to others.  

Without some strategies to expose these kids to a wider range of ideas and beliefs, starting as early as pre-school (because that's when religious indoctrination is beginning), the tragedies like Buffalo are likely to grow even more frequent.

The challenges to our democracy are likely to become more dire. 

Are these things you're thinking about?  Have you found good, extensive, online resources that I can point to, or people with solutions that I can point to?

I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. I'll look forward to connecting with you.