[DDN] Homeless.org and Crime.org

[Dan Bassill]

I invite you to look at some of the elements of
http://www.tutormentorconnection.org as you rebuild these sites, while also
looking at some of the social networking platforms such as
http://classroom20.ning.com/


The T/MC site focuses on one large issue: helping inner city kids to careers
by expanding the network of adult and business support.  Most of the
information on the site is based on maps that show where poverty is most
concentrated, and where poorly performing schools are located, as well as a
database of existing organizations that provide some form of volunteer-based
tutoring and/or mentoring during non school hours.

There are nearly 1200 links in the library, all with some relevance to the
mission of the web site.

Most social network sites, like Classroom.2.0 don't have a geographic focus,
and many don't have a mission based focus.  The T/MC site, and the T/MC,
seeks to help the people represented by the links, along with anyone else
who wants to help inner city kids, connect and learn from each other.

It also wants to influence decisions of business, philanthropy and policy
makers, so that there is a more consistent distribution of resources that
would lead to more and better long-term tutor/mentor programs in more of the
places on the map where they are needed.


Thus, in rebuilding these new sites I encourage you to do it with the intent
of 

a) getting more of the stakeholders to use the site;
b) more users to interact and collaborate with each other in an interactive
way, using features provided by the site;
c) providing more information about why the site does what it does, and
where it's services are needed;
d) increase the number of people who come to the site as resource providers
and capacity  builders, and who shop the information on the site to choose
where to distribute their help (time, talent, dollars, etc).

Sites like this can connect with others who focus on poverty, social
justice, and inequality, but on different aspects such as jobs, violence,
education, health, transportation, diversity, etc.  The poverty maps that
any of these sites can be the same.  For instance, on the T/MC site I link
to sites of many other organizations that map poverty in Chicago, other US
cities and the world.  The only maps I create are ones that show where
tutor/mentor programs are located, or where they are needed.


Good luck to you.

Dan Bassill
Tutor/Mentor Connection
Chicago

PS:  if any of you work with youth organizations, and are creating blogs to
tell the story or  help them recruit volunteers, please visit
http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and introduce your blog.  If we an build a
network of bloggers who link together, and talk about volunteer recruitment
over the next six weeks, we can draw more attention to the programs we all
serve, and help them get more volunteers.

> 
> One of the projects I'm working on for Grassroots.org is the
> development of two top-level internet portals, namely homeless.org
> and crime.org A quick visit reveals that the existing content does,
> for want of a better word, suck. Badly. We'll scrap it all.
> 
> So, in other words, we've got these two awesome domain names that we
> can do some good with. What do you guys think?
> 
> We need help with:
> 
> 1. Finding partners for development. Know any awesome homeless
> shelters, or orgs working on police brutality? Any relevant mailing
> lists I should know about?
> 
> 2. Development strategies. Would it make sense to build out
> chicago.crime.org as a local portal?
> 
> 3. Functionality. What's "portal" mean anyway? Should we focus on
> social networking tools, projects to let the homeless blog, etc, or
> should we just aggregate a ton of good content? Do crime researchers
> prefer a mailing list or a forum, or both? Who should we recruit to
> write content, or promote their existing content / research through
> either of these sites? Is there value in building organic groups (a
> la Yahoo groups) for visitors to organize around?
> 
> Technologically, these sites will probably live on a Drupal multisite
> platform, with functionality being added gradually as we identify
> needs and match them with relevant Drupal coolness.
> 
> We're geeks, not experts on crime or homelessness. What do you guys
> think? How should these projects grow into something useful?
> 
> I'd like to see at least part of the discussion develop on this list,
> since I think building these resources transparently is the best long-
> term strategy.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
>    Dave.
> 
> P.S. I swear I haven't abandoned the can of nonprofit sustainability
> worms I opened earlier; just need some time to play catchup on DDN.
> 
> ------------------------
> Dave Chakrabarti
> Director of Programs
> Grassroots.org
> 
> 
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