As the candidates begin to sling mud at each other, I suggest there is a way to demonstrate the leadership that we hope to get from whom we elect.I have led a non profit organization working with inner city Chicago youth since 1990. Prior to that I led this organization as a volunteer for another 15 years, while holding various advertising roles with the Montgomery Ward corporation.Since I work with African American kids, I feel the one of the greatest benefits from him as President would be to reduce the excuses that inner-city kids have for not aspiring to do great things with their lives, and not doing the work it takes to make great things happen.I'm not sure who reads these blogs, but if you are connected to any decision-makers in the Obama campaign, I encourage you to pass on a message. Visit http://tutormentor.blogspot.com and look at how I use maps to draw attention to all of the high poverty areas of Chicago. Look at how I use these maps and the articles I write to mobilize volunteers and donors from the private sector to support volunteer-based tutoring/mentoring programs.If the Obama campaign made a commitment to include this type of advocacy one time per day for the next 30 days (as school is starting all over the country, in different interviews and campaign appearances, the result would be that millions of people around the country might be motivated to become more informed about the relationship of poverty to poor schools, and the relationship of the lack of non school learning, mentoring and recreation activities to the acts of violence reported in news. More business leaders might see ways to earn "social capital" by encouraging employees to volunteer talent in non profit tutor/mentor programs.
If Obama is saying "be a volunteer, a leader, a donor" in one or more of these inner city programs, and pointing to http://www.tutormentorconnection.org and other web sites to show people where they can search for volunteer opportunities, he will be demonstrating the leadership we hope he would continue as Commander in Chief. He would be demonstrating why he is different from the other candidate, or any previous candidate running for office.
He would be demonstrating "change" and that would be one way to convince me and others that their are more reasons to vote for him than that he's not a Republican.Dan BassillPresidentCabrini ConnectionsTutor/Mentor Connection800 W. HuronChicago, Il. 60642
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