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Showing posts with label CHILDREN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CHILDREN. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
NEWSLETTER: CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND: THE OPPORTUNITY GAP
Newsletter - Children's Defense Fund
The Opportunity Gap
In the spring of 1954, like so many Black families, mine waited anxiously for the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. My father and I talked about it and what it would mean for my future and the future of millions of other Black children who were attending segregated but unequal Black schools. He died the week before Brown was decided. But I and many other children were able, in later years, to walk through the new and heavy doors that Brown slowly and painfully opened.
It was a transforming time that set into motion a spate of other challenges to Jim Crow laws and yet sixty years after that historic May decision the doors to true educational equality have never fully opened wide enough for millions of American children to walk through especially those living in poverty. The most recent findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), called the “richest, fullest” collection so far measuring education access and equity in our nation’s public schools, show many children are still receiving an unequal education.
This is the unfinished work of the Civil Rights Movement.
The new Office for Civil Rights data cover the 2011-2012 school year and are the first universal data collection since 2000, with information about all 97,000 schools in the nation’s 16,500 school districts serving 49 million students. Some information was collected for the first time, including one of the most startling findings: new data on preschool suspensions that show Black preschoolers are 18 percent of children enrolled in preschool programs in public schools, but 48 percent of children suspended more than once. While the data show only six percent of the districts offering preschool in public schools reported that they had suspended preschoolers, there is something terribly wrong when we are suspending any children from preschool in the first place. We now know Black children are more likely to be pushed out of school before they’ve even made it to kindergarten, and other numbers in the recent OCR release confirm those disparities do not go away.
Overall, Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than White students. Boys receive more than two out of three suspensions, but Black girls are suspended at higher rates than girls of any other race or ethnicity and higher rates than most boys. Students with disabilities (those served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) also are more than twice as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension as students without disabilities. And inequities in school discipline continue right up through the most consequential responses: Black students represent 16 percent of student enrollment but make up 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement and 31 percent of school-related arrests.
These differences in discipline can’t be explained simply by differences in student behavior. The Equity Project at Indiana University has reviewed the research on the role of student behavior and characteristics in disparate suspension rates and found that in fact schools and districts that have taken seriously their responsibility to educate all of their students have seen significant improvements by adjusting the policies and practices of adults. Both Buffalo, New York Public Schools and Denver, Colorado Public Schools are heralded as examples of school systems’ ability to change to better serve students. The Children’s Defense Fund and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, have been funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies to work with ten school districts from Texas to Wisconsin to Pennsylvania whose leaders are committed to reforming their school discipline policies to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and address racial disparities.
Children’s unequal chances in school go well beyond discipline. Black, Latino, American Indian, and Native Alaskan students have less access to experienced teachers than White students. While most teachers are certified, nearly half a million students nationwide attend schools where 60 percent or fewer teachers meet all state certification and licensure requirements, and racial disparities are particularly acute in schools where uncertified and unlicensed teachers are concentrated. Black students are more than four times as likely and Latino students are twice as likely as White students to attend schools where 80 percent or fewer teachers meet these requirements. There are also teacher salary disparities: Nearly one in four districts with two or more high schools reports a teacher salary gap of more than $5,000 between high schools with the highest and the lowest Black and Latino student enrollments.
All students don’t have equal opportunities to take the most challenging courses to prepare them for college and career. While 81 percent of Asian American and 71 percent of White high school students attend high schools where the full range of math and science courses are offered (Algebra I, geometry, Algebra II, calculus, biology, chemistry, and physics), fewer than half of American Indian and Native Alaskan high school students have access to the full range in their schools, and Black students, Latino students, students with disabilities, and English language learner students also all have less access. Black and Latino students are also disproportionately less likely to be enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement (AP) course. The new data also show students with disabilities, English learners, and Black students are all more likely to be held back each year. Twelve percent of Black students were retained in ninth grade— about double the overall rate.
Six decades into the “post-Brown” era, will the doors of opportunity finally open wide or continue to stay half shut on our watch? Most students know the phrase “knowledge is power.” CDF is happy that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is taking new steps to expand the range of data about inequalities that still exist in our nation’s schools. But now that we have more knowledge—what are we going to do with it? If you are interested in learning more and taking action, you can find out how the schools in your community are treating their students at the Civil Rights Data Collection’s website, and you can find new guidance on school discipline and positive alternatives to suspensions and other exclusionary discipline practices at the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments’ website. It’s time to close the opportunity gap and fulfill the promise of education as a great equalizer and a strong pathway to opportunity for all of our nation’s children
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Thursday, February 27, 2014
FEBRUARY 2014 NEWSLETTER: CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND: WHAT PARENTS AND TEACHERS NEED TO KNOW
Save the Date: Addressing Achievement Gaps Symposium  Marian Wright Edelman: Hall of FamerWe Have a Recognition! Celebrating CHIP Order Your Copy of The State of America’s Children® 2014 |
What Parents And Teachers Need to Know
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As Black History Month draws to a close, we hope those of you who follow us on Facebook and Twitter have enjoyed the inspirational quotes from Black leaders we have shared each day. Now we want to put a spotlight on the circumstances of the Black child. Black children are the poorest of the poor, and they need our urgent and persistent attention. Watch Marian Wright Edelman’s video address, “What Parents and Teachers Need to Know” for the National Parent Teacher Association’s (PTA) Every Child in Focus Campaign.
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"You don't have to accept what happens to you.
You're fully capable of doing whatever it takes to change whatever has happened to you, to change your future
—maybe not your past, but your future." |
Theresa Tran has fought for her life since the day she was born. Three months premature, weighing only 1 lb. 10 oz., doctors doubted she would survive the night. Her early arrival came with a type of cerebral palsy that severely impaired her ability to walk. In February 2000, five days before her 4th birthday, Theresa had surgery on her legs to help her walk better. The surgery was successful, but tragically, her older brother who had been her best friend and protector was killed in a freak car accident on his way to visit her in the hospital. Then when Theresa was in middle school, her father abandoned the family without warning and returned to Vietnam. Her mother worked three jobs as she struggled to raise four children on her own. Theresa is a self-described nerd who excels in school. She has a 4.0 GPA and is president of her class. Now Theresa Tran is one of the winners of our Ohio Beat the Odds® college scholarship awards and hopes to attend The Ohio State University and eventually become an orthopedic surgeon to change the lives of others in need.
Early next month we will recognize young stars like Theresa Tran in Ohio, New York and Minnesota with Beat the Odds scholarships and an invitation to join the CDF family and our leadership development network. For over 20 years, CDF’s Beat the Odds® program has supported more than 800 students, and has served as a catalyst for them to become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and Peace Corps volunteers and contributing members of their communities.
These young people never give up. Let’s honor their commitment.
No one working full-time should live in poverty. Right now, a parent working full-time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour earns $15,080 a year, $4,700 below the poverty line for a family of three. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, as proposed by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), would increase a full-time worker’s salary to $21,008 a year – lifting them above poverty and making it much easier to meet their children’s needs. This increase would put $31 billion additional dollars in the pockets of between 16 and 24.5 million low-wage workers and lift 900,000 people out of poverty. Most importantly, it would improve the lives of an estimated 14 million children -- nearly 1 in 5 children in America. Some resist increasing the minimum wage fearful it would lead to job losses. Many leading economists believe there will be no or very few jobs lost and agree the benefits for the millions who would get a pay raise would greatly outweigh the risk. There is no reason for Congress to continue to deny hard-working Americans a pay raise. Rep. Miller has filed a discharge petition to force a vote on H.R. 1010, which requires 218 signatures. Call your Representative today at 1-888-851-1916, a toll-free number provided by AFSCME, and ask him or her to sign the discharge petition and to vote for the Fair Minimum Wage Act to give hard-working families in your state a pay raise.
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Mark your calendar now. ETS, the Educational Testing Service, and CDF are holding a symposium for 450 advocates, researchers, practitioners and young leaders on Monday, June 23, 2014 at the National Press Club that will address “Advancing Success for Black Men in College.”
This is the fourth and final symposium in a joint ETS-CDF series to improve the education and development of Black boys and young men in the United States. We began with the early years, birth to 9, and worked forward through the middle school and high school years. This June 23rd symposium on strategies to increase the number of young Black men succeeding in college will address the challenges they face and opportunities for addressing them: What policies and practices increase access and advance success? How do we overcome the college affordability challenge so many young people face? and; What proposed strategies that help them enter college can also help them stay in and graduate? Four young men will open the symposium with stories of their own college experiences.
We are excited by the way the program is progressing. Learn more about the event and how you can register.
Marian Wright Edelman: Hall of Famer
Congratulations to CDF President Marian Wright Edelman for being inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame earlier this week along with the late civil rights activist Septima Clark! Look for Mrs. Edelman’s Child Watch® column about Septima Clark tomorrow. Today, read the press release about this great honor and watch the video of Mrs. Edelman’s acceptance speech.
Each CDF Freedom Schools® morning begins with “Harambee!” a time to pull together before the day begins and each morning is filled with recognitions, a time to acknowledge accomplishments and contributions. The Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools® program is proud to “Recognize!”and announce its partnership with the International United Auto Workers (UAW) Cynthia Estrada Charity Fund and the Delta Service Through Detroit Foundation. This initiative will re-establish the CDF Freedom Schools program in Detroit and empower the emerging generation of children and teens with literacy and leadership skills. A big thank you and recognition to these partners for making a difference in the lives of children in Detroit.
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Earlier this month we celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA). The Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which may be called something a little different in your state, provides child appropriate health services to more than 8 million children in working families across America. Since its enactment in 1997 with strong bipartisan support, CHIP has helped cut the number of uninsured children in half, to the lowest level on record, while improving health outcomes and access to care. While CHIP is authorized to operate through 2019, there is no new funding after September of next year. If Congress does not act to fund CHIP, millions of children could lose health coverage altogether or end up paying more for less coverage. Congress must act this year to extend funding for CHIP at least through 2019 to ensure that children do not lose ground. Stay tuned over the coming months to see how you can help protect and improve health coverage for children! In the meantime, here are 10 things you need to know about CHIP and our new CHIP factsheet.
Order Your Copy of The State of America’s Children® 2014
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You asked and we listened. Order a printed copy of The State of America’s Children 2014 through CDF’s online store today. The report costs only $6 plus shipping, so order one for yourself and others in your organization or child advocacy network.
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Tuesday, October 29, 2013
NEWS: PROJECT ACT HELPS HOMELESS CHILDREN
"Of 93 high school seniors in the Project ACT program last year, 76 graduated
and 63 went on to some form of higher education. Two received full scholarships
to college."
Recently recorded: 2,106 homeless students in Cleveland.
Email: info@projectact.com or call 216-592-7405
to find out how you can help these students succeed.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND NEWSLETTER: I WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Doctors told Jaime
Gonzalez’s parents that his birth defects were so severe he probably wouldn’t
live to age one. When he did, doctors told them next that he’d probably never
walk. He did that too—though it is still difficult even after a series of
surgeries. “[My parents] both pushed me,” Jaime said. “When I was little and
didn’t want to try, my mother said, ‘Don’t say you can’t. You can.’ That became
my attitude, and even when it was hard—I’m in pain even now—it’s never been an
option for me to quit.”
Others also sold Jaime short. He was put in special education when he started kindergarten in South Central Los Angeles even though his mother had already taught him to read and write. But after his mother switched him to a new school, his first grade teacher saw his abilities and persuaded the principal to put him in the second grade. He eventually attended magnet programs throughout middle and high school, graduated seventh out of his class of 500, and received a full tuition scholarship to the University of Southern California in an eight year combined bachelor’s degree and medical school program.
Jaime—now Dr. Gonzalez—is part of the Children’s
Defense Fund (CDF)’s network of young servant leaders who are devoting their
lives to serving the next generation of children. Winning a CDF Beat the
Odds® scholarship in high school for demonstrating academic excellence
despite great obstacles helped Jaime with living expenses in college, and
getting involved with CDF’s efforts to enroll children in Medicaid and the
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) shaped his medical goals. He added a
year to his education to get a master’s degree in public health along with his
medical degree. He lost a year when his mother was shot while taking out the
trash, and he saw her through two surgeries. After completing his residency
Jaime is planning to return home to serve the Spanish-speaking underserved and
uninsured population. “That’s where there is a need,” he explained, and unlike
90 percent of his medical school classmates, he speaks Spanish.
Growing up in Minnesota Katie DeSantis overcame a
different set of terrible odds. At the age of three she witnessed her drunken
father beat her mother. When her battered mom crawled into bed with her on
another occasion, Katie consoled her by saying everything would be okay. But it
wasn’t. Her mother escaped the abuse and moved Katie and her younger sister to
Minneapolis, but then there were new problems.
The family was homeless seven times in Katie’s
childhood. “My mom couldn’t hold down a steady job or a place for us to stay. We
would live somewhere for six months to a year and get evicted and end up in a
shelter.” There was often no privacy in the shelters and it was hard to do her
homework in a loud and crowded area. Plus it was embarrassing, especially for a
teenager in high school: “I would have the bus drop me off around the corner and
I never invited anyone to where I lived.”
School became Katie’s refuge and the place where she
excelled. When she too won a Children’s Defense Fund Beat the Odds® scholarship
award in 2006, it was a turning point: “Beat the Odds really helped me to be
able to tell my story and not be ashamed of the life I had lived.” Katie went on
to graduate from Gustavus Adolphus College in southern Minnesota. She now works
for Head Start in Minneapolis as the coordinator of its Project Secure for
homeless children: “I was one of those kids and that’s where my heart is. They
didn’t do anything wrong. I want to make sure they know that.”
La’Mont Geddis’s
path to servant leadership started with a call to CDF’s headquarters from a pay
phone after he heard a professor talk about the Freedom Schools® program during
a lecture: “I’m a student at Howard University and I want to get involved in
Freedom Schools. I want to make a difference.” That was 18 years ago, and
La’Mont has since proved to be a truly valuable asset in the public schools of
Washington, D.C. La’Mont always wanted to be a teacher and studied education at
Howard, but believes much of what he knows about how to reach children comes
from the training and experience he received as a servant leader intern, or
teacher, in the Freedom Schools program, whose model curriculum provides summer
and after-school enrichment that helps children fall in love with reading,
increases their self-esteem, and generates more positive attitudes toward
learning.
La’Mont’s first
teaching job after Freedom Schools—a fourth grade class that had had six
teachers by the time he got there in October—was so difficult he almost quit.
But he remembered the message Freedom Schools instills in both its teachers and
its students: You can make a difference.
“I ended up loving that class and vice versa. I’ve followed some of them
through college.” His career has since included serving as a principal and
school leader, and he has never lost sight of the lessons he learned from
Freedom Schools: “Teachers can become almost like robots. You go through the
lessons without bringing in passion or creativity or empathy for the students.
I’ve heard teachers say, ‘I don’t give parents my personal number’ and ‘I don’t
make home visits.’ No. You’ve got to bring the school into the community and put
all you’ve got into it. That’s the heart of Freedom Schools values. Teaching is
not a profession. It’s a ministry.”
Jaime, Katie, and
La’Mont are three of 40 young servant leaders whose stories we are
celebrating as part of our 40th anniversary celebration—each
representing hundreds, even thousands, of other young servant leaders who have
come up through CDF’s leadership training ranks and who are making wonderful
contributions as doctors, lawyers, educators, service providers, and parents in
their communities and nation. I am so proud of them all and so grateful
for all their good work. They are a reminder that we must never ever give up on any child and that
the most important responsibility every generation and nation has is to prepare
its children—all of them—for the future.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND NEWSLETTER _ MENTORS MATTER
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Friday, May 31, 2013
CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND MAY 2013 NEWSLETTER
Did You Know?
Did you know a child shot earlier this month at a New
Orleans Mother’s Day parade had been shot less than a year earlier on his 10th
birthday? How can we allow this culture of gun violence to continue in
America?
in this edition
Children and teens in Louisiana are among the most at-risk for
gun violence in the nation. How have
state legislators responded? By
introducing 19 bills to protect guns,
not children. That’s why our office in
New Orleans set up a “Protect Children, Not Guns” display table in the Capitol
Rotunda for two days this month and used the opportunity to educate legislators
and advocates by sharing CDF’s gun fact sheets. Some of the legislators left the tables wearing CDF's “Protect Children,
Not Guns” buttons.
Five months after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School a child
or teen is shot by a gun every 30 minutes, and yet Congress has failed to pass
any common sense gun safety legislation to protect children, not guns.
Here’s What You Can Do:
- Make your presence known! Follow the example of our Louisiana office, set up a table in your state capitol and hand out “Protect Children, Not Guns” bumper stickers and buttons and “The Truth About Guns” fact sheet. Order yours today.
- Blog about it! Join CDF, MomsRising.org and others for a blog carnival on June 14, the sixth anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre.
- Watch and share the stories of those personally affected by gun violence with our new video series “Faces of Courage.” Please contact us if you would like to share your story.
- Read and share Marian Wright Edelman’s powerful column “Numb –Spiritually Dead – Nation” which documents the story of Ka’Nard Allen, the 10 year-old shot twice in less than a year.
Organize a Children’s Sabbath Service
Want to make a difference for children in your
community? If you are a member of a
faith community, you can begin organizing a Children’s Sabbath celebration as
part of our National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths® weekend, October 18 –
20. Whether you are a layperson or a religious leader, start organizing now
using our newly published resources around this year’s theme, “Beating Swords
Into Plowshares: Ending the Violence of Guns and Child Poverty.”
Youth Spotlight: Michael Tubbs
Raised by a single mother, with his father in prison,
Michael Tubbs was determined to make a difference and determined to stay out of the Cradleto Prison Pipeline™. He went on to become
a Truman Scholar, graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees from Stanford University last
spring and becoming the youngest City Council member in Stockton, California’s
history last fall. But that hardly scratches the surface of why we celebrate
Michael—his work with youth in his home city has been unrelenting, teaching
them the leadership, civic engagement, and social justice principles he learned
as a part of CDF’s Young Advocate Leadership Training (YALT®)
program.
Next
month Michael will share his story and insights as a panelist during the
CDF-ETS Achievement Gap Symposium, “Black Male Teens: Moving to Success in the
High School Years.” Learn more about the
unique challenges facing young Black men and examine the most effective
practices schools and communities should adopt in order to help close
achievement gaps and foster college and career success. Waiting list only available for the
Washington, D.C. event on June 24.
Early Learning Day of Action
The President has laid the groundwork for an important historic
investment in early learning. Now it’s up to us to make sure it happens. Join us in the Strong Start for Children
campaign for a day of action next week to support investments to ensure our
youngest, most vulnerable children are ready to learn. On June 5, participate
in a blog carnival, write letters to the editor and op-eds, and join in a tweetchat
with the experts, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan from 2 p.m. – 3
p.m. Contact your members of Congress TODAY and let them know you support the
President’s Early Learning and Child Development Initiative.
Beat the Odds® Program
Growing up hungry and homeless first in Mexico and then in the United States, Maria Cruz Mendiola has persevered
and now hopes to help others. Maria remembers waking up one night while
living in a cardboard box and “telling myself that I needed to do
something more for the world.” She aims to be a doctor involved in
international activism. Maria is one of four extraordinary youth
celebrated earlier this month by CDF-Minnesota through their Beat the Odds scholarship and leadership development program. Check out the stories of these amazing youths with their video biographies, produced by our long-time friends at We Are Fallon. Next week, CDF-Texas will celebrate their own set of heroes and sheroes at an awards luncheon in Houston. Donate to support the Beat the Odds scholarship and leadership development program.
Friday, May 24, 2013
MARIAN WRIGHT EDELMAN SAYS AMERICA HAS A SPIRITUAL PROBLEM
Newsletter from the Children's Defense Fund
Numb - Spiritually Dead - Nation
Ka’Nard Allen has
been shot twice in his 10-year-old life. On May 12 he went with his mother to
the annual Mother’s Day second line parade in New Orleans. When two gunmen shot
into the line of participants—men, women and children—Ka’Nard’s cheek was
struck by a bullet. Eighteen other people were wounded including a 10-year-old
girl. Less than a year ago, at Ka’Nard’s 10th birthday party in his
front yard, his five-year-old cousin Brianna Allen was fatally shot by an AK-47,
and he was shot in the neck.
Now, with his 11th
birthday coming up on May 29, Ka’Nard’s mother doesn’t know where to have the
party. He wants to go to a hotel, swim in the pool, and stay overnight, he told
a reporter for the Times-Picayune,
but his mother said she can’t afford it. She doesn’t know where to let him play
that will be safe, and he remains at risk because she can’t afford to move.
I have written
this before and I write it again now: The psychological and emotional toll of
gun violence on children, whether they are bystanders or victims, can be
overwhelming and last for years.
A recent screening
of 232 New Orleans middle school students who were part of a teen pregnancy
prevention program found that 44 percent had someone close to them murdered, 29
percent had witnessed an assault with a weapon, and 14 percent had witnessed a
murder. More than half the children classified concerns about “personal safety”
as a source of worry, more than twice the number who worried about “being
unloved.” “At least a third of our kids are experiencing symptoms of depression
and post-traumatic stress disorder, which on a simple level means it is hard to
attend school and do well,” said Dr.
Denese Shervington, a psychiatrist who heads the Institute of Women and Ethnic
Studies that ran the program and conducted the screening.
John C. Raphael,
the pastor of a church in the neighborhood where Ka’Nard lives, told Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist Julia Cass on assignment for the Children’s Defense
Fund that children who regularly hear gunfire and see dead bodies on the street
become acclimatized to violence and learn that violence is the way to solve
conflicts. “They’re afraid but they can’t escape so they harden themselves to
survive. They become numb to what should be emotionally disturbing and accept
it as a norm, as the community does.”
As a nation we seem
to be hardened and numb to what should be emotionally disturbing when we cannot
legislate the most modest and reasonable measures for national gun safety even
after children in as seemingly safe a place as Newtown, Connecticut, far from
an inner city, can be shot down in school. We are numb when the same child can
be shot one year at his own birthday party and shot again the next year at a
Mother’s Day parade and both shootings are just another day on our cities’
streets. Why are we not all calling our legislators and expressing outrage? How
can we let the voices of gun dealers and manufacturers drown out the cries of
children?
Pastor Raphael
pointed out another consequence of rampant gun violence in places like New
Orleans, Chicago, and Newark: Young men become locked into a situation where
they feel they have to retaliate to protect themselves and to be respected. When
a culture teaches its children that violence is a way to resolve conflicts, “if
your brother or friend is shot, you think you have to strike back,” he said.
“Sometimes, the family members or friends of the shooter assume you will
retaliate and go after you preemptively.”
Retaliation is
said to be the motive for the Mother’s Day shooting. Police said that the
brothers, aged 19 and 24, who are charged with the crime, were part of a
loosely organized neighborhood drug gang and were shooting at a member or
members of a rival group. The shooting was related to two previous ones, police
said. The childhood experiences of the accused brothers have not been revealed,
but it would take numbness to violence to shoot into a crowd with women and
children.
In Pastor
Raphael’s view, New Orleans “has a spiritual problem. It is beyond criminal. It
is a spiritual problem when in a high population area you see children and you
shoot into them.”
America has a spiritual
problem when it protects guns rather than children. Since 1963, more than 166,000
children and teens have died from guns on American soil—more than triple the
number of U.S. soldiers killed in the Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars combined.
It is beyond criminal that we allow so many children to suffer and die. It is
spiritual deadness.
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