Sharing Web Resources 2

The one section that I wanted to point out to everyone is the Policy Priorities: Ending Child Poverty at http://www.childrensdefense.org/policy-priorities/ending-child-poverty/index.html#hard_times. This page tells the stories of children in poverty. The stories that I looked at talked about how some of these families were middle class and now are having troubles putting food on the table. Other stories talk about running out of government support which has reduced some families into homelessness. We have been talking about poverty for the last few weeks but these stories have truly put everything in perspective for me.

The main thing about The Children’s Defense Fund is that they are always contacting politicians to make changes. They also encourage others to contact their representatives and take action.  They give advice on how to contact your representatives and give links to different issues that need support. This is where you can find the information http://www.childrensdefense.org/take-action/advocacy-that-works/.

I think that one of the major insights that I have realized while looking through this site, is that early childhood is the start of it all. If we find ways to help educate our young children, they will have fewer problems as they get older. CDF focuses on the delinquents and teens that are getting into trouble because they are not given the support that they need. We need to start making changes to our education so that every child is given the chance to succeed.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

I had to go with the alternative assignment and watched a podcast from Delfena Mitchell. Delfena Mitchell is the Director of the Liberty Children’s Home in Belize. The center serves children from age birth to five years of age and sometimes older based on whether family is already at the center.

From listening to the podcast I learned about the struggle of a nine year old boy. He was kicked out of school because he was not developmentally ready. It was Delfena Mitchell who was able to get the boy to open up about the experiences that he had at home. She found out that his grandmother would hit him with a stick and his food would be taken away from his family members. He talked about having to hide under his bed with his food so that he was able to eat everything that was given to him. I emailed Delfena Mitchell and she has not gotten back to me. Therefore, I went to http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/ to find out more information.

“The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP) is a collaborative research and policy programme which involves Save the Children, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and partners in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and MongoliaAchieving change to tackle childhood poverty involves” (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php). From this site, I learned that over 600 million children world-wide live in poverty and that 10 million children die every year form diseases that could have been prevented. CHIP was set up to start filling the gap about the knowledge of childhood poverty due to the fact that some countries know very little.

Something that I wanted to share with everyone from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php

                   Achieving change to tackle childhood poverty involves:

• Positive action at different levels

• Positive change in a range of policy areas

• Attention to policy implementation as well as content

• Effectively using research findings

                           • targeting key fora and institutions/departments who make and influence policy

I have learned so much from this week but I think the most important thing that I have learned was to listen. Children need time to open up and by actively taking part in their life they will feel more comfortable to share their stories. We need to get the information out there that poverty is everywhere we look and we need to start making changes. The main thing that we need to remember is, “Lost opportunities in childhood cannot always be regained later - childhood is a one-off window of opportunity and development. Poverty experienced by children, even over short periods, can affect the rest of their lives” (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/).

Sharing Web Resources

The Child Defense Fund (CDF) is the organization that I chose, and can be found at, http://www.childrensdefense.org/home.html. The focus of this organization is to “ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.” They talk about being the voice for all children since they cannot vote. The CDF was set up to educate the community about the importance of keeping children healthy and keeping them in school.

One issue that caught my attention also involves what we have been talking about this week. In the newsletter that I read, there was a headline that stated, Congress Leaves Student Accountability Behind. The issue at hand is that legislators are not taken into account the accountability that they must have when it comes to our children’s education. The CDF wrote a letter addressed to two senators who are part of the Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions. The first sentence read:

On behalf of the millions of students with disabilities, low-income students, students of color and English-language learners studying in our nation’s schools, we would like to offer our initial comments on your Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization proposal. (Edelman, Haycock, Henderson, Murgia, Podesta, & Wendorf, 2011)

Six people came together to write this article and wrote out their proposals and what they thought was wrong. They mentioned how states were setting their standards too low and taking advantage of the system. The letter mentions setting long-term state wide goals and demanding that the gap be closed for higher learning achievement.

The CDF wants the best for every child and devotes all their efforts to make sure that every child is getting the same education. They want funding for all day kindergarten so that children do not miss important foundational steps. The CDF works on lowering dropout rates in hopes of seeing more children graduate from high school.

References:

Edelman, M., Haycock, K., Henderson, W., Murgia, J., Podesta, J., & Wendorf, J. (October 11, 2011). The reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act. Retrieved from http://www.edtrust.org/sites/edtrust.org/files/Harkin-Enzi-ESEA-goals-letter.pdf

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

My goal for finding professionals outside of the United States was to pick two professionals from each website. So far, I have had no luck with my emails even going through with using the http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance. I also am not sure who is receiving my emails when using the http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html. The main thing that I made sure to do in each email is to show how I am interested in the country I chose or how they relate to me. I chose Ireland because my grandma says we are part Irish and I thought that I could get to know a little more about my heritage. I chose Australia because it has always been a country that I want to visit one day. Also, I know a few people from Australia and I thought it would be interesting to contact a professional from there.

My hope is that by Monday or Tuesday I will have heard something back. If I haven’t, then I will have to choose the alternate assignment which I guess is okay, but I would rather be talking to the professionals that I have emailed. I think they will be a great resource and I am keeping my fingers crossed that someone gets back to me.

The process I took to choosing an early childhood organization was to first look at all the website and see if any would catch my eye. I wanted to pick one that I had not been to before which narrowed down my choices a little but not a lot. The organization that I finally chose was the Children’s Defense Fund.  One reason I chose this organization was because part of their mission statements said, “The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities” (http://www.childrensdefense.org/about-us/).

I guess my main question to my colleagues is, has anyone looked into the alternate assignment and found a way to contact the people in the podcasts? I was looking ahead at some of the blog assignments and noticed we would need to try to contact them, but I have not seen any way to do this.