Sharing Web Resources

During this course I have chosen to review the Children Defense Fund (http://www.childrensdefense.org/). They are very well informed about the different factors that affect early childhood educations. I have just finish reading CDF news concerning:What Can We Learn From Freedom Schools May 25, 2013, The Root. Cameron Van Patterson  of the CDF brings our attention to alternatives to changing public education system that have record of failing to help black students. 

Patterson offers suggestions that can help to overcome some of the structural challenges that children are faced with in schools. Van Patterson lets us know how programs can be successful :

1) a rigorous curriculum with high standards for student achievement

2) a program that motivates youth to learn in and outside of the classroom

3) comprehensive services and supports for families and students and

4) community engagement and strategic partnerships that integrate school and non-school supports to ensure the students have the skills they need to succeed.

He basically want to let everyone know that not all the students are facing the same obstacles. Black children are suffering severely where other children may be excelling. Patterson wants us to think about who we are serving. If we have children that are failing and we are not helping them can we say we are doing the right thing for EC. Being in EC field we have to take into consideration what works for everyone. If something is not working we need to embrace it and make it work. Our children should be our first priority at all times because all of them need to same support and guidance to help them develop properly. 

This definitely relevant to my current professional development because children should be our main perspective  I am in a field that supports all children, how can I allow certain groups to fall under the radar. That would mean I am not doing my job right. 

CDF website featured a newspaper article entitled "Foster Care Youth: The Faces of a Nation's Soul in Crisis". This article made me see issues concerning foster care in a different way. the number of children relying on being adopted is increasing and most children out grow their age requirement before they are even themselves adopted. These statistics are increasing every day. Fortunately for Claire Pomeroy, she was saved by foster care because it helped her get out of an unlivable situation. She wants to point out that foster care has the potential of helping many children, but sometimes they can get lost between the lines. This article was very interesting to me because children can sometimes have such hard lives and it is not always in our control. 

The website compare to the views of economists, neuroscientists, and politicians in support the early childhood field is quite similar but different. They have their own views as to have EC educations can benefit the future needs of the world but they do not take a moment to look at what each child may need during their early years. CDF is commitment to children because they want to ensure every child has 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 as reflected in their mission statement. They want their adult life to be productive and healthy because they were given the start they needed to develop and grow appropriately. 

After exploring the website, I noticed their were new articles that talked about poverty and how  we can make difference. I just dealt with this issue last week and it looks like the CDF makes a great effort of keeping this issues on it page due to it's importance. It is amazing to me how many articles you can read that tells you about poverty and all it's effects and possible solutions in an attempt to end it or at least lessen it's presences. 

References

Children's Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

If you would like to take a look at the articles please click on link provided: http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/

Kyrgyzstan's Poverty Issues

In Kyrgystan has an estimated rate of 32.9 per cent of population that is currently living below the poverty line (CHIP, n.d.). This percentage was worst in the 1990;s when they suffered from economic shocks because it increased to over 60 percent (CHIP, n.d). Over the years the decrease is poverty was evident but still many people suffered extreme poverty. Young people under the age of 20 living in poverty varied depending on their location whether is be rural or urban. May children under the age of 1 are living in poverty. They all suffered from the inability of not being ability to afford their daily food needs (CHIP, n.d) .

Education and health was prominent in the beginning during independence for the ex-Soviet country. Recent reports of declining school enrollment has been recorded even though their education and health level is higher than many higher-income countries. UNICEF has conducted many studies to compare and contrast school enrollment versus none. They have found the majority of children attend school while a mere 2-3% end up dropping out. According to CHIP, the need fro kindergarten has decrease dramatically after independence going from 30% to 6%. Children in 2001, had no access to health care and suffered from malnourishment. Because their was limited or no access to health care children suffered from tuberculosis and other diseases. Health care was limited to families due to it cost and limited availability in the country due lack of funding.

Children affected by poverty grow up working on family farms, or labour work for others and vendors at local markets or ports to help their family to survive (CHIP, n.d.). Poverty creates very serious problems for children because some end up on the street while other may end up in prostitution or child trafficking (CHIP, n.d). Poverty can become a circular path due to repeated patterns. When a child grows up in poverty and remains through their adult life, they will carry that status on to their children who will continue the pattern as well. CHIP is helping to discover is how these cycles are developing over time.

CHIP Policy and Action
NSPR (national Poverty Reduction Strategy) promotes healthy living and economic growth to envision Kyrgyzstan with better living conditions (CHIP, n.d). One of their aims is to help with childhood poverty because too many children are facing those situation every day. NPRS is supported by many organizations that share their visions and want to take on the problems of child poverty in Kyrgyzstan. 

After, reading about the issues affected children in Kyrgyzstan, It enlightens me that we should be concerned with child poverty all over the world because our children are vulnerable to life. Children cannot control where they are born and what their parents status may be. Children need to have opportunities to educate themselves and learn about all they can do otherwise they will remain in poverty due to lack of knowledge. I am glad their are organizations that aim to help and protect children. Giving a child an opportunity to grow and develop properly will give them the foundation they need to have a productive adult life. 

References

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). (n.d.). Knowledge for tackling childhood poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=chipactivities-nat#17

Sharing Web Resources

Children's Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/index-1.html

I have chosen to follow the Children's Defense Fund because this organization aims to help every child begin their life in the best possible way. They help to promote healthy starts in life and appropriate teaching, health and a safe, positive pathway to adulthood. The focus of this organization is children and creating resources for anyone who is interested in helping children receive a positive upbringing. The ideas, campaigns, programs and resource create positive examples of how children can be helped and nurtured. I am so impressed by the numerous campaigns and programs they have worked on throughout the years. This organization is headed by very strong individual who all have a personal connection to children. This organization is successful because they put children first in order to help them and guide them throughout their lives.

I have subscribe to their monthly newsletter and so far I have read the current one along with a few archive ones. Currently, they are very concerns with their "Protect Children, No Guns" because of all the gun violence that occurs every 30 minutes. In the media recently has been the bill that Congress has failed to pass making guns more strict. This failure has upset this organization so much that they are doing whatever they can to persuade lawmakers to do the right thing. It is an ongoing fight that they intend to upkeep. They want children to be protected and cared for. Guns are a big priority and they would like to eliminate any violence that occurs to children with at least trying to lessen or remove the harm of guns.

After reading about the organization concern about guns, it hard for me to believe that they are the only ones fighting this battle. When other organizations start to bully Congress, hopefully we can have a better outcome. Children are being lost all over the world due to gun violence, if we can help prevent some loss, why wouldn't we do the right things. The dedication CDF shows to children is amazing and I am glad their are so many organizations out their that are here to help children have a better life.

Changing Demographics and Diversity is all over this websites, they have written many articles in theri newsletter aboout populations shifts, wages and salaries that affect our children. They deal with current issues that affect children. Some old newsletters, showed different surveys and records that have been tallied to see hwo children are doing when placed in different situation from birth to school-age. They provided lots of information for anyone to look up. 

Currently at this point, I have not made any professional connections, but I am still hopeful that someone will contact me soon!

Early Childhood Connections Around the World

Part 1, Establishing Professional Contacts

For this assignment, I have reached out to several educators around the world. Unfortunately up to this point I have not received any return emails. I have receive a lot of returned mail due to email address no longer being in existence. I am hoping to here from: Ruzanna Tsarukyan who works in Armenia at the Step By Step Benevolent Foundation or Dominique Hudicourt who works in Haiti at
Step by Step Program / Tipa Tipa.


I am hoping to hear from one of these professionals or at least a few others that I have tried to contact through email. I also have some parents that have traveled abroad for work and they will looking into any information they may be able to find for me concerning professional contacts for educators or even centers that can give me general information. I would definitely love to hear from others and be able to ask them about their daily work with children.

Part 2, Expanding Resources

I have chosen to learn more about CDF. I am allows impressed and touched by any organization efforts to help children. They are a non-profit organizations that helps to remove children from poverty, abuse or neglectful homes while providing them with quality education and health care. This fund is helping children to have a voice and the support system they need to succeed in life. With help like this, a children has the opportunity to develop a solid path to adulthood. The newsletters are a wonderful read because they take the time to let you know about the success stories of children that have achieved some time of merit. They also give many suggestions of how you can connect individuals that will listen to your concerns. I would definitely recommend reading their newsletter to gain perspective of all the hard work they have done and will continue to do.

I wanted to take a moment and share the CDF mission statement because it is so powerful and straight forward. It makes me smile as educator to know we have a such a wonderful organization out there that has helped numerous amounts of children in different states.

CDF Mission Statement

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.

Children's Defense Fundhttp://www.childrensdefense.org/index-1.html
(Newsletter: http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/enewsletters/ )