Sharing Web Resources

I have been reviewing the Harlem Children's Zone (www.hcz.org) website. I really didn't identify a particular article that seemed relevant to my professional development, but I am very impressed with all the good work the organization is doing for the children in that community. 

There are several articles on the website that has made me think about issues in new ways. One article that did catch my attention was written by Geoffrey Canada for the Huffington Post on encouraging children to engage in public service, and HCZ’s extensive work with AmeriCorps workers.

In 2013, The Harlem Children's Zone trained more than 100 AmeriCorps workers, whom they called Peacemakers. The Peacemakers served nearly 2,500 children in traditional public elementary schools in Harlem. Through their daily leadership, the students were taught a peaceful path through conflict resolution and tutoring. Low-income families also received assistance in obtaining critical services. Each of the Peacemakers received tuition assistance for their education, making their dream of a college degree that much more attainable.

This article resonated with me because it is so important to give back. I learned this at a young age and it has helped me became a more well rounded individual--sensitive to the needs of others. Children need to learn the importance of service, and why not start at a young age.

The HCZ has helped bring much needed awareness to the importance of early childhood education. The former CEO, Geoffrey is very politically connected and in 2014, Fortune Magazine named him #12 on the list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. He also won the National Freedom Award and has been featured in the NY Times and Oprah—all the while promoting the importance of Early Childhood education.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-canada/post_5662_b_3947738.html

http://fortune.com/2014/03/20/fortune-ranks-the-worlds-50-greatest-leaders/

 

Poverty in Somalia

At this point, I have been unable to make contact with an international educator. The link to http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/ does not work, so I decided to research Somalia via the UNICEF website.

UNICEF stands for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, or United Nations Children's Fund. UNICEF is one of the largest development agencies dedicated to working exclusively with children to eliminate hunger and disease.

Thousands of children under the age of five die every day due to the lack of proper nutrition, safe drinking water, affordable vaccines and other basic necessities that most people in the U.S. take for granted. “UNICEF's lifesaving interventions and programs around the world have helped reduce the number of child deaths by nearly 50% since 1990, and yet 18,000 children still die every day from preventable causes. UNICEF helped immunize 38% of the world's children in 2013.”

Somali women and children have been living in the harshest of conditions for over 20 years. Contributing to the hunger issue are years of droughts, crop failure, depletion of livestock, and rising food prices. Also, many women and children are still out of reach of UNICEF support. “By the end of 2012, 2.12 million Somalis (more than half of whom are children), were in an Acute Food Security Crisis, a significant decrease from 4 million at the start of 2012 when areas of the country were still suffering from the famine.” Although this is an improvement, reports showed that children continue to suffer greatly, with 16% acutely malnourished, and 3.5% severely so.

One in 10 Somali children die before their first birthday. Somalia has some of the largest numbers of unimmunized children in the world and is thus a breading ground for vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and measles. UNICEF cannot reach all the children to immunize them due to politics, infrastructure, and other conflicts. This is such a shame, especially when these vaccines are readily available in other parts of the world.

Learning about the poverty in Somalia has left me feeling empathic for the plight of the women and children in that country. I am left feeling grateful for what I have and the liberties I enjoy in the United Sates. I also feel empowered to do something about it. That is why I am donating to the cause. Yes, if my donation can help even one child, then that is one child who gets to live a little longer. Each one can reach one.

To donate to UNICEF: https://www.unicefusa.org/donate/donate-end-preventable-deaths-children

http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/survival

http://www.unicef.org/somalia/children.html

Sharing Web Resources

I chose the Harlem Children's Zone (www.hcz.org) as the organization to immerse my self in and learn more about. The goal of this organization is to break the cycle of generational poverty in Harlem through education and service; providing support and resources to children and their families. I signed up for the newsletter, but have not received one yet, so I went to the website and perused articles in the News section. It appears that there are 1-2 news articles posted to the website monthly. I didn't find much on the issue of cultural diversity in the articles, although I have no doubt that cultural diversity encompasses the very fabric of the comprehensive educational model developed by CEO Geoffrey Canada. The schools are in Harlem where the culture is rich and diverse. Harlem in and of itself is a melting pot where you have African Americans, Latinos and West Indians to name a few. You can go to one block and get soul food and the next and get Spanish rice and beans. The students have no choice but to be immersed in cultural diversity because of the location alone. I am speaking from experience as I was raised in Harlem.

One article that did catch my attention was written by Geoffrey Canada for the Huffington Post on encouraging children to engage in public service, and HCZ’s extensive work with AmeriCorps workers. In the Article, Canada states, “My hope is that this year our children will learn about the world around them in a new way - not just about geological facts and historical dates, but as a place they can step into and make an imprint by serving others. I want them to learn to see the status quo as just raw material that they themselves can make better. If we only prepare our children for a life of wage-earning and not of serving their community, we are denying them an opportunity to experience their own greatness. It is time for our country to make public service a part of young people's lives just as we do with their education. Children should learn history, but they should also learn how to make history.”

This article resonated with me because it is so important to give back. I learned this at a young age and it has helped me became a more well rounded individual--sensitive to the needs of others. Children need to learn the importance of service, and why not start at a young age.

I look forward to reading more articles from the HCZ.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-canada/post_5662_b_3947738.html

GLOBAL COMMUNICATION EFFORTS

Hello Everyone,

The steps I followed to locate and communicate with two professionals in the Early Childhood field were fairly easy. I went to the following website: http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance#africa and reached out to professionals who were connected to an organization like Center for Early Childhood Care & Development in The Philippines. Some countries just have a contact person and e-mail, but don’t indicate what organization they belong to, so I didn’t touch those. I e-mailed three professionals initially via e-mail and all three emails were returned as undeliverable. So if you are using this site, don’t bother to e-mail jsm@waece.org in Spain, ydionne@ccf-fcsg.ca in Canada, and hicham_moukram@hotmail.com in Morocco. I did manage to find two contacts from the Philippines and South Africa, where the e-mails were not returned.

I sent the following introduction e-mail:

Greetings, I am a student at Walden University in The United States and I am taking a course entitled Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field. I found your e-mail address on this site: http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance#Africa I would like to communicate with you on a weekly basis to discuss issues and trends relating to Early Childhood Education in your country.. I would like learn as much as possible about your work, the state of the early childhood field in your country, your concerns, as well as your hopes and dreams. I hope you are available to assist me, so that we may learn from each other. Thank you.

I hope they all respond so that we can begin sharing and discussing the issues and trends that effect the field early childhood field.

WEBSITE:
I chose the Harlem Children's Zone (www.hcz.org) as the organization to immerse my self in and learn more about. This organization is especially appealing to me because I grew up in Harlem in what some might call poverty; and I am the first to graduate college in my family. The aim of the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), “Breaking the Cycle of Generation Poverty in Harlem,” struck a in chord in me because often times that cycle is very vicious and some people cannot get out of it because they don’t know how. It seems like the founder and Educator of the HCZ, Geoffrey Canada, has found a way(s), and one of those ways of course, is access to early childhood education. I signed up for the newsletter and I am looking forward to learning about new innovative ways to educate and break generational poverty.

I wish everyone success in your efforts to communicate globally and I’m looking forward to sharing with everyone.