SHARING WEB RESOURCES

The Website I have been researching is the Childrens Defense Fund: www.childrensdefense.org

I have found their policy priorities section to be very informative. I found their Achievement Gap Symposium this year to be extremely interesting. "A Strong Start":Positioning Young Black Boys for Educational Success was devoted to the issues facing African American boys in their early years. My husband and I are raising two teenage boys, my son and my nephew. We give them support academically, emotionally, and spiritually as well as financially. However, we still worry about their future in a society where African American men are not valued. During the Symposium, several speakers talked about the disparities facing young African American males which includes underachievement compared to their peers, growing up in single parent families, mothers working multiple jobs to provide enough food, and depression. Oscar Barbarin of Tulane University said that families must be invested in each other. He discussed his 3x's of parenting...expose, expand, and explain. Parents must expose their children to positive influences, expand on the knowledge they gain, and explain or provide interpretations for questions that they may have. Families, especially those of African American boys, must connect with their children by providing access to literature, expose them to positive male role models, connect with the schools where the children attend, and promote spirituality.
Society must change the way we think of African American males. Resources must be provided to promote their academic and socio-emotional needs. If we improve things for them, then we will improve things for everybody.

The Childrens Defense Website also provides a link to Youtube videos. These videos consist of people and students who have overcome obstacles to become leaders in their communities. They have each made a short video about their lives and the people who have helped them to be where they are today.

The Early Childhood Education and Care section discusses how the investments that have been made to early childhood education are still not enough to sufficiently support the thousands of children across the country who are still waiting to participate in quality early childhood programs. Additional funds released for the 2012 fiscal year have protected and expanded a number of early childhood programs and services. Among those programs is the Head Start program which received an increase of $424 million dollars. The challenge that we now face in this election year is that we must remember that our children do not get a vote. It is up to the families and educators to make the needs of children our priority and choose politicians who will provide for their education and well being.

Reference:

www.childrendefense.org