Sharing Web Resources

Harlem's Children Zone: http://hcz.org

What specific section(s) or information seemed particularly relevant to your current professional development?

The section that I found the most interesting and shared a lot of information pertaining to my current professional development, was: The Early Childhood Program
This program consists of 4 sub programs all dealing with children 4 and under and their parents.
Baby College
The three year old journey
Get ready for pre-k
Harlem Gems

Which ideas/statements/resources, either on the website or in an e-newsletter, did you find controversial or made you think about an issue in new ways?

I didn't find any of there information controversial; however, some of the issues the children are faced with inspired me to work with the children that I teach a little harder and to love on them a little more, for they are faced with some of the same problems:
Violence
Poor/ Lack of Money
Drugs
No insurance
School that isn't physically or mentally ready for both students and families, in addition to the staff.

What information does the website or the e-newsletter contain that adds to your understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field?

This website has an "Whatever it takes" as a motto; which pretty much is self explanatory. Harlem looks to every and all of the individuals, economists, neuroscientists and politicians that will donate time, money, or even items so that a neighborhood that can't afford to be something great, will begin by the outpouring of love from the community far and near.

What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain from exploring the website or e-newsletter?

Other things that I like about the website is that once the children graduate from highschool; the program doesn't just kick you out; but futhermore, they stick with those and help them find, locate, and enroll in college, or if college isn't the road that job searching but you're not just thrown away like last night's smelly trash. I also love the fact that the organization doesn't just work with the children inside of the school walls, but also goes out and ministers to those within the community to let them know that there is still hope and nobody has forgotten about them.

Getting to know your International Contacts

Having heard back from my international contact lady; I have selected to do the alternative assignment that was described on this week's blog instructions.

China
Basic Facts: In 2001 China's large population was a 1.27 billion people. The poverty level has droped enormously due to economic and social transition from 1978 to 2001; 250million to 35million people.

* I learned that while China is experiencing poverty issues like many other international countries; they are not as bad as others, and in fact have been been decreasing slowly over the years. While China faces problems on educating their children and receiving adequate health resources, China reports that they are one of the highest levels with an life expectancy rate of 71 years old and 85 percent of their population above the age of 15 can read and or write to some degree.

* Prior to 1992, people had to prove that they were under poverty in order to receive services; not just working and not making enough money, but literally: not working, no insurance, no education, no food, and nobody that you could depend on. If you even had as much as 2nickels to rub together, you were considered "poor, but doing better than some people".

* I have read that China is trying to work on bettering their poverty level problem; by 1 increasing the parent's ability to having a better life, by providing them some resources and increasing the minimum wage; 2 providing good quality education to all children, regardless of all the additional charges; such as tuition, uniforms, books, and other fees; and 3 insuring that health benefits are accessible to all families, so that they can seek medical and dental care regardless of having health insurance or not.



 Woman Working at Home

                       Young Children Doing Homework

                                                                               Youn Chinese Children

 

 

Reference

 

Article : Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP). (n.d.). Knowledge for tracking childhood poverty. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org



Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I selected was: Harlem Children's Zone (http://hcz.org)
When making my selection, I looked at a few different organizations and Harlem Children's Zone stuck out to me the most. What caught my eye when looking at this website was the slideshow of pictures, the fact that this orgnaization deals with children from birth to post college level, and that this organization sought a need and decided to do something positve about it.

"Harlem Children's Zone began in 1970, to work with young children and their families as the city's first trauncy-prevention program. This program works on a "Whatever it takes" attitude, when working with children to ensure they become successful" (2009, The Harlem Children's Zone)

One trend that really stuck out to me was the programs "Baby College". Baby College is a 9 week extensive program for individuals that are pregnant or raising a child ages 3 and under. Why I find this program interesting is both sides of the family receives the support; the parent(s) are in classes to learn about discipline, how to read, how to nurture, the long term effects of taking care of them both physically and mentally; with the same token the children are also attending and being cared for by high-quality professionals. The children are provided with activities and equipment that is age appropriate, the opportunity to explore hands on, interact with peers, and independence. At the end of this 9week program, the parents go through a graduation ceremony and receive a certificate. Because I am an advocate for assisting children and their families I do believe that individuals who commit and complete the nine weeks, will encourage them to proivde a better lifestyle than the ones in which they grew up in.

I also learned that this organization has many subdivisions underneath of them, and each one plays a vital role to child, families, and the community. Without this vision being acted upon, the city and surrounding cities of Harlem may still have been faced with the low economical poverty level.

Resources
2010, Harlem Children's Zone

Getting Ready-Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

For this assignment, I have selected two individuals who have had and currently still does have a major impact in the early childhood field. Although I have not received a response back from them as of yet, I do look forward to communicating with them and forming a positive dialogue with each person.

The first person is: Delfena Mitchell
She is the Director of the Liberty Children's Home on the outskirts of Belize City. This program houses children from birth to give years old.
The link to her  program is http://www.libertyfoundation.org.uk/and this is where I will continue trying to reach out to Ms. Mitchell, in addition to learning more information about her program. I went about locating Ms. Mitchell on facebook, and found Liberty's group page.

The second person is: Deevia Bhana
She is a Professor of Education at the University of KwaZula- Natal in South Africa.She deals with children and their genders, sexualities, violence, and HIV + AIDS. I had to locate Ms. Bhana from searching for her on the web, for she couldn't be found via facebook.

The two websites that I have chosen to follow are:
National Black Child Development Institue: http://nbcdi.org/
Harlem Children's Zone: http://www.hcz.org/