Global Children's Initiative

As I reviewed Global Children's Initiative, I enjoyed exploring the efforts and hard work this organization has done for children and families.  One issue I find to be important is the Early Childhood Innovation Partnership.  This program is committed to finding new strategies to reduce developmental barriers to learning.  This organization has also been focused on issues in mental health and children in crisis situations.  I was impressed with their concerns with addressing mental health issues. This organization have provided a great deal of research and public engagment to address issues with funding in delivering mental health services to children.  Children in crisis is another issue that Global Children's Initiative is working on. This organization is developing strategies to address issues dealing with children and families in disaster and emergency situations.

Sharing Resources Part I

I recieved a newsletter dated 7/23 from Children's Defense Fund about America's Default.  This newsletter spoke about how America has already defaulted on their promise to children.  Many children are without healthcare coverage they need to survive, and are living in poverty.  The good news is that 40 members of congress has responded to calls and letters from citizens asking them to spare our children from all budget cuts, including medicaid and children's health insurance programs.  Congress have now developed new proposals to deal with issues in children health care and education. 

International Contact Part 1

Since I have not heard back from my contacts, I chose to read about poverty in India.  India's population is second only to China's with 260.2 million living in poverty as of 1999-2000. Rural poveryt is strongly associated with lack of assets, skills and low levels of health and education which limit people possiblities of benefiting from economic growth.  Over the last 5 decades, they have made efforts to alleviate poverty through economic growth.  In India 400 million of the population are between 0-18 years.  Under the age of 5 are malnourished and 34 percent of new borns are underweight because a lack of resources to support the needs of children.  I learned from reading about poverty in other parts of the world that it is a global problem, not just in the United States, it's a problem everywhere.  When I read how children suffer for food, education, and medical care, I really want to do something amazing to reach out and help fight this epidemic.  As a educator of early childcare, I am commited and will continue to be committed to working with children and families who are in need of resources.  I have learned so much from the different websites about issues and trends in other countries, and I will continue to send emails to my contact so I can find out what's going on in Nigeria and Chile with children and families.

Issues and Trends: Changing Demographic and Diversity

National Black Child Development Institute is one of the organizations I selected on last week to disucss during this course.  The National Black Child Development Institute mission is to improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance, with the focus of early childhood education, child welfare, elementary and secondary education and health.  This organzation main goals are to provide valuable information and resources to all individual who work directly with children in particularly, child care professionals, educators, social workers, and academicians.  Although the newsletter did not contain any information about demographics and diversity issues, it provided useful information about advocating for more funds for the learning enviornment for teachers that teach  prek-3rd grade.   I hope the next issue will have information about issues and trends in early childhood education.

Establishing Professional Contacts

I have sent emails to the following countries, Chile and Nigeria.  For some reason my heart fell on contacting educators in these countries to learn about the education programs they have for young children.  As of this date, I have not recieved any feedback, but I hope to hear something in next few days.  I also sent a request for newsletters and alerts from the National Black Child Development Institute,NAEYC, and National Head Start Association.  I chose these organization because they have a great deal of information and activities that involves early childhood educators. As I browsed their websites, I enjoyed reading the different activities they engage in and the valuable information they provide to educators.