DECEMBER 2010
Report to Congress: Health-Related Research and Development Activities at USAID
October 2010
USAID is the federal agency that enables the widespread use of game-changing interventions and breakthroughs to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods globally. In its early days, the Agency pioneered many important developments in the fields of health, agriculture, and education. In the 1960s, USAID funded smallpox eradication programs in 20 West and Central African countries, and the World Health Organization eventually adapted these interventions to eliminate small pox in Asia and the rest of Africa.
For the past five years, the Agency’s Research Report to Congress has reported on the leveraging of our resources, expertise, and partners to introduce affordable health products, policies, and practices to save lives in developing countries and countries in transition. The 2010 Report to Congress: Health-Related Research and Development Activities at USAID is the final annual update on the results of the Agency’s 2006–2010 health research strategy.
The report will be released over five weeks. The second installment of the 2010 Health Research Report to Congress is Maternal Health. Today, we look at how cost-effective tools and highly-effective interventions targeting specific complications of pregnancy and birth are being used to save the lives of mothers-to-be.
Maternal and Child Health
Download the MCH chapter of the report [PDF, 646KB].
Read the IMPACTblog posting by USAID's Deborah Armbruster – Maternal Death Preventable and Treatable with Low-Cost Interventions.
Learn more about USAID's MCH Programs.
The first installment examined the transformative power of science, technology, and innovation, as well as the imperative of partnerships – between nations, disciplines, organizations, sectors, and people.
HIV/AIDS
Read the IMPACTblog posting by USAID Biologist Lee Claypool – Microbicide Gel Offers Protection Against HIV Transmission
Read FrontLines article Scientific Breakthrough Tips the Gender Scales in Women’s Favor - November 2010
Download the HIV/AIDS chapter of the report [PDF, 701KB].
Learn more about USAID's HIV/AIDS Programs
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Research-Funding
www.svri.org/funding.htm
Funding Links
Guides General Africa Asia-pacific Europe Former Soviet Union North America South America Latin America Fellowships and Scholarships
Guides
• Efforts to Address Gender-Based Violence: A Look at Foundation Funding. Ms. Foundation for Women, 2010
• Resource Guide: Fundraising for Women and Girls Worldwide. Philantropia Inc
• Global Fund for Women's fundraising handbook
General
• 16 Days Campaign on Violence Against Women, Fundraising Resources
• ABILIS Foundation
• Arab Human Rights Fund
• Ben & Jerry’s Social Change Projects
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
• Carnegy Corporation of New York
• Civil Society Health Policy Action Fund
• DFID Development Innovation Fund
• FAIR-fund
• Endeavour Awards
• Flora Family Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• Fulbright Program
• Fundsnet
• Georg Forster Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers
• Global Fund for Women
• Global Women's Issues Small Grants Initiative
• Graça Machel Scholarship Programme
• Grand Challenges Explorations
• Harvard Institute for Global Health
• Hivos Fund
• Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers.
• International Human Rights Funders Group, Funders Directory
• John. E. Fogarty International Center
• MacArthur Foundation Grant for Population and Reproductive Health
• MacArthur Foundation
• Mama Cash
• Mama Cash International Women's Fund
• Maypole Fund
• Ms. Foundation for Women
• One in Three Women
• Open Meadows Foundation
• Open Society Institute, The Women's Program
• Red Ribbon Award
• Rotary International
• STARS Foundation
• The Bernard van Leer Foundation
• The Family Violence Prevention Fund
• The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program (IFP)
• The International Engagement Awards
• The Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund
• Trust Fund to End VAW Requests for Grant Applications
• United Nations Democracy Fund Second Round of Funding
• UNIFEM- The Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence Against Women
• UN.GIFT Small Grants Facility
• United Kingdom International Health Links Funding Scheme
• World Bank-Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund
Africa
• African Women's Development Fund (AWDF), Ghana
• Arab Women's Fund & Mahfoutha Award
• Ford Foundation
• International Development Research Centre
• Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)- human rights and democracy building programme
• Population Action International
• The Grantsmanship Center
• Wellcome Trust initiative on Strengthening Research Capacity in Africa
Asia-pacific
• 2008 Australian Development Research Awards
• Alcoa Foundation
• Asia Foundation
• International Development Research Centre
• Japan Foundation
• MONES- Mongolian Women’s Fund
• National Endowment for Democracy
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation (India)
Europe
• Daphne II - EU programme to combat violence against children, young people and women
• Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• European Commission Grants
• Eurasia Foundation
• Filia Frauenstiftung. Germany
• GUIDE to European Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS and Population Assistance, 2007
• Kvinna till Kvinna. Sweden
• Republic Slovakia Czech Republic
• The Church Urban Fund
• The Paul Hamlyn Foundation
• Womankind. United Kingdom
• Women’s Fund for Reconstruction. Serbia
Former Soviet Union
• Ukrainian Women’s Fund. Ukraine
North America
• Canadian Women’s Foundation
• HEI Charitable Foundation (Hawaii)
• IDRC Doctoral Research Awards (Canadian citizens only)
• Global Women's Issues Small Grants Initiative
• Japan Foundation
• Max Bell Foundation
• Rape Prevention and Education Grant Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• The Community Foundation of Prince Edward Island
• The Family Violence Prevention Fund
• The George Gund Foundation
• US Government Office on Violence Against Women
South America
• Pan American Health and Education Foundation
Latin America
• Funaçao Roberto Marinho
• Inter-American Foundation
• National Endowment for Democracy
• SEMILLAS
• The Central America Women’s Fund
• The Fundación Colectivo Alquimia, Fondo para Mujeres (Fondo Alquimia)
• The Grantsmanship Centre
Fellowships and Scholarships
• Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
• Australian National University
• Cambridge University
• Colby-Oak International Scholarships
• Dart Center Ochberg Fellowships in Journalism and Trauma
• Edith Cowan University
• Erasmus Mundus Lotus Scholarships
• Front Line Fellowship for Human Rights Defenders
• Ghent University
• Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies
• Heinrich Böll Foundation
• Henry Kaiser Family Foundation Fellowship Database
• Human Rights Watch Fellowships
• Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, 2011 – 2012
• Institute for Social Studies
• International Scholarships and Financial Aid Positions
• Joseph R. Crapa Program, The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
• Katholischer Akademischer Ausländer-Dienst
• National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship Programme
• New Europe College International Fellowships
• Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation Quota Scheme
• Oak 2011 Poverty and Human Rights Programme
• Open Society Fellowships
• Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship Programme
• Rescue Fund Fellowships
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research: 2010-2011
• Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center
• The Center for Reproductive Rights & Columbia Law
• The Centre for International Mobility (CIMO)
• The Hubert H. Humphrey Program
• The Humboldt Foundation
• The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law
• UNDP Human Development Fellowship for Media
• University of Canterbury
• Women's Research & Education Institute Congressional Fellows on Women and Public Policy
• Young African Scholars, The H.F. Guggenheim Foundation For more information, contact: kjcolvard@aol.com
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Saturday, October 23, 2010
Washington Post-13 partygoers killed by gunmen in attack in Ciudad Juarez
The cleanup begins at a blood-soaked home in Ciudad Juarez where 13 people
were killed Saturday during a birthday celebration. (Raymundo Ruiz)
13 partygoers killed by gunmen in attack in Ciudad Juarez
By William Booth
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 24, 2010; A15
MEXICO CITY - Gunmen stormed a birthday party in embattled Ciudad Juarez and killed 13 young people, the latest outrage in a city crippled by warring drug gangs.
State Attorney General Carlos Salas told reporters at a news conference at the crime scene that the dead ranged in age from 13 to 32 and included six women and girls. A dozen people were wounded in the attack late Friday in a lower-middle-class barrio of Juarez.
Salas said that investigators found 70 bullet casings at the scene and that the attackers escaped. He offered no possible motive.
Gunmen killed 15 people at a birthday party attended by teenage football players in a similar attack in the city in January.
The deaths captured the attention of the nation and forced President Felipe Calderon to promise to restore order. At public meetings back then in Juarez, he was heckled by audiences and confronted by the angry mothers of the dead.
Calderon, supported by U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual, committed large investments to mend the tattered social fabric of the city by building schools, parks and clinics and offering work to the tens of thousands of underemployed youth in program called "We Are All Juarez."
The Mexican government also vowed to replace military troops, which had been in the streets since January 2008, with federal police.
Federal police are in the leadership position in the city, but army troops actively patrol the city. Social spending has soared, but most projects have not been completed.
The Juarez surge, as it has been called by state security experts, has largely failed to calm the violence. Many days, a dozen people are shot dead in Juarez - in cafes, bars, hospitals and parks but mostly on the street. More than 2,500 people have been killed this year.
Mexico's secretary of the interior, Francisco Blake Mora, condemned the killings in a statement and promised to help the families of the victims and investigate the crimes.
Calderon, in a statement made through his Twitter account, said his government was outraged by the deaths and "expresses its strongest protest against the murder of the young people in Ciudad Juarez."
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
“Our Color System is Education, An Injustice!”
October 18, 2010
“Our Color System is Education, An Injustice!”
Children are labeled early in kindergarten and as late as the third grade, as potential convicts in the California prison system by principals, teachers, school counselors, liaisons, and other helping professionals. The reality of this is that most of these children are of distinct ethnic backgrounds. The number of students and the dominating race in this cycle are young African-American men. Children are racially labeled as soon as they enter the education system. Their cultural background may not be taken into consideration. We belong to an education system in California that is colored. Others to follow are Xicano/ Latino/ Mexicano’s, Native American’s, Asian (particularly the Hmong community), and anyone with darker than fair pigmentation. In most of our schools if the student body has an ethnic majority; this does not indicate that the teachers’ racial background will reflect the student body. This is problematic in our schools because none of the organizations that are supposed to address these issues are concerned about the Achievement Gap i.e. District Advisory Committee, statewide, and federal programs. The Achievement Gap is a racial matter. The “No Child Left Behind” certainly left many of our students behind. It is continuing to do so with larger classroom sizes, pinking slipping effective teachers for less qualified one’s, demotion, and budget cuts.
Parents and students who identify culturally rather than racially are still up against a system that has been racially defined since the inception of public schools. During the Great Depression, public schools in America were not in the business of teaching children English and transitioning them from their native tongue to the English language. The assimilation movement left many immigrants and bilingual citizens scarred. There were school officials who would come to the homes of bilingual students and tell the parents to not speak their native tongue. Language became a racial category; people were slumped together, and treated as ignorant fools. Our schools are not in the business of keeping our children safe and practicing the “safe haven” policy that is on most school district websites. Extreme amounts of policy and rules are not culturally or racially sensitive to the needs of our children while they are in the classroom. For example, a child drops their pencil on the floor and receives a warning from the teacher for even moving to pick it up. This happens not once, but on many occasions that is gender specific (male) and racially targeted (color of any skin type). Or a child excitedly raises their hand in class, and the non-ethnic teacher takes this action to indicate that the child is disruptive. Or a child who is bilingual, having trouble in school, shuts down because he used his glue the wrong way and the teacher became extremely mad. Now, that child has to repeat their grade all over again because the teacher on several occasion reacted negatively to that child. This is a civil rights violation and an injustice, especially when these children have no behavioral problems. If there are behavioral issues, the behavioral intervention is for the school to begin documenting that child’s incidences which eventually lead to the juvenile court system, foster care, and prison. The documentation, citations, and expulsions in many instances are not to help the colored child; it is to send them on their way to the criminal system. Schools, principals, teachers, and helping professionals do know how to create behavior problems and anxiety in students. If students are to respect authority; authority must respect students and not hinder their ability to learn. There are many sides to the argument posed in this article. The problem lies on the school which has targeted these children underhandedly/ discreetly because they were in need of extra support, maybe they are a special education student, and the school will then designate a teacher to deal with the “problem students”. Again, these are all violations of the law. Another issue is the amount of police officers patrolling elementary schools and looking for a child to get into trouble- this is not effective. Allowing students in middle schools to get away with smoking a joint, getting high in the hallways; but picking on a student who wears a solid colored shirt with no gang affiliation- is a mix of up of priorities. Another real-life example is, a colored child comes to school with corn rolls nicely done, does not sag their pants; but, is labeled as a problem child. This child and many like him are written up, given citations, and expulsion for events that make no logical sense.
The education system is a colored system and the professionals teaching our children do not reflect color. In the Sacramento City Unified School District with regards to the administrative leadership and officers; it lacks cultural diversity and begins within the cabinet office. Proposition 209 ended in the late 1990’s where White women and minorities benefited the most from the federal program. Since the program is no longer in effect there is no monitoring system of hiring and firing practices. Our education system throughout California is colored and corrupt. Our prison system in California is colored. People can hash out data and statistics all day long. The facts have been revealed time and time again. Our school libraries use the Athena system for checking out and cataloging books. It is software that is used in the California prisons, as well. Our schools that get millions of dollars cannot afford to invest in effective software, but we can afford to pay for cell phones for our departments within the Board of Education! The injustice mutes us into lacking action because the colored system has created a culture of complacency. As long as individuals are willing to sale each other out for the next position, whether paid or voluntary, then the systematic injustice continues on to the next person. We can complain or we can act! Community members, grandparents, aunts, uncles, moms, dads, teachers, principals, counselors, and even students must realize what time it is. Education is the key; and it begins in the home. One must remember that no matter how much our education system may stigmatize, stereotype, label, and not care about the number of children failing in our schools. Whatever smarts and level of intelligence a person may possess, the mind cannot be taken away. Education is not a waste; it is simply in need of serious change. Teachers are not incompetent; they are in need of serious cultural professional development courses. Our curriculum must encompass a mutli-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual classroom setting in every classroom, school, and in administrative offices. Most importantly, students need to see people who look like themselves. Where is the justice when there is no reflection of those cultures and races in the classroom, school, or administrative leadership, and offices?
Reference: The Washington Post at: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/equity/the-achievement-gap-when-progr.html?referrer=emaillink
Written By:
Nekesha Bell de Castañon
“I live the truth! I speak the truth! You can catch me swinging in the haloes away from all of the diablos (devils) that I could never learn to kiss up to.”
Mother of two children
World Citizen
Email: diosadevida@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved.
“Our Color System is Education, An Injustice!”
Children are labeled early in kindergarten and as late as the third grade, as potential convicts in the California prison system by principals, teachers, school counselors, liaisons, and other helping professionals. The reality of this is that most of these children are of distinct ethnic backgrounds. The number of students and the dominating race in this cycle are young African-American men. Children are racially labeled as soon as they enter the education system. Their cultural background may not be taken into consideration. We belong to an education system in California that is colored. Others to follow are Xicano/ Latino/ Mexicano’s, Native American’s, Asian (particularly the Hmong community), and anyone with darker than fair pigmentation. In most of our schools if the student body has an ethnic majority; this does not indicate that the teachers’ racial background will reflect the student body. This is problematic in our schools because none of the organizations that are supposed to address these issues are concerned about the Achievement Gap i.e. District Advisory Committee, statewide, and federal programs. The Achievement Gap is a racial matter. The “No Child Left Behind” certainly left many of our students behind. It is continuing to do so with larger classroom sizes, pinking slipping effective teachers for less qualified one’s, demotion, and budget cuts.
Parents and students who identify culturally rather than racially are still up against a system that has been racially defined since the inception of public schools. During the Great Depression, public schools in America were not in the business of teaching children English and transitioning them from their native tongue to the English language. The assimilation movement left many immigrants and bilingual citizens scarred. There were school officials who would come to the homes of bilingual students and tell the parents to not speak their native tongue. Language became a racial category; people were slumped together, and treated as ignorant fools. Our schools are not in the business of keeping our children safe and practicing the “safe haven” policy that is on most school district websites. Extreme amounts of policy and rules are not culturally or racially sensitive to the needs of our children while they are in the classroom. For example, a child drops their pencil on the floor and receives a warning from the teacher for even moving to pick it up. This happens not once, but on many occasions that is gender specific (male) and racially targeted (color of any skin type). Or a child excitedly raises their hand in class, and the non-ethnic teacher takes this action to indicate that the child is disruptive. Or a child who is bilingual, having trouble in school, shuts down because he used his glue the wrong way and the teacher became extremely mad. Now, that child has to repeat their grade all over again because the teacher on several occasion reacted negatively to that child. This is a civil rights violation and an injustice, especially when these children have no behavioral problems. If there are behavioral issues, the behavioral intervention is for the school to begin documenting that child’s incidences which eventually lead to the juvenile court system, foster care, and prison. The documentation, citations, and expulsions in many instances are not to help the colored child; it is to send them on their way to the criminal system. Schools, principals, teachers, and helping professionals do know how to create behavior problems and anxiety in students. If students are to respect authority; authority must respect students and not hinder their ability to learn. There are many sides to the argument posed in this article. The problem lies on the school which has targeted these children underhandedly/ discreetly because they were in need of extra support, maybe they are a special education student, and the school will then designate a teacher to deal with the “problem students”. Again, these are all violations of the law. Another issue is the amount of police officers patrolling elementary schools and looking for a child to get into trouble- this is not effective. Allowing students in middle schools to get away with smoking a joint, getting high in the hallways; but picking on a student who wears a solid colored shirt with no gang affiliation- is a mix of up of priorities. Another real-life example is, a colored child comes to school with corn rolls nicely done, does not sag their pants; but, is labeled as a problem child. This child and many like him are written up, given citations, and expulsion for events that make no logical sense.
The education system is a colored system and the professionals teaching our children do not reflect color. In the Sacramento City Unified School District with regards to the administrative leadership and officers; it lacks cultural diversity and begins within the cabinet office. Proposition 209 ended in the late 1990’s where White women and minorities benefited the most from the federal program. Since the program is no longer in effect there is no monitoring system of hiring and firing practices. Our education system throughout California is colored and corrupt. Our prison system in California is colored. People can hash out data and statistics all day long. The facts have been revealed time and time again. Our school libraries use the Athena system for checking out and cataloging books. It is software that is used in the California prisons, as well. Our schools that get millions of dollars cannot afford to invest in effective software, but we can afford to pay for cell phones for our departments within the Board of Education! The injustice mutes us into lacking action because the colored system has created a culture of complacency. As long as individuals are willing to sale each other out for the next position, whether paid or voluntary, then the systematic injustice continues on to the next person. We can complain or we can act! Community members, grandparents, aunts, uncles, moms, dads, teachers, principals, counselors, and even students must realize what time it is. Education is the key; and it begins in the home. One must remember that no matter how much our education system may stigmatize, stereotype, label, and not care about the number of children failing in our schools. Whatever smarts and level of intelligence a person may possess, the mind cannot be taken away. Education is not a waste; it is simply in need of serious change. Teachers are not incompetent; they are in need of serious cultural professional development courses. Our curriculum must encompass a mutli-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual classroom setting in every classroom, school, and in administrative offices. Most importantly, students need to see people who look like themselves. Where is the justice when there is no reflection of those cultures and races in the classroom, school, or administrative leadership, and offices?
Reference: The Washington Post at: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/equity/the-achievement-gap-when-progr.html?referrer=emaillink
Written By:
Nekesha Bell de Castañon
“I live the truth! I speak the truth! You can catch me swinging in the haloes away from all of the diablos (devils) that I could never learn to kiss up to.”
Mother of two children
World Citizen
Email: diosadevida@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved.
Friday, October 1, 2010
“In Every School: The Consensus Is…” September 30, 2010
September 30, 2010
“In Every School: The Consensus Is…”
People demanded answers and wanted to be heard from the teacher at “Back to School Night”. There was no one around to take their complaints. In another instance, they stood outside of the gates on the first day of school to take their children to their classrooms. They waited outside the fence as if they were prisoners in a caged cell. Except this time, what our nation has coined, “Ghetto”, was not the case. They were trying to get their children in the cell for their own protection. The school only added to their fiery by keeping them locked up until the school day ended. When did we become a society that treats our children like criminals before they have a chance to become one? To those who claim to be unaware, it happened centuries ago. The authoritative excuse and their consensus is that “it is for their own protection”. The stereotypes danced off the chains on the gate as the police officers stood in anticipation. They were waiting for the first mess up while eating coffee and donuts. When one of the volunteers asked them about their purpose in being there on the first day of school; they really had not much to say. They mentioned something about building community relations. After school, parents were kicked off of campus or turned away. Children were shuffled around as if they were cattle in need of a good spanking in order to get them going in the direction within their fields. The brown or “barrio” children were treated, either extremely the same, or quite different. Language is culture according to the English Language Program. Language is part of a culture; it is not the only meaning of culture. Our Native American children are not being accounted for because of internal disarray, return of federal money, and a sense of direction lost. In any school or school district, discrimination has not ever effectively been talked about and resolved since the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954. The policies are in place, but every move that is made on behalf of the student is blocked. The achievement gap is a racially targeted issue that none of the people within the system can be on board about in terms of how to accomplish retention. The gap begins well before junior high/middle school. It begins now!
The reality of the situation is this: An elementary school that is in need of police reinforcement is not there to build community relations. It is the process of destroying a young child’s spirit and the spirit of the “hood”. It is to discourage the Asian woman who only speaks her native tongue from coming to the school. Next to immigration, our schools are terrified of parental involvement unless it is a controlled substance in which robotic players are at bay. The schools do not want parents to have a voice, especially ethnic ones. They want us to continue to ring that dumbbell. The best research is the one’s that have been experienced. The best complaints are the one’s that do not make it to the school district’s office; but need to. The best organizers in the community are not the ones who are federally aligned; it is the one who heads their own campaigns. The best parents-there are none. It is not a competition. The fight for the continued failures of our education system, “No Child Left Behind”, Title 1, and the lack of ability to have resolution in place for the Achievement Gap; become well rounded plans of disbelief to the parent or community member who is paying close attention. If we do not believe that there will be change, then there will be none. We do not want to address the real issues of the Achievement Gap because we would have to specify which disadvantaged groups need help and are failing within the system. Multiple committees are not addressing issues at hand, but love to be destructive by adding to the bureaucratic fever of nothing getting done. There is no accountability or responsibility, just a heavy toxin of infected corruptness across the board, locally, statewide, and nationally.
In any state or city who receives Title I funding, they should have a District Advisory Committee in place. One of the resolutions is to get involved and raise these issues. At the same time, do not depend on the education system to resolve matters in the best interest of the children. It is a business, not education. Every law could be violated; and they would still be protected due to the budget cuts and lack of importance for an education. There is hope; and the hope is in the fight. The fight should be that all of our children should succeed. We must be able to provide the means of that success to be accomplished. The most important lesson learned is that parents should be the number one advocates for their children!
Written By:
Nekesha Bell de Castañon
“I live the truth! I speak the truth! You can catch me swinging in the haloes away from all of the diablos (devils) that I could never learn to kiss up to.”
Mother of two children
World Citizen
Email: diosadevida@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved.
“In Every School: The Consensus Is…”
People demanded answers and wanted to be heard from the teacher at “Back to School Night”. There was no one around to take their complaints. In another instance, they stood outside of the gates on the first day of school to take their children to their classrooms. They waited outside the fence as if they were prisoners in a caged cell. Except this time, what our nation has coined, “Ghetto”, was not the case. They were trying to get their children in the cell for their own protection. The school only added to their fiery by keeping them locked up until the school day ended. When did we become a society that treats our children like criminals before they have a chance to become one? To those who claim to be unaware, it happened centuries ago. The authoritative excuse and their consensus is that “it is for their own protection”. The stereotypes danced off the chains on the gate as the police officers stood in anticipation. They were waiting for the first mess up while eating coffee and donuts. When one of the volunteers asked them about their purpose in being there on the first day of school; they really had not much to say. They mentioned something about building community relations. After school, parents were kicked off of campus or turned away. Children were shuffled around as if they were cattle in need of a good spanking in order to get them going in the direction within their fields. The brown or “barrio” children were treated, either extremely the same, or quite different. Language is culture according to the English Language Program. Language is part of a culture; it is not the only meaning of culture. Our Native American children are not being accounted for because of internal disarray, return of federal money, and a sense of direction lost. In any school or school district, discrimination has not ever effectively been talked about and resolved since the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, 1954. The policies are in place, but every move that is made on behalf of the student is blocked. The achievement gap is a racially targeted issue that none of the people within the system can be on board about in terms of how to accomplish retention. The gap begins well before junior high/middle school. It begins now!
The reality of the situation is this: An elementary school that is in need of police reinforcement is not there to build community relations. It is the process of destroying a young child’s spirit and the spirit of the “hood”. It is to discourage the Asian woman who only speaks her native tongue from coming to the school. Next to immigration, our schools are terrified of parental involvement unless it is a controlled substance in which robotic players are at bay. The schools do not want parents to have a voice, especially ethnic ones. They want us to continue to ring that dumbbell. The best research is the one’s that have been experienced. The best complaints are the one’s that do not make it to the school district’s office; but need to. The best organizers in the community are not the ones who are federally aligned; it is the one who heads their own campaigns. The best parents-there are none. It is not a competition. The fight for the continued failures of our education system, “No Child Left Behind”, Title 1, and the lack of ability to have resolution in place for the Achievement Gap; become well rounded plans of disbelief to the parent or community member who is paying close attention. If we do not believe that there will be change, then there will be none. We do not want to address the real issues of the Achievement Gap because we would have to specify which disadvantaged groups need help and are failing within the system. Multiple committees are not addressing issues at hand, but love to be destructive by adding to the bureaucratic fever of nothing getting done. There is no accountability or responsibility, just a heavy toxin of infected corruptness across the board, locally, statewide, and nationally.
In any state or city who receives Title I funding, they should have a District Advisory Committee in place. One of the resolutions is to get involved and raise these issues. At the same time, do not depend on the education system to resolve matters in the best interest of the children. It is a business, not education. Every law could be violated; and they would still be protected due to the budget cuts and lack of importance for an education. There is hope; and the hope is in the fight. The fight should be that all of our children should succeed. We must be able to provide the means of that success to be accomplished. The most important lesson learned is that parents should be the number one advocates for their children!
Written By:
Nekesha Bell de Castañon
“I live the truth! I speak the truth! You can catch me swinging in the haloes away from all of the diablos (devils) that I could never learn to kiss up to.”
Mother of two children
World Citizen
Email: diosadevida@hotmail.com
Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved.
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