Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center Website

After exploring this website, I discovered the "CHIP" program. The CHIP program was funded by the UK Department of International Development , Save the Children and Chronic Poverty Research Center. Although this program has been discontinued, the website remains as a source of information to practitioners, policy makers and child advocates who are concerned about childhood poverty. Information is researched based and used in compiling reports and briefings.

The country I chose to explore regarding childhood poverty was India. In 2001, India was the second most populated country in the world with 260.2 million people living in poverty from 1999 -2000 (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/). There are several factors contributing to India’s poverty status, ecological situations such as drought, inequalities among the people due to social and caste subclasses, and gender discrimination.  Some regions are poorer than others. Persons living in rural regions of the country are the poorest due to the lack of access to assets, education, health and skills. 

There has been some progress, however the numbers remain high. During the past five decades, efforts have been made to alleviate poverty by means of creating economic growth.  Between 1973 and 2000, the percentage of the population below the poverty line declined continuously from 54.9 percent to an estimated 26 per cent. Rural poverty reportedly declined from 56.4 per cent to 27.1 per cent during the same period (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/). Despite these declines, there is still much controversy about the accuracy of these numbers. Overall, the absolute poverty numbers remain very high. 

In terms of how children are impacted by poverty in India, I found it interesting that girls are most impacted due to gender discrimination.  For girls, the poverty cycle begins at birth.  Depending on their social class and or caste (heredity hierarchy), girls are typically neglected, least likely to be educated and are more likely to participate in the child force labor. Overall, almost half of India’s children (about 62 billion) under the age five are malnourished, and 34% of newborn infants are extremely underweight (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/).   

Despite some improvements, India’s children make up 20% of the world’s population of children not enrolled in school and has the largest number of children under the age 16 working (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/). 

Three insights I have gained from this website are as follows; 1) The first step in eradicating poverty is to create a worldwide awareness about the issue of poverty and how it impacts children. 2) In terms of children experiencing poverty, children are the most vulnerable population as they can not speak up for their rights. I realize that in order to rid the world of childhood poverty, we (adults) will have to get involved in advocating for the well being of children at all policy levels. The CHIP website is a voice for children who can not speak up for themselves’ and provides information and photos that can be downloaded for the use of advocating against childhood poverty. 3) After reading several case studies from the website, I realized that poor families are no different from families that are not poor in terms of wanting their children to be educated. It was also enlightening to see how the children themselves communicated their desire to get an education as well. In contrast to the United States, our children seem to be more occupied with material gains rather than their education. Perhaps we should incorporate worldwide childhood poverty awareness in school curricula to help our children develop an appreciation for the education we have access to here in America. We could also involve our children in fund raising projects to support programs like CHIP. 

References

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

Changing Demographics and Diversity

National Black Child Development Institute

While exploring the National Black Child website, I was curios about its origin, so I clicked on the “About Us” tab and discovered that this organization was birth in the 60s during the civil rights era by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation in Washington, D.C who were concerned about the unsatisfactory conditions of children and families who wanted to rear healthy children. After impacting their community on a local level, the group decided to form a national advocacy group forming networks in other cities and were incorporated in 1970 as The National Black Child Development Institute Inc.Their mission statement is as follows, 

“To improve and protect the quality of life for children of color and their families by giving every child a chance.” 

NBCDI promotes a multifaceted agenda to promote and protect the well being of children of color and is committed to replacing the existing cookie cutter (deficit oriented) program models with strength based initiatives designed to meet the individual needs of this particular population. Programs are designed to assist children and families experiencing challenges in the areas of early care and education, health, parenting, education, and child welfare. NBCDI also collaborates with other early childhood professional organizations and persons associated with the field.

Next, I explored their accomplishments and I was excited to discover that a NBCDI work successfully to create public policy and influence legislation that directly affects the lives of African American children by testifying before Congress on every significant child care bill. I was also excited to learn that the P.E.P. Parent Empowerment Project was one of their initiatives, reason being I was a child care director in the 1990s for the YMCA and we contracted the operation of a teen parent child development center with a Fort Worth Public high school. I recall the school social worker having weekly meetings with the teen parents that I sometimes attended. Topics ranged from filling out an application to properly strapping children in car seats and more.

I was also amazed to learn of another program initiative, T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® This program provides sequenced educational scholarship opportunities for child care center teachers, directors and family child care home providers who work in regulated settings. Scholarships are also available to supplement the expense of teachers pursuing their CDA, Associates or Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education.

One last thing, I discovered is that their annual conference will he held in Nashville, TN Oct. 8 – 11, 2011 where I reside.

In response to does this  website respond to this week’s topic, changing demographics and diversity, I did not see an actual article, the publication tab is being updated, but the topics for the conference are as follows,

• ·      Solving the Persistent Challenge: How to Promote and Support Diverse Leadership

• ·       Preparing for Diversity: The Role of Higher Education in Preparing Effective Educators of Black and Latino Children

Membership is very inexpensive for students, only $20.00! Wow! I think that is what I paid back in the late 90s.

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

After several email returns I have opted to use Alternative 1, the World Forum

I clicked on the “Current Work” tab and selected radio forum from the drop down box.

Next, I subscribed to World Forum Radio and listened to two podcasts.

Episode 3, Delphina Mitchell-The context in which she improves the quality of life for children is healing children who have experienced physical and sexual abuse, abandonment and neglect. 

Episode 6, Meria Eka Yora-The context in which he improves the quality of life for children and families is  by meeting the social/ emotional, physical and cognitive needs of orphaned children due to the Tsunami tragedy.

The Early Childhood Organizations I have chosen to explore are;

Association for Childhood Education International
17904 Georgia Ave, Suite 215
Olney, Maryland 20832
USA
(301) 570-2111;
(800) 423-3563;
Fax: (301) 570-2212
E-mail us at headquarters@acei.org

National Black Child Development Institute
http://nbcdi.org/

International Child Resource Institute
http://www.icrichild.org/