A report released by the University of Michigan (read the summary or the abstract) reveals that, while boys do not see the same impact, middle school girls who regularly eat meals with their families are at a significantly reduce risk for negative behaviors. In the study of 800 middle school students, girls who ate meals with their family at least five times a week were half as likely to engage in substance abuse five years later. The study doesn’t tackle the roots of the disparity or why boys did not demonstrate the same reduced substance abuse. Perhaps society’s heightened emphasis on social interaction for girls bears some role in the difference. Regardless of this disparity, family meals are an example of how caring relationships with adults support healthy youth development and help young people make positive decisions. Family meals are one way of fostering a connection between youth and caring adults, but there are many more that can achieve similar impacts.
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With Black Expo's Summer Celebration in full swing, check out this story on the kinds of options available to young people throughout the city to learn entrepreneurial skills.
"What I like about MCCOY is that they bring people together in a concentrated effort," said Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on Wednesday morning at the kick-off breakfast for the city's National Summer Learning Day celebration. We're very proud of the official recognition, but even prouder of the public awareness being raised of this important issue. In addition to the Mayor, Willis Bright of the Lilly Endowment, Ron Fairchild of the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University and MCCOY's President, John Brandon, spoke to a room full of youth-serving professionals, elected officials and summer campers about the academic and social benefits of summer programming for young people. This event, sponsored by MCCOY, will hopefully be the first of many to come. Posters on each table asked guests to consider the role summer programming played in their own personal development. What did you learn at summer camp that you still apply today?
From the Parent Hacks blog, a simple, creative, and no-cleanup way for kids to "paint" your house with water.
I don't know about you, but I thought there was something a little off as we followed the story out of Gloucester about the uptick in pregnancies at the high school. Recently, 17 young women became pregnant, compared to the four or so that is typical for that school. Yet before the facts could be sorted out, the principal had stated there was a pregnancy "pact" among the girls. Turns out, many of them decided to help each other out in light of the unrelated pregnancies. The principal was even quoted in Time magazine stating the group got pregnant on purpose. I'm sure if we wait even a little bit longer, more actual facts will emerge. Here's a story about the story.
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An article in the New York Times points to a curious trend in adolescence - the prom-ification and exuberant celebration of 8th grade graduations. A quick excerpt:
Modern eighth-grade graduations have become a tangle of outdated definitions of a successful education, inducements to remain in school, and contemporary values about self-esteem and enshrining a child’s many rites of passage. In some communities those rites begin with preschoolers wearing mortarboards. In their blow-out iterations, the eighth-grade bashes borrow from bar and bat mitzvahs for 13-year-olds, quinceañeras for Latina 15-year-olds and sweet 16 parties.
A child using her/his imagination to play a game in the woods isn’t just having fun; she’s setting a foundation for future independence, inner strength and an ability to resist stress that will last a lifetime. Check out this article on Adbusters for anecdotal and scientific evidence that kids who spend time outdoors end up healthier for life.
Facts, Not Fiction, a report released Monday by New York University, the College Board and a panel of educators and leaders, indicated that, by grouping diverse communities and experiences into one "Asian-American and Pacific Islander" group, some young people's needs are likely going unnoticed. The category "Asian-American" can be used for disparate groups - people of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent, but also those whose families originate in India, Pakistan, Samoa, the Phillipines and Cambodia. The economic and educational background of these groups can vary widely, as do individuals within each group. By adopting the "model minority" stereotype of Asian-American students, schools may be neglecting individual needs. The report further argues that the stereotype positions Asian-American communities against other minority communities, creating the perception that one group is a "solution" and other groups a "problem". It's all very interesting. And the report points to how our focus on groups more than individuals, as well as our culture's reliance on stereotypes, can often hinder young people's opportunities, even when the stereotypical expectations seem to be positive. Read the report or a great overview at the NYTimes for more information. To find out more about Asian-American stereotypes in education, visit this article at Eric Digest. Wikipedia also provides some interesting overviews of the roots, articulation and impact of a variety of Asian-American stereotypes.
"The Internet is here, kids will use it..." Nancy Willard, Director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, recently delivered this message to parents at a Princeton University forum. Her intent was not to spread gloom and doom, but to talk about appropriate guidelines for Internet use based on age and maturity level. Because her work is useful to all parents and youth advocates, she has also published a guide, entitled Social Networking Safety: A Guide for Parents, which individuals and organizations are free to use and distribute. The Internet is here and kids are using it. This doesn't have to be a scary thing!
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Nominations for The Collaboration Prize will be accepted beginning June 1st (and through July 21st). "The Collaboration Prize recognizes collaborations among two or more nonprofit organizations that each would otherwise provide the same or similar programs or services and compete for clients, financial resources and staff. The Prize also seeks to build an information base of effective practice models that can be studied and used by academics, nonprofit leaders and grantmakers to inspire and advance their work." Collaboration over competition...what a novel idea!
The search engine giant Google asked K-12 graders to doodle around the theme, "What if...?" They received over 16,000 entries, and here's a link to some of the finalists. It's really cool to see how creative young people can be when they're given the freedom to just go with a concept. -Chris
The Child Welfare League of America is calling on youth-serving organizations across the nation to sign on in support of a White House Conference on Child Welfare, to resume in 2010. Once an event held every ten years and designed to bring the child welfare community to the table to determine common goals and priorities, the government has not come together around this issue since 1970. Senators Bayh and Lugar and Congressmen Carson and Burton will be receiving a letter from MCCOY in the next few days encouraging them to support the re-establishment of this conference. Additionally, 29 State Representatives and 17 State Senators from central Indiana will receive a request to join us in encouraging support. MCCOY joins ten other organizations in Indiana and many across the nation who have registered their support with CWLA. We urge you and your organization to do the same. To get started, feel free to use our Board Resolution of Support as a guide. We've also compiled a list of legislators, including central Indiana's State Representatives and State Senators. All state legislators receive mail at 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204. - Amelia
A web conference on June 10, 2008 entitled Governing for Children and Families: A Social Policy Web Conference Series will explore the advantages and challenges of performance-based contracting. States are increasingly using performance-based contracting in a variety of arenas, including youth and family services. This approach shifts incentives so that financing better aligns with outcomes for youth. Learn how providers can implement a performance-based model and use outcomes data to improve services for children within their existing structure. MCCOY is currently working on an initiative to encourage data-driven program quality assessment and enhancement in central Indiana. Find out more about our Ready by 21™ Quality Counts Initiative by following this link. - Amelia
The Missouri mother -- who faces up to 20 years in prison -- was indicted for her alleged role in the suicide death of a neighborhood teen. This story got the Dateline treatment a few months ago, and here's the CNN article. -Chris
The National Gardening Association (NGA), in partnership with Home Depot, is accepting proposals through November 1st for its 2009 Youth Garden Grants. NGA will award 125 Youth Garden Grants worth up to $1000 to schools and community organizations with child-centered garden programs. Programs emphasizing educational focus or curricular/program integration, nutrition or plant-to-food connections, environmental awareness/education, entrepreneurship and social aspects of gardening such as leadership development, team building, community support or service-learning will be given priority. Schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities, and intergenerational groups are eligible and will also receive 12 months of NGA supporter benefits, including online gardening and botany courses. Applicants must plan to garden with at least fifteen children between the ages of 3 and 18. The complete RFP is available at the NGA website. - Amelia
The Indiana Department of Education has released its Summer Reading List for young people. You can download it by grade level or in its entirety. The reading list is a compilation of lists submitted from school districts in Indiana, selections from a wide range of award-winning literature and selections from lists developed and published by professional associations. It's not all-inclusive, but it's a good place to start if you're looking for reading materials for the young people you serve! - Amelia
Voices in the fields of juvenile justice and child welfare are starting to be heard above the others calling for children to be kept out of detention centers and foster care whenever possible. The principle behind this call is a simple one - children need their parents. But even if these leaders triumph over the conservative thinking that has kept these youth-serving systems intact for so many years, many obstacles to families staying together still exist. Like the adult justice system, as the story of Susan Lefevre, also known as Marie Walsh, illustrates. Sentenced to 10-20 years in a Michigan prison at age 19 for attempting to sell $200 worth of heroin to an undercover cop, she escaped to California where police caught up with her last month, 32 years later. Michigan authorities say the mother of three, whose husband describes her as "a person of the highest integrity" who had "the full support of her many friends in the area," will serve out the rest of her sentence and possibly an extra sentence for the escape. Is this justice? And can we ever really do what's best for young people without doing what's best for all people? - Amelia
The kid-centric online game Club Penguin (acquired by Disney last year) adds 500-1000 words a day to its list of forbidden chat words in an effort to keep things clean. I would be willing to bet that clever kids come up with 2000-4000 new variant spellings a day. Here's a link to the story. -Chris
On the day after the primary election in Indiana, bloggers, reporters and politicians across the country are speculating about why voters did or did not vote for particular candidates. Fewer voices are discussing why so many voters turned out to vote at all (over 1.6 million). Some say Hoosier voters felt empowered by the national attention, and certainly this is one reason among many. But the high rate of new voter registration among YOUNG voters (under the age of 30) cannot be overstated. And what is motivating voters within this demographic? Are they inspired by candidates' MySpace and Facebook pages? Or have they been caught up in the whirlwind of political conversation surrounding a war, rising gas prices, a recession and a historical race between a woman and a black man? The American Political Science Association published an article last year in their journal explaining how political conversation with peers, teachers and especially parents is a critically important factor in determining the level of a young person's civic engagement. The article states that parents engaging their adolescent children in discussions about current events and politics is the STRONGEST parent-related indicator of the child's civic development - stronger than income, ethnicity, education, homeownership or employment. Children of such parents are 18 percent more likely to vote. So get talking, people! We have only six short months until the general election. - Amelia
Over the course of the past few months, public transportation has been a hot topic of conversation among my youth-serving colleagues (perhaps in small part due to the fact that it's a topic very near and dear to my heart). Again and again I hear comments like, "Well, parents won't just stick their child on a city bus! It's not safe." In fact, it's not always safe to allow children to get where they need to go using public transportation - but not because the buses themselves are dangerous. Getting to the bus stop safely can be a problem, as many neighborhoods have no sidewalks or cross walks and obstructed views of the roads, and many residents lack regard for and awareness of the pedestrian. Just how safe are children once on the bus? IndyGo announced today that each and every city bus is now an official "Safe Place", complete with the iconic yellow sign. In partnership with the Children's Bureau, Inc., who has sponsored Project Safe Place in Indiana for 21 years, all IndyGo coach operators have received training on what to do and whom to call when a child boards their bus in need of emergency assistance. To learn more about the efforts underway to bring sidewalks and safe "built environments" to our communities, visit Health by Design online. If you would like to see more public transportation options for young people in the community, go to CIRTA's website and sign up for the mailing list to be apprised of opportunities to get involved. - Amelia
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE), guided by an advisory board of talented young women from across the country, launched a website in 2001 called EngineerGirl, as part of a national project to promote engineering as a career, particularly among girls and women. Today the website is overflowing with resources for girls of all ages with an interest in the field. The "Fun Facts" section pays homage to the historical achievements of women in engineering, like Ada Byron Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, who designed the very first "computer program" in 1843! A section called "Games and Puzzles" offers free time activities that stimulate the development of basic engineering skills, and girls can even get a glimpse of what a starting salary for a young woman with an engineering degree might look like - and it's not bad. To learn more about MCCOY's efforts to increase gender equity in the field of science and to get your organization involved, visit our Great Science for Girls page. - Amelia
Food merchants in Baltimore may end up taking the blame for a recent epidemic of school tardies - and are understandably upset about it. Teachers say the food students bring into class with them indicates they're stopping on the way to school and that this is the reason for their tardiness. Consequently, local Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke has introduced a bill that would extend the normal curfew barring youth from retail establishments to begin at 7:30 rather than 9 a.m., and burden the store owners with the responsibility of keeping kids out. And I thought breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Restaurant and convenience store owners argue that it's the responsibility of the parents and the students themselves to get to school on time. And what about the schools? Would stricter consequences for arriving late not dissuade students from dragging their feet? Reporters at wjz.com, the media outlet reporting the story, caught up to a few youths at a McDonald's before school last Monday and when asked what they thought about the new law, which would be punishable up to $50 for parents and $500 for retailers, Shane Richardson responded: "I think we should be able to buy food anytime we want to, cause if [we're] going to be late, we might as well have food and be late." Touché. - Amelia
The Indiana Youth Institute's online monthly column for April, "Indiana Children are Still Hungry", exposes some pretty sickening facts about child hunger and poverty in Indiana. The number of students receiving free and reduced lunches is up 10 percent from 2000 and the child poverty rate in is now 18 percent, up from 11.6 percent 2000. Peter Dunn, former CEO of Steak 'N Shake and now Chairman of the Board of America's Second Harvest, makes a point in the article that should resonate with all of us who work with young people regardless of the sector when he says "a hungry child cannot learn." The article goes on to point out how hunger affects every aspect of a child's development, as hungry children have a greater likelihood of being suspended or expelled, suffering from depression, having suicidal thoughts and needing more medical care and hospitalization. Why is this timely now? Because spring and summer are traditionally slow seasons for food banks with the holidays nowhere in sight. And things only get worse when schools close and students who normally receive breakfast and lunch from school are hungrier than ever. There are 12 food banks in Indiana, many of which are right here in Indianapolis. If you or a group of young people you know are looking for an opportunity to contribute this summer, here are a few websites to get you started: - Gleaners Food Bank - Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana - Hoosier Hills Food Bank - Second Helpings - Amelia
The NonProfit Times and partner company, NOZASEARCH, have recently announced a database of million dollar or greater corporate and individual donations, searchable by business name, location or cause and easily exported to a spreadsheet.
There are two levels of service for this database. The first level is free and requires no registration, granting visitors access to just over 4,000 listings. The second level costs a nominal fee (possibly as low as $25), but allows you to search 30 million donation records. For a limited time, entering the promotional code, "NPTGRANTSEARCH" at checkout will get you a 20% discount.
This could be great news for some of you small non-profits out there with limited funds and a limited contact list!
- Amelia
The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating civil rights abuses at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center for almost two years. The investigation is now complete and a settlement agreement was filed last week, but the detention center is nowhere near off-the-hook. Read the full story in the Indianapolis Star here. The Justice Department will continue to monitor the detention center for the next three years to make sure improvements are being made in three key areas: security, health and safety and education. The detention center will be held accountable, among other things, for increasing its suicide prevention efforts and for ensuring that bed and clothing items are properly cleaned to prevent the spread of disease. For more information about the state of the juvenile justice system in Indiana, contact the Indiana Juvenile Justice Task Force. - Amelia
Doctors at the new Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent's are tackling the growing problem of childhood obesity with a holistic approach. The L.I.F.E. for Kids program stands for lifetime, individual, fitness and eating and seeks to reverse the serious medical conditions that can arise in overweight children by overhauling each child's lifestyle, one at a time. Participants and their families meet with doctors fifteen times over the course of one year, during which time they are coached about balancing foods from all food groups, portion-size awareness and managing the eating environment. They are also given recommendations for regular physical activity based on abilities and interests. The goal of the L.I.F.E. for Kids team is the long-term health and well-being of the child. The website also offers a wealth of nutrition and exercise resources for the viewing public. - Amelia
Just in time for the 2008 presidential election, the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network recently launched a new website, www.nonprofitvote.org, designed to give nonprofit leaders the tools and information needed to mobilize voters within their networks - directors, employees, volunteers, clients and colleagues! The website outlines some of the characteristic qualities of non-profits that make them ideal for this role. For example, non-profits tend to be organizations that people trust, as they serve others and have missions that promote social uplift. They also have close contact with populations traditionally underrepresented in elections, and they provide a context, within which voters feel they might just have something to gain from turning out to vote.
Jill Smith, Program Director for the Community Center of St. Louis, MO, shares her approach to mobilizing voters:
“To us, voting isn’t yet another program. It’s something we integrate into the activities we already do as part of our mission and commitment to healthier communities and a better society.“
As youth-serving agencies, we have a responsibility to advocate for our young people and this means advocating for 'healthier communities and a better society'. One of the simplest ways we do this is by voting for candidates on all levels of government who make positive youth development a priority, and encouraging others to do the same. And along the way, we promote YOUTH civic engagement by setting a positive example!
I recently took a tour of the new JCC Teen House over at 7005 Hoover Road with Director of Youth and Outreach, David Waldman. It’s awesome! Modern ottomans (all donated) dot the place like hip toadstools, and the house has space for everything from competitive ping pong in the kitchen to relaxed hanging out in the living room. The Teen House is now home to all JCC high school programming, and it's available for other teen groups to use.
Most impressive is that everything from the paint color to house governance is youth led and youth driven. Sure, there’s dedicated space for homework, but there’s also fooseball, air hockry, and a large-screen HD TV – oh yeah, and both a Wii and a Playstation.
For more information, get in touch with David Waldman or visit the Teen section of the JCC website.
-Chris
The last chance to vote for the issues to be debated by the UK Youth Parliament when they "storm the House of Lords" on May 2, 2008 is just four short days away. Of course, you can't vote if you're not from the United Kingdom and between the ages of 11 and 18. You can, however, watch it unfold and wonder why it's not happening here. For nine years, young people across the United Kingdom have been actively participating in the decision-making processes of their government(s). There are currently 500 Members of Youth Parliament (MYP), and in the last two annual elections over 550,000 young people turned out to vote for them.
