Making a Real Difference!

Lately I have been contemplating my life's calling (again). Although I am blessed to have a job that is fairly stress-free, there always is something in me that is a little restless. Like I'm not QUITE where I should be...like there is something else that I could be doing that would be a better fit for both what I believe in and what I'm good at. I've been trying for over 10 years now to figure out what that is and I'm still searching! After over 4 years in education, I have come to the conclusion that although I am extremely passionate about all kids having access to quality education and educational opportunities, I may not be as passionate about being the one to actually GIVE them that education through teaching or the library. However, figuring out a career that would still allow me to play a part in filling some of the educational gaps in communities like this one without necessarily being married to a classroom eludes me.

But there are people that have figured out how to do that in some pretty significant ways...and I really am intrigued by the work they are doing. In fact, I have been spending quite a bit of time thinking about two programs in particular and if it would ever be a possibility for me to be involved in doing something similar.

The first program I heard about several years ago when I was still working with CDM in Turner Courts. An educator from the community had created a program called "The Turner Twelve". Because residents from Turner Courts and the surrounding community had such a low high school graduation rate (only 65%) and with only an estimated 10% ever attending college, Mr. Carter decided to develop a program that would focus on mentoring a select group of kids starting in 6th grade all the way through 12th grade. Twelve 6th grade students from the Turner Courts community were identified and they along with their parents signed a commitment to participating in the program over the next six years, with high school graduation and college being the ultimate goal. All would be first-generation college students.

Mr. Carter began meeting with students on a weekly basis for tutoring, mentoring, college trips, service projects and more. Their attendance and grades at school were closely monitored. Students were encouraged to participate in positive extracurricular activities. They spent time each summer traveling to various colleges and expanding their experiences beyond their South Dallas neighborhood. They met various professionals from the community to serve as role-models and mentors. Mr. Carter has now graduated his first group of 12 and is now focused on his second cycle of students. The second group is on track to graduate in 2011. I'm not sure how many of the original Turner Twelve went on to college, are still in college, or possibly have graduated from college this year (I believe his first class graduated in 2006)...I would really like to know how well the program's objectives were achieved. Regardless, I have always really liked this model and this concept. I've always preferred quality over quantity. I believe by keeping the number of participants small, Mr. Carter was able to build meaningful relationships and provide the depth of support necessary to guide these kids and their families through a myriad of complex obstacles and distractions on their journey to college.
The Turner Courts housing development was torn down last year and all the families moved to various sites around the city, but I'm sure that Mr. Carter has kept in contact with all of the students and continues to work with them toward their goals.

A second program that really inspired me began with a book called The Promise by Oral Lee Brown. Mrs. Brown grew up poor in the Mississippi delta area and later moved to California to try to build a better life. She attended college and later got into real-estate. She was middle-aged and making a modest income of around $45,000 a year when one day her life changed. She was driving through a very distressed part of Oakland on her way to work one morning when she stopped at a corner store to get a snack. A little girl ran up and asked her for some money. Mrs. Brown assumed she wanted candy or soda, but was surprised when the little girl grabbed a loaf of bread, meat, and cheese. Mrs. Brown only had $5, and the total came to $5.86 but the store owner didn't say anything. The little girl ran quickly away before Mrs.Brown could ask the questions that were haunting her. Why wasn't this little girl in school? Where was her parent? Why was she buying food all alone? The thought of this little girl stayed with Mrs. Brown for days. She asked the store owner if he had seen her, but he hadn't. It was bothering her so much that she finally decided to visit the closest elementary school to see if she could find the little girl. (The school was located in an area with abysmal graduation rates and a host of other issues.) She ended up visiting a 1st grade classroom (the age she thought the girl would be) and although she didn't find the girl, she did stay to talk to the 23 students in the room at the teacher's invitation. Before she left that day, she found herself promising those 23 students that if they stayed in school, she would pay for them all to go to college.

Mrs. Brown wasn't one for making empty promises. She pledged to set aside $10,000 a year of her own income in a trust fund for the students. From that point on, she began building relationships with those 23 students. Over the next 12 years of their life, she kept in touch with them, mentored them, and tutored them. At times, she lost touch with 1 or 2 for a period of time, but always ended up re-connecting with them. She worked other jobs and made all kinds of sacrifices to be able to meet her financial commitment to the students. As other people began to hear about her astounding promise, they began to support her financially, adding to the trust fund she had established. All of the original 23 students ended up graduating from high school, and 19 went on to college, which was indeed paid for by Mrs. Brown. (The ones who didn't attend right away did end up going later I believe...have to re-read on that part). Now there is an Oral Brown Foundation that follows this same pattern of mentoring students and eventually paying for their college.

This was one of the most inspiring stories I ever read! Mrs. Brown was just an ordinary woman. She wasn't rich and she wasn't a professional educator. But she was convicted to make a difference and she was unfailingly committed to the students she made a promise to. She became involved in their lives in a meaningful way and she stayed. She helped the students identify goals and dreams they didn't even know they had and then helped make a way for those goals to become reality.

In both the Turner Twelve and the Oral Lee Brown Foundation, the focus is on relationships and mentoring. The focus is making a commitment to a small number of kids and working with them for not weeks, not months, but years of their lives. I think both programs have shown how powerful and effective that can be. A difference can be made, cycles can be broken...one kid at a time.

So, as I've said, I've been thinking a LOT the past few weeks about ideas like these...about South Dallas...about the kids I see every day...about myself and what I believe and what my strengths are...about what is missing in this neighborhood...about the kind of difference I want to help make in the world...and I haven't quite put it all together yet. There are so many great kids with so much potential at this school! How can I be a part of making sure they don't get lost...that they don't slip through the cracks...that they are given every opportunity to take a different path? How can I be a part of making sure they have the education, resources, experiences, and knowledge they need to succeed? How can I build relationships that extend beyond these school walls and remain a resource for these kids even when they leave Pearl C.? How can I be a part of developing dreams and goals for their life that go beyond what they see around them? These thoughts go around and around in my head and I'm not quite sure where to go with them. But regardless, people like Mr. Carter and Mrs. Brown and students in programs like the Turner Twelve and Oral Lee Brown Foundation have really impacted me and have provided a great deal of inspiration. That's what I call making a real difference! How about you?

Food Deserts

Although I try to make time to pack a lunch each day, there are a few mornings here and there when I find myself rushing out the door empty-handed. Fortunately, being a librarian is flexible enough that on those days I can usually leave for a few minutes to run and get something to eat for lunch. My school is located deep in the heart of South Dallas where the lunch options within 10 minutes drive include McDonalds, Jack in the Box, a couple of fried chicken establishments, and a couple of local BBQ hole in the walls. The only grocery store within 5-6 miles (estimated) is Minyards...one grocery store serving all of South Dallas. Less than desirable produce and fresh meat coupled with high prices from lack of competition characterize South Dallas's only option for grocery shopping.

Fortunately for me, I can get in a car and drive the 15 minutes to a part of town that has quality grocery stores and restaurants with healthy options. Many people in South Dallas don't have that option. A large percent of the population here relies on public transportation and city buses. I hate lugging my 10-15 grocery bags up one flight of stairs each week. I can't imagine toting all of that through multiple stops and exchanges on a DART bus. No wonder its easier (and cheaper) to walk across the street to the liquor/corner store and buy a $.99 bag of hot chips.

Every day I see my students come into school with a bag of chips, candy, and soda. Every day I see them skip lunch in the cafeteria (school lunches have gotten just ridiculous...very poor quality food, tiny servings, and not worth the $2-3 paid for it) and opt for those type of nutritionally void snacks. After school, they visit the corner store again for more chips or maybe fork over their change to the rattly ice cream truck that is always rolling through the neighborhoods. Fresh fruits and vegetables are practically non-existent in this area, even in the school lunches that may be the only "meal" that some kids are given each day.

I read an article that describes this problem, sometimes called "food deserts." The introductory paragraph sounded all too familiar....

It's easier to buy fried chicken, red pop, and flaming-hot potato chips than it is to find an apple in certain middle-to-low income Black neighborhoods. In fact, visit a certain side of Any City, U.S.A., and you are likely to find the four corners of any given intersection occupied by a fast-food restaurant, a convenience store selling penny candy, a liqour store, and a fried chicken shack.

What's missing from this picture is a store selling high-quality fresh produce, such as apples, collard greens or broccoli; a store that is affordable and that is not four miles away. Does what's missing sound familiar?

Welcome to the food desert.

In Chicago, approximately 633,000 people, in a city with a population of 3 million, live in neighborhoods that lack a grocery store. Roughly half of Detroit's residents live in an area devoid of a mainstream full-service supermarket, leaving 460,000 people, who without a car or food-delivery service, don't have access to fresh fruit and vegetables. We can throw many more cities with the same problems into the mix. Memphis, Kansas City, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Atlanta, Richmond, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. (And Dallas!)

Food deserts are inextricably linked to a host of medical issues in our communities, chief among them diabetes and obesity. Simply put, if we ant to live longer, then we will have to eat better. To eat better, we need better food choices. Better food choices come from watering the food desert.

You know, I read a lot of the health and fitness magazines when I'm working out at the gym and they invariably have recipes and ideas for healthy eating that include all kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains, and cheeses that I've never heard of. I would probably have to go to Whole Foods or Central Market to find some of these things, and then pay out the nose for them. I'm a single, employed young professional who honestly cannot afford some of the most healthy stuff out there...eating healthy is not cheap! So I can only imagine if I were on a very limited income with limited transportation...healthy eating becomes an almost insurmountable challenge.

Are the people in South Dallas and neighborhoods like this so invaluable to our society that their health is of no importance to us or our economy? Are they not worth the investment of grocery stores and establishments that would give them options for food that could enhance their health and give them longer lives? Is health, like education and so many other things, just a privilege of the wealthy? People in South Dallas have to eat too. They have money to spend on food...many even have government assistance, such as food stamps. But they have nowhere to spend it. Wouldn't it be better use of government assistance if they could swipe their Lone Star card at Tom Thumb for some fresh fruit, veggies, and meat instead of at the corner store for some chips and soda? Without having to catch three buses and a train to get there? Even for those who can only be convinced by economical reasoning, the medical problems that result from lack of healthy eating only serve to inevitably place an enormous burden on taxpayers in the future, since many of the same people who don't have access to healthy food also may not have access to health insurance or medical/preventative care.

I know the reasons that food deserts exist are deeper and more complex than I can fully understand. But I do believe that solutions are out there. I do believe there are people who understand the systemic complexities and have the ability and power to make changes that can alter the status quo. People look at neighborhoods like South Dallas and have a million opinions and stereotypes about why the community is like this and why people aren't doing better. But there are also a million challenges that they've never had to even think about that these neighbors deal with on a daily basis, one of which is just figuring out how to put a decent meal on the table. I think it is important to just educate ourselves and be more aware of some of the obstacles that exist in neighborhoods like this and think about what we can do to advocate to eliminate some of those inequities.

What can our city do to eliminate food deserts? What can we do to bring healthy food back into forgotten neighborhoods? What can we do to show our neighbors here that we truly believe that they are important to us, that their health is important to us, that their right to a quality life is important to us? What can we do to ensure that the children in South Dallas aren't just taught about the nutritional pyramid in school but that they have the opportunity to put that knowledge into practice? When we strengthen a neglected part of our society, we strengthen our society as a whole. Solutions are out there...but does our city/state/nation care enough to find them?

When Education is Not Freedom...

You've seen the billboards and commercials everywhere. Smiling, studious young people achieving their dreams through organizations like University of Phoenix and DeVry University. The commercials are compelling....inspiring. Suddenly, higher education seems possible! Oh, yes, these companies are doing a great job marketing their schools to nontraditional students across the nation and pulling in hundreds of thousands of hopeful adults every year. But at the same time, thousands are finding themselves trapped in debt and dead ends as the truth about these for-profit schools comes to light....a little too late.

Janet invited several people over on Saturday night to watch a PBS Frontline documentary called "College, Inc." that focused on digging deeper into for-profit higher education, like Grand Canyon University, Capella University, Argosy Universtiy, and the ones mentioned above. What was exposed is very disturbing, especially for the lower-income, minority population that this industry is targeting. Traditional universities are usually not-for-profit organizations that rely on alumni donations for capital, whereas these for-profit colleges rely on investors. Because of that, their focus seems to be on making as much money as possible and expanding their empires rather than on providing quality education for their students.

Basically, what these for-profit schools are doing are first of all targeting lower-income people who will most likely have to rely almost fully on federal financial aid and then charging exorbitant tuition rates. However, many times these students end up dropping out or unable to find jobs upon graduating which results in them defaulting on their student loans. The student's life is ruined, taxpayers are saddled with their debt, and the for-profit enjoys billions of dollars in profit.

These for-profits are known to employ high-pressure enrollment tactics and often give students false or misleading information, tricking them into signing loan applications when they think they are applying for grants or just forms expressing an interest in finanical aid. Often these recruiters tell students that their credits can transfer to other schools (which they can't) or that they will assist in job placement (which they don't). Sometimes the training that is provided in these for-profit schools is so sub-par that companies and employers don't even recognize it. The documentary gave an example of three girls who had attended some nursing institute but never set foot in an actual hospital for their clinical rotations. They did a pediatric rotation in a daycare, for example. Because they had no actual hospital experience, they were unable to get jobs with their nursing licenses and found themselves $13,000 or more in debt. (For a program that would have cost only $2500 at a local community college).

Many people are drawn to these programs because of the flexibility of online classes and the relaxed enrollment policies. Students who may not qualify for traditional universities can be accepted into these schools and still have the hope of receiving a higher education. There are a lot of ingenius ideas that for-profit schools have developed which perhaps should be considered by more traditional universities as our world and society continues to change and evolve. The problem is that the for-profits are more focused on profit than education. As long as they get their money, they aren't concerned about whether their students can take that diploma and actually go get a job that enables them to pay back their loans. That's no longer their concern. They've pocketed the tuition and have moved on into sucking more students in. It's heartbreaking for the students who worked so hard to achieve a certificate or degree and were willing to place themselves in debt because they had the hope of a good-paying job in the future.

Some people may blame the students for not doing their homework before signing up for these programs. However, you have to remember that many lower-income, minority folks may be first time college students. The college application and financial aid process is very tricky, even for those who have plenty of support to guide them. It is easy for these for-profits to prey on this demographic because they are easily misled. These for-profits could care less if the students they enroll are prepared or qualified for college-level work. They enroll many students who end up dropping out because they just aren't able to handle college courses...yet those students are still responsible for the debt they incur. So they find themselves unable to get a job, unable to go to another school, and thousands of dollars in debt. Some have compared it to the subprime housing lending crisis. Knowing that these students may not have the capacity to pay back the loans, knowing that they may not have ability to benefit from this education, they are given financial loans anyway.

This is just one more way people have figured out how to exploit and profit off the poor. Not that it is only low-income people who are being destroyed by this, but they do make a prime target for these schools. We've really got to get busy to counteract the powerful and convincing marketing strategies being used by these for-profits. We've got to be active in bringing this to the Department of Education and Congress in hopes that they will first of all take a look at the accreditation standards for the federal aid program and also possibly regulate the enrollment qualifications for these schools. Most of all, we have got to educate students, especially those who may be first-time college hopefuls. We've got to prepare them for college, first of all, then we need to educate them about the process. We need to make sure they know their options and look at the community college route (where they can receive good training and transferrable credits at a fraction of the cost). We need to work on financial literacy and make sure they understand the financial aid and student loan process. We can't allow them to be drawn into the traps that these for-profit schools are setting for them!

I've heard several radio commercials for these type of schools on local hip-hop radio stations that are prominently targeted to the black and Hispanic community. I've heard well-known local dee-jays promoting these schools. I have really considered sending them some of the articles and research that expose these schools because I feel that they are promoting something that is seriously hurting thier own people and own community. This is a serious issue that we need to educate others about, especially those who may be considering one of these programs.

Education is supposed to be a passport to freedom...not a means to capitalize on uncontrolled greed. Let's be a voice against these fraudulent for-profit schools and their unscrupulous tactics! Let's protect both the institution of education as well as the dreams of people who hope to benefit from it.

Links to articles about this topic...please read!!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0911.burd.html

http://www.propublica.org/feature/at-u-of-phoenix-allegations-of-enrollment-abuses-persist-1103

http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_19/b4177064219731.htm

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/03/pm-phoenix-one/

http://www.sfweekly.com/content/printversion/1689819

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20670001&sid=aqq.wwZ7wK1I

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB125755384448934953.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D2

What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

So in the past two weeks I have had three pretty negative experiences/encounters with women over the age of 50, I would estimate. I don't really want to go into details on the blog, but all three events really kind of took me aback because of the level of animosity, petty-ness, negative language, etc. that I received. Because I am a pretty sensitive person, all three situations have really bothered me, but most of all, made me recognize a deep fear within myself. I really have a fear of reaching that age and season in my life and not having grown. I have a fear of going through that many years of life and still being immature, rude, petty, hateful, negative, shallow, or grudge-holding. Some people worry about reaching retirement age and not having enough saved to live on or perhaps worry about the health-problems they may have at a later time in their life. Me, I am really terrified of just being an ugly person...ugly in spirit and character and temperament. These experiences, although hurtful, have really been a wake-up call to me of how important it is to constantly seek after those fruits of the Spirit...how important it is with every interaction in the day to strive to grow in maturity, patience, and love . Because one day you wake up and find yourself a miserable 60 year old witch, ugly inside and out, traumatizing innocent young women who never meant you any harm. It just really makes me sad. And motivated to check any anger, any bitterness, any self-entitlement, any impatience now before it festers and turns me into an ugly, mean-spirited person. What do I want to be when I grow up? I want to be loving...patient...kind...peaceful...gentle. I want to be beautiful inside!! Now is the time to start moisturizing the soul, now is the time to work out a healthy spirit, now is the time to focus on growing in kindness and love.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.- Galatians 5:22

Am I Obsessed with Facebook?

Maybe this is a sign that I am way too into Facebook but here is a bulletin board I did for the library. The pictures are of students and staff with the books they are reading and the status updates are short quotes telling about the book. I can't say this idea was completely my own because I heard of another librarian doing something along these lines, so I must give the creativity credit to someone else! But it was still quite a bit of work to put it together and I was kinda proud of how it turned out! :-)

However, after creating this bulletin board and getting student feedback, I am discovering that most of the kids aren't really familiar with Facebook, believe it or not. They're all Myspace fans here. I guess Facebook is really more popular with college age and up. Oh, well. At least I tried to be relevant! :-)