~Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 2~

As part of the alternative assignment I explored Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative" website @ http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

While exploring the website I learned  Global Children’s Initiative is
focused on three strategic objectives:

• To reframe public discourse about the early childhood period by educating high-level decision-makers about the common underlying science of learning, behavior, and health;

• To support innovative, multidisciplinary research and demonstration projects in selected countries or regions to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and

•  To build leadership capacity in child development research and policy among individuals and institutions in low- and middle-income countries in order to increase the number and influence of diverse perspectives that are contributing to the global movement on behalf of young children.

The Center's Global Children’s Initiative has begun to build a portfolio of activities in three domains: early childhood development; mental health; and children in crisis and conflict situations.

EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT

"The first priority in this area is to adapt the successful work the Center has conducted in the United States for a broader range of strategically selected audiences, in an effort to energize and reframe the global dialogue around investments in the earliest years of life".  

"The second priority is to generate and apply new knowledge that addresses the health and developmental needs of young children in a variety of settings". Some of the projects include:

•  Assessing quality in early childhood environments and programs in diverse global contexts;
• Piloting assessments to measure child development outcomes linked to malaria control strategies in Zambia; and
• Expanding effective interventions to improve preschool quality in Chile.

 CHILD MENTAL HEALTH

In the early childhood field mental health concerns are very issues that are not given enough light.  "There is an urgent need to identify the scope of the problem within and across countries and to develop evidence-based approaches in policy and service delivery that are responsive to diverse cultural contexts."  In an effort to meet this challenge the following three projects have been selected:

• Assessing the state of child mental health services in China;
• Developing and evaluating family-based strategies to prevent mental health problems in children affected by HIV/AIDS in Rwanda; and
• Addressing child maltreatment and mental health outcomes in three Caribbean nations (Barbados, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname).

CHILDREN IN CRISIS & CONFLICT SITUATIONS

The Global Children’s Initiative is currently exploring potential synergies with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health, both of which have extensive experience working in emergency situations across the world. The goal of this effort is to foster interdisciplinary collaboration that incorporates a science-based, developmental perspective into the assessment and management of child well-being in a range of natural and man-made crises, focusing on both immediate circumstances and long-term adaptation. Two issues are the initial focus of activity in this domain: 

• Exploring comparable approaches to surveying child status in post-earthquake Haiti and Chile. 
• Bringing the science of child development into strategies for addressing acute malnutrition. 

From exploring the websites of different organizations, and viewing the different podcasts I have realized that children all over the world are experiencing some of the same dilemmas and hardships.   However, the degree of development and resources makes all the difference when it comes to coping with these stresses.  This is why it is extremely important for educators around the world to advocate for the well being of our children.

~SHARING WEB RESOURCES~

 THE NATIONAL BLACK CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

http://nbcdi.org/

The main reason I decided to take a further look at this website is because i personally feel as if some of our African American children are left in the in-between zone.  The African American culture is unique, and sometimes misunderstood.  The main goal of the NBCDI is to “To improve and advance the lives of black children and their families through education and advocacy.”

While reviewing this website I noticed that many of the tabs are under construction.  So for this assignment I would discuss a program that I feel supports the early childhood field in the most important way EDUCATING PROFESSIONALS !!!!!!  The NBCDI offers a program called T.E.A.C.H. early childhood, which is a program designed to provide sequenced educational scholarship opportunities for child care center teachers, directors and family child care home providers who work in regulated settings. 

In 1990, Child Care Services Association created the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood® Project to address the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high turnover within the early childhood workforce.

T.E.A.C.H. is built on four components:

Education: T.E.A.C.H. helps participants to earn a required number of college credit hours in early childhood education each year.

Scholarship: T.E.A.C.H. offers counseling and financial support to pay for college courses and fees, books, travel, and time away from work.

Compensation: T.E.A.C.H. recipients earn a compensation bonus or raise after successful completion of a year of education.

Commitment: T.E.A.C.H. recipients agree to continue their service as a child care professional in their current early care and education setting.

~Getting to Know Your International Contacts~

Unfortunately, I have not been able to establish any international contacts so I had to do the alternative assignment.  Completing this weeks assignment has really caused me to take a good look at the world around me.  In one way or another poverty affects more families than I ever could have imagined.  The effects of poverty is detrimental to all members of the family and can have lasting effects.  CHIP states "Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole. Tackling childhood poverty is therefore critical for eradicating poverty and injustice world-wide".

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK AT INDIA
India has an estimated population of 1.03 billion citizens with 260.2 million of those living in poverty.  Close to 400 million of the population are between 0-18 years.   About 62 million children under the age of five are malnourished and 34 percent of new-borns are significantly underweight. Important achievements have been made in health and education.   But India still accounts for 20 per cent of the world's out-of-school children. It has the largest numbers of working children in the world, with nearly a third of children below 16 years working.

India has three main types of anti-poverty programs run by the central government, rural employment creation and infrastructure development programs; self-employment; and food subsidy programs.  
 
According to CHIP "Over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty - an estimated 1 in 4. In many countries, rates are much higher with over 60 percent of children living in households with incomes below international poverty lines".  Those numbers are devastating and they will more than likely increase if we do not take preventive measures. 

~Sharing Web Resources~

National Black Child Development Institute 

http://nbcdi.org/

The mission of the National Black Child Development Institute is to improve and advance the lives of Black children and their families, through advocacy and education.  The NBCDI have worked to improve child welfare services, make universal early care and education a reality, build family support services, press for educational reform and provide vital information regarding our children’s health.

Partners

In many regions of the country, the National Black Child Development Institute is represented by affiliate chapters that provide direct services at the community level. NBCDI’s nationwide affiliate network is a dynamic and geographically diverse force of dedicated volunteers located in urban and rural areas and on college campuses across the country.  The affiliate chapters are made up of people who actively care about the well-being of Black children. They are parents, professionals, proletarians, and others who share a commitment to making a difference in the lives of young people.

INITIATIVES

Love to Read is a research based national early literacy program designed to help reverse the achievement gap and to improve the academic success of African American children.  Love to Read is targeted towards parents and caregivers of children ages 0 through 6

T.E.A.C.H.  In 1990, Child Care Services Association created the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) Early Childhood® Project to address the issues of under-education, poor compensation and high turnover within the early childhood workforce.  The T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Project gives scholarships to child care workers to complete course work in early childhood education and to increase their compensation.
T.E.A.C.H. is built on four components:
Education: T.E.A.C.H. helps participants to earn a required number of college credit hours in early childhood education each year.
Scholarship: T.E.A.C.H. offers counseling and financial support to pay for college courses and fees, books, travel, and time away from work.
Compensation: T.E.A.C.H. recipients earn a compensation bonus or raise after successful completion of a year of education.
Commitment: T.E.A.C.H. recipients agree to continue their service as a child care professional in their current early care and education setting.

Entering the College Zone (ECZ) is conducted in 23 cities nationwide and is a collaborative effort between NBCDI, major public school systems, and colleges and universities.  The goal of program is to increase substantially the number of disadvantaged students who enter college by equipping them and their parents during middle school with the skills and resources that will allow them to navigate through the college preparation process.

 Promoting Positive Nutrition Project is a health and nutrition education initiative supported by the Walmart Foundation, the project is designed to encourage healthy nutrition practices specifically among Black families with young children.

 Parent Empowerment Project (PEP) is a unique program that seeks to educate, motivate and inspire parents to excellence as their child’s first teacher.  The program consists of a  four-part parenting education curriculum that identifies and describes culturally competent and appropriate parenting practices and activities that focus on parent strengthening and education, infant and child development, and family support.

The NBCDI, has many more programs to offer and they provide many resources...

~Establishing Professional Contacts~

In preparation for this weeks blog assignment I emailed two early childhood professionals, one from "Step by Step" in Romania and the other from "Step by Step" in Haiti.  I have not got a response email from either professional but I plan on sending another email on Monday.  I did not choose Romania and Haiti for any particular reason, but as I glanced over the Global Alliance website they grasped my attention. 

When choosing the early childhood organization I went with National Black Child Development Institute because it is an organization that I am least familiar with.  Because I frequently visit majority of the other websites, such a NAEYC, and zero to three I feel that I will benefit more if a chose a organization that has a different range of information.