The organization I chose to focus on is the National Black Child Development Institute. Their link is www.nbcdi.org. Their mission is as follows: "as one of the only national organizations dedicated exclusively to the success and well-being of Black children, the National Black Child Development Institute and our network of Affiliates have been a powerful and effective voice on issues related to the education, care, and health of Black children and their families."
I have subscribed to their newsletter, but I have not received anything yet. One issue of interest I found their website is literacy. Their goal: "As NBCDI collaborates with our Affiliates and national partners, we have chosen to focus on the particular strengths and needs of Black children and families in the broader context of a shared goal: ensuring that all children are reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. NBCDI has chosen to adopt this overarching objective in response to data demonstrating both the critical nature of this educational benchmark and the devastating performance of Black children, only 15 percent of whom are reading proficiently in 4th grade."
For me this brings up the questions: why are black children so far behind in literacy? Which population of black children are the most behind? This is something I would like to research further. If anyone has information for me, please post it below.
Hello Beth,
ReplyDeleteAs sad as it is in some of the African American communities the parents might not have the money to afford to send their children to early learning centers. They do have free programs throughout their area, but with the large amount of families wanting and needed the free services everyone might not be accommodated.
Hey BethAnn, I also explored NBCDI and under there resources tab is an article “A Call for Change: A Preliminary Blueprint to Improve Educational Excellence and Opportunity for African American Males in Urban Public Schools”.
ReplyDeleteI read Stacey's above comment and I don't think that money is the issue. There are so many early childhood programs out there that offer financial assistance to families in need.
I have a friend that works at a center for underprivileged children and she is always talking about the staff turnover. Every week a teacher is leaving. There seems to be ZERO professional development going on there. My friend has never worked with children and she was hired. I am not saying that she won't make a good teacher, but there is some training that needs to happen. Other things that I have gotten from our conversations is that the owners don't care about educating because they are getting paid regardless from the government. It is a very sad situation.
There are so many stereotypes out there about black children and if the teachers invest in them, then they are doomed from the start.
BethAnn,
ReplyDeleteI also chose to explore the NBCDI. I am waiting on my first newsletter as well. I think when it comes to reading we have to look at history. If we move back to slavery no slave owner wanted their slave to be able to read. Then as we move forward literacy becomes somewhat more important but so does hard work and providing for your family. Then there are the pre-conceived thoughts and stereotypes of the African American community such as the males will end up in jail anyway and the women do not care about being educated. However, that is far from the truth and there is that "group of people" in every ethnic group. However, movies, songs and other sources of media and history itself demonstrate something different. It is sad, however I am, as a mother of two young black sons excited for the NBCDI and their mission.