A Nation at Risk - Why isn't anyone listening?
In the opening remarks of the October 17th A Nation at Risk Policy
Briefing, one of the hosts said, "We cannot wait for this time
bomb to explode." An hour later, in the closing remarks, another
host said, "We recognize that many of you in this room lead
programs that serve this population of youth. We thank you."
In between, the panel's moderator reminded the group that research
like this is not new and has been published regularly for more
than a decade. Her question to the panel was "Why haven't
we learned?" Bob Herbert of the New York times had an answer
that resonated with me. He said "Out of sight, Out of Mind".
(You can read his comments at
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/opinion/20HERB.html?ex=1067683378&ei=1&en=
4d4f893912e07672
We depend on random acts of charity to fund the work of helping
kids grow up. The inconsistencies of funding make it almost impossible
to build and maintain a consistent connection of youth and adults
in more than a few places in any community. We must find ways
to develop more consistent funding (from the private sector, from
social commerce, and from government) of the general operations
of organizations helping youth move through school and into jobs/careers.
Also, in the struggle to survive we only focus on the needs of
our own programs. This leaves out the many opportunities there
are to work together to increase the size of the resource pie.
Everyone can be a leader in establishing new streams of revenue.
As a result of a Tutor/Mentor Connection initiative in 1994, the
Chicago Bar Association has an Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Lend A
Hand Program that raises money and recruits
volunteers for one-on-one tutor/mentor programs. More than $300,000
has been raised and distributed to support nearly 40 different
tutor/mentor programs in Chicago since 1995. Imagine the possibility
if leaders of individual programs were enlisting business networks
to be funders of ALL programs in their category, not just their
own program!
The business community is not strategically engaged. I know that
we can find several high profile web sites with hundreds of companies
listed as members and partners. However, I've seen few examples
of companies applying the skills and marketing it takes to build
brand awareness of the products they are selling, to the mobilization
of volunteers and dollars needed to support the work of helping
youth move to careers...in every poverty neighborhood of major
cities.
However, at the core of this issue is the comment made by Bob
Herbert. Out of sight. Out of Mind. We live in a racially and
economically divided America, with most of us and our many problems
on one side, and those who live in concentrated, segregated poverty,
on the other.
We're also divided by who serves pre school, who serves K-12,
and who serves alternative school youth, and the types of programs
and services we offer. We're each competing against each other
for attention and resources, rather than working to increase resources
so that each step in the ladder from birth to a career has a meaningful
adult support system. Until we learn to work together to demonstrate
the value of our work, increase public awareness, and increase
resources, we'll have little ability to improve the quality, capacity,
or availability of programs. One of the first ways we can be an
advocate for each other is to build web links to other organization's
from our own web sites.
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