Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing humanity, and it is only getting worse. To protect the future of all living things, we need to take collective action. Scientists and policymakers must implement a systemic response to the immediate needs, but it’s also imperative that educators equip young people to tackle the crisis.
Tagged: United States
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The decolonization movement offers new ways to understand our work in human development at home and abroad. In this episode, I speak with Edgar Villanueva, author of Decolonizing Wealth: Indigenous Wisdom to Heal Divides and Restore Balance, Founder of the Decolonizing Wealth Project, and Senior Vice President of Programs and Advocacy at the Schott Foundation.
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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has been unlike anything most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Conditions such as stay-at-home orders, wearing masks in public and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression affect all of us in different ways.
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What are the systems, trends and ideas that are shaping education in the United States? What needs to be done to promote transformative education reform?
In this episode of A Deeper Look podcast, I speak with education reformer Dr. Warren Simmons, currently Senior Policy Advisor at the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. We draw parallels between the challenges in education reform in the United States and in low-income countries, including how inadequate funding models can perpetuate a cycle of poverty and how successful programs can be difficult to scale and replicate. We also discuss the power of local voices and community organizing and the importance of making our education systems more culturally responsive. Dr. Simmons highlights the need for cross-sector partnerships in order to achieve lasting reform and discusses how schools and communities must work together to adapt to the future.
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The Green Corrections Challenge
Written by
The primary goal of corrections in the United States is keeping the community — everyone from offenders to those who work within prisons and jails — safe. Policies and strategies within the corrections community, however, increasingly emphasize cost containment and environmental sustainability. Addressing these two goals in tandem has proven to be a great opportunity for correctional leaders and their partners.
FHI 360’s Green Corrections project contributes to the goal of making the corrections system more environmentally sustainable by facilitating the sharing of effective practices and lessons learned.
A recent competition, the Green Corrections Challenge, highlighted exciting and innovative green practices in local, state and federal correctional facilities and reentry programs in the United States. The competition, part of the Green Corrections project, showed how dedicated corrections professionals are minimizing negative environmental impacts, saving taxpayer dollars and preparing offenders for green jobs.
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AIDSWatch 2014: Science and advocacy coming together
An Interview with
Cornelius Baker, Technical Advisor, HIV and AIDS and Community Health, FHI 360
What is AIDSWatch?
AIDSWatch is an annual event in DC. Hundreds of people come from across the United States to educate members of Congress and other senior government officials about the impact of HIV in their communities and lives and to discuss strategies for ending the HIV epidemic. Public health officials, policy advocates, leaders from community-based organizations and people living with HIV seek to gain vital support for lifesaving programs and services.
The event includes a briefing on key policy issues and HIV-related programs, scheduled visits with members of Congress and the Positive Leadership awards reception. Participants learn about the budget and appropriations process, critical programs serving people with HIV — such as the Ryan White CARE Act and the Affordable Care Act — and effective HIV prevention strategies. The event includes a “telling your story” session to help participants communicate their experience to policymakers and networking sessions to share resources.
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The past three years have seen tremendous breakthroughs in HIV prevention research. Since 2009, we have seen the first vaccine to show effectiveness, a microbicide that was found to be modestly efficacious and two studies demonstrating that an HIV medication could be used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis or could reduce new infections by treating those with HIV earlier. These advances have led many to herald a new era in our 30-year campaign to end the epidemic.
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The Co-founder of National HIV Testing Day asks, “Why do we need a special day for HIV testing?"
Written by
Today, June 27, is National HIV Testing Day in the United States. It is an observance that is now recognized in many countries around the globe. Why set aside a special day for something that should be a routine part of medical care for people at risk of getting HIV? Because ending the stigma of HIV and creating multiple opportunities for testing is an urgent need in our effort to create an AIDS-free generation.
In the late 1980s, many of my friends had died of AIDS or were very sick. The decision to get an HIV test was not an easy one. But in 1986, I went for an HIV test at Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, because it was important for me to know my HIV status. This was at a time when there were few treatment options, and the testing process involved a long and scary wait for your results. In 1995, I worked with my colleagues at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) and we created National HIV Testing Day. This effort was designed to help reduce the stigma of HIV testing and to normalize it as a component of regular health screening. At that time, there was a lot of fear about testing. Because there were few treatments, many thought it unnecessary. People who were known to be HIV positive were subjected to being fired from their jobs or becoming victims of violence. At NAPWA, we believed it was important to confront this situation by encouraging people to “Take the Test, Take Control.” We also believed that the more of us who stood up, the less the world would be able to ignore the epidemic.
Last week, members of parliament in Zimbabwe provided the type of leadership needed in the United States and worldwide to end the stigma of HIV testing. Over 47 legislators, and 60 of their staff, underwent voluntary counseling and public testing for HIV in an effort to encourage other citizens to follow suit. As a result, Blessing Chebundo, chairman of the Zimbabwe Parliamentarians Against AIDS, told SW Radio Africa that, “181 people went through the doors for testing, and 23 men underwent circumcision (proven to reduce the risk of HIV infection).”
Today, there are dozens of treatments available to keep people with HIV healthy. There is excitement also about the progress we are making in biomedical prevention interventions such as circumcision, PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and treatment as prevention. HIV testing itself is easier and quicker with results available in 20 minutes. The promise of these new opportunities begins with everyone knowing their HIV status without fear of discrimination, stigma or violence.
To learn more about National HIV Testing Day, visit the website here.
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U.S. Education Blog Series: Prepared to Succeed
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Making Evaluation Smarter
In the ten years I’ve been working on evaluation with grantees of the U.S. Department of Education’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, a lot of trends have come and gone. They aim toward a good end – making sure the federal government is spending its...
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Setting Expectations from the Start: How Early Education Gets Children Ready for College and Career
In our twenty-plus years working on equity, we’ve always recognized the importance of communicating early and to all children the expectation that they will go to college, they will have a career and they will succeed.
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School–Business Partnerships Connect Students to Real-Life Careers
In my 19 years working on school-to-business partnerships for education, I’ve heard students repeat the same questions: Why am I learning this in math? Why am I reading this in English? Why do I have to do this science project? How is my education relevant?
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An Early Warning System Keeps Middle School Students on Track to College and Career
Middle school might seem far away from college and career, but the 5th through 8th grade years build a foundation for the rest of life. By looking at middle schoolers holistically — not only their academic performance, but also their social and emotional development — educators and parents can...
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Answering ‘What Comes Next?’ for Students with Disabilities
When I was a special education teacher in the 1990s and early 2000s, we almost never talked about what our students would do after high school. We just focused on getting them to graduation.
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Bridging the Gap from High School to Postsecondary Success
These days, both mainstream and education news are full of stories on why making sure students finish college is so important not only for young people, but also for the U.S. economy — for example, see the June 2012 Education Week article by Wendy Puriefoy of the Public Education Network (PEN)...
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Career Technical Education Keeps Students, Economy on Track
Career Technical Education (CTE) has been around for years, but it’s just beginning to be recognized as a viable solution to the country’s skills gap: the mismatch between what employers need and what job seekers offer. Although unemployment is high, companies are desperate for technicians who...
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College and Career Readiness Start Early
Forty years ago, a high school education could get most Americans a good job. Those days are over. Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce predicts that within five years, six out of ten U.S. jobs will require a postsecondary degree.
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Las Manos de Apá: The Hands of My Father
An Interview with
Judith Sikora, Senior Early Childhood Education Advisor, FHI 360
What is Las Manos de Apá?
Las Manos de Apá was a program FHI 360’s early childhood experts created and piloted with a grant from the Office of Head Start. We created a curriculum and materials that childcare workers and administrators in Head Start and Early Head Start programs could use to help the Latino fathers in their schools improve their parenting skills and better understand the early literacy needs of their children. The materials were used in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs in Michigan and New York.Why did this program target fathers specifically?
We wanted to reach out to fathers because research shows that fathers are generally less involved in the Early Head Start and Head Start programs than other family members. In the migrant and seasonal programs, a lot of the dads are farm workers, and many are illiterate. We found that many dads who participated in Las Manos de Apa had very negative memories of their school experiences and didn’t understand the different stages of child development or how to engage with their children in early learning activities.
It was very important to us that we engaged the fathers where they felt most comfortable. Many of the fathers fondly remembered the oral storytelling traditions in their culture, and many were exposed to these traditions in their early childhood years. So we used oral storytelling in the lessons to gain the fathers’ trust, build their confidence and engage with them in a way that would be comfortable and familiar. We were simultaneously building their parenting skills and teaching them how to relate to a three- or four-year-old child.
What kinds of activities did the fathers do in the program?
In one activity, the fathers learned how to make a book with their children. Even if the father could not read, he could encourage his child to draw pictures and teach his child to look at the book from the left to the right. Another activity the fathers did together was make bookshelves for their children. Some of the dads went all out and engraved their children’s names in the bookcases or added intricate details. That was a culminating activity for them. We also had speakers come to the fathers’ groups to talk about different issues. In another activity, the fathers gave presentations to the mothers.
There was an opportunity over the three-year period for the program to have different mix of families. There were always new families added to the mix. Migrant and seasonal programs open and close according to the growing season of the area. But we tried to engage them all in social activities as well as the lessons. Things like soccer games and cookouts fostered the community the participants built.
What did the fathers see as some of the outcomes of their participation in the program?
Many fathers told us that initially they weren’t sure how to engage with their children, and they lacked confidence about how to interact with their young children. They said that because of the skills they learned in the program, they now talk with their children more and participate in more activities with their pre-schoolers. Overall, they said that they are spending much more quality time with their families. Many of them didn’t have father figures in their households growing up, so they didn’t have role models to follow. Now, they want to be role models for their children. They told us that this project gave them a lot of the tools to do that.
For more information about the education work FHI 360 does in the United States visit our website.