Week 6 Sharing Web Resources

The early childhood organization that I have followed along with this course is the “Children’s Defense Fund”. The outside link that I decided to follow and research is that of NPR News http://www.npr.org/2012/06/11/154761297/why-is-poverty-inequality-growing. Within this link was a transcript entitled “Why Is Poverty, Inequity Growing?” This is a conversation between the host and Peter Edelman, Professor of Law and faculty director of the Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy at Georgetown University.

Professor Edelman speaks of the economy and low wage jobs playing a majority part in poverty. I learned that in the United States there are 103 million people that have incomes below twice the poverty line. I was shocked to learn that this line is $44,000 for a family of four. This puts myself and my family in this category, and that scares me.

When researching the organization “Children’s Defense Fund”, I found what is called “What this State of America’s Children Handbook.” This provides key national information in different areas to better inform and enable people to stand up for the children in their communities. There are charts showing how the children in each state are faring in protecting children. Here is the link for anyone who wishes to research http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/soac-2012-handbook.pdf.

I have learned that we need to educate ourselves as well as the families we work with and ones in our own communities about the challenges that face our children and insist that our nation make better investment choices for their futures. We need to work on making sure that we ensure every child’s chance at thriving and surviving.