See It: The Community being helped

The problem I am trying to solve is literacy in low income communities. The best place to start is with children when they are young and give them the joy of reading.

See It: The Community being helped

Swaziland has the highest concentration of HIV/AIDS in the world, with two-fifths of the adult population infected. The life expectancy there is 40 years, and in 2003, 17,000 deaths occurred due to AIDS. This constant devastation of the population has resulted in many households run entirely by children, and the number of orphans grows every day.
The goal of our project is to improve the educational facilities and programs within rural Swaziland. With the money that we acquire we will build a preschool for the children of the village, KaPhunga. In Swaziland there is only a 79% literacy rate, and overall education levels are low, mainly because only 44% of the children attend a secondary school. The country of Swaziland has a population of just under a million, more than half of which is under 18 years of age. This is important because if we can increase the level of education within this youth majority it will spark significant change in the future.
A better school is a necessity in the village of KaPhunga because it would provide stability within the lives of the children. In Swaziland there are 95, 000 orphans, 63, 000 as a direct result of AIDS. There are many households run entirely by orphans, and they are left with the responsibilities of working and acquiring food. The school we would like to build would guarantee these impoverished children with at least one meal a day, and it would provide them with a sense of community.
The purchasing of supplies and the hiring of builders for the construction of the school would happen in Swaziland. Swaziland has a 40% unemployment rate, and 69% of the population lives below the determined poverty line. In 2005, statistics showed that 48% of the population lives on less than one dollar a day. By purchasing supplies and hiring builders in Swaziland, we are bringing more capital into the local economy of KaPhunga, and are also providing much needed jobs.

See It: The Community being helped

As Walt Disney said, "There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island." One book can be all it takes to inspire the imagination of a kid or to relieve the worries of an adult. So give a book; give a dream. Studies show that access to books is essential to success in literacy. Forming a reading habit at a young age significantly correlates with achieving higher scores. Yet most people don't realize that 60% of underprivileged children do not own a single book. Many of these students are less likely to develop adequate reading proficiency, which puts them at a further disadvantage later on in life. At the same time, old books are sitting unused, unnecessarily taking up space in many homes. We Bookaneers strive to alleviate this serious issue.

See It: The Community being helped

Designed to put books in the hands of kids from under-served areas. Additionally the program aims to train teachers in accompanying arts oriented curriculum and put the teachers and students in direct contact with the artist/author.

See It: The Community being helped

Deafness is the most common disability in the United States. Cochlear implants are an amazing technology that can restore a sense of hearing to many people affected by hearing loss, enabling them to learn to listen, speak, enjoy music, learn a foreign language, talk on the phone, succeed in mainstream education classes without the use of a sign language interpreter, and overall live happy, successful, productive lives just like anyone else! My friend, Rachel Chaikof, was one of the first children in the United States to receive a cochlear implant as part of the FDA clinical trials in 1989. With the help of committed parents and teachers, Rachel listens and speaks just as well as I do, and I have normal hearing! Because of Rachel, and many other deaf people like her who listen and speak with the help of cochlear implants, I am determined to become a Speech-Language Pathologist and specialize as a Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist. Currently, I work as a teacher's aide in an oral deaf preschool while working toward my degree and SLP certification. Rachel and I collaborate on a website, www.cochlearimplantonline.com. Every day, Rachel and I write articles intended to provide guidance, support, and hope to parents of children newly identified as deaf or hard of hearing. Thus far, our site has reached parents across the United States, as well as people in Australia, Italy, and many other foreign countries. Rachel, a talented graphic artist, has also designed a line of cochlear implant awareness apparel, which is sold through the website. Proceeds from the sale of the cochlear implant awareness clothing fund scholarships to provide Auditory-Verbal Therapy for all children with hearing loss, regardless of their ability to pay. Rachel and I are also active volunteers with the Cochlear Awareness Network, a group of advocates dedicated to providing counseling, support, and information to people with hearing loss considering cochlear implant surgery. In anticipation of this year's Better Speech and Hearing Month, an event recognized every May by the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA), Rachel and I have felt motivated to take our advocacy of listening and spoken language for deaf children one step further. Together, Rachel and I have produced two books that include characters with hearing loss. The books describe the ways in which people with cochlear implants are able to live normal lives just like any other children. I am the author, and Rachel is the illustrator. These books will provide a much needed source of information to the public, who generally are ill-informed of the facts about cochlear implants, and unaware of the fact that yes, even the most profoundly deaf children can learn to listen and speak. Additionally, the books' characters will provide positive, self-esteem building role models for deaf and hard of hearing children, who rarely see characters who resemble themselves in children's literature. We are seeking grant funding to help obtain an ISBN number for our book, and to fund the distribution of this book to all of the Cochlear Implant Center hospitals across the United States, as well as many public libraries and oral schools for the deaf. Our hope is that, once these books reach the intended audience across the US, readers will be inspired to purchase more personal copies for themselves or those they love with hearing loss. Once the books are opened to the public for purchase, all proceeds from the sales will be donated to the Let Them Hear Foundation. Let Them Hear provides funding and legal advocacy to people in need of hearing aids, cochlear implants, or specialized rehabilitation/education, as well as conducts medical missions to benefit people with hearing loss around the world. Deafness is a very common problem, yet public knowledge about the potential of each and every deaf person to learn to listen and speak is sorely lacking. Rachel and I know that deaf children CAN do anything they set their minds to, and we intended to show that to the world!

See It: The Community being helped

Do you love magazines? Help us get magazines into the hands, homes, and hearts of children learning to read to succeed.

Volunteers are needed to set up a KinderHarvest magazine recycling project in your community. The KinderHarvest team will collect recycled magazines from consumers and businesses and deliver them to new readers - children and families who want to learn and love to read.

MagazineLiteracy.org is the first and only global, magazine industry-wide literacy project for children and families. Learn more at the following web links and join us to change the world -- one magazine at a time!

http://magazineliteracy.org/

http://magazineliteracy.org/bee

http://magazineliteracy.org/?tp=kinderharvest

See It: The Community being helped

In 2008, the Josie Odum Morris Literacy Project, Inc.(JOMLP), will start a Red Wagon Summer Program in the La Moyne Gardens neighborhood in Inkster, Michigan. The purpose of the Red Wagon Summer Program is to make new books available to children. Also, it is intended to develop meaningful and sustainable relationships between JOMLP and the children and their families.

See It: The Community being helped

My goal is to create the first library at Meru Peak School, Mount Meru, Tanzania. I will be teaching at the school for 2 months. The Meru Peak School and orphanage provides free education for children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS. Headmaster Joseph Maganga believes education is the key to creating opportunities for the young people in Tanzania. Both he and his wife, also an educator, use a majority of their combined salaries to sustain Meru Peak School.

I can't imagine a childhood without books. Please help me aquire books and donations so that I may take books in both Swahili and English to Meru Peak. Swahili is the native language and English is mandated to be learned by 7th to 8th grades. Books in both languages will be most helpful for young readers.

The school currently has no books on hand and very few school supplies. I have donations of gently used books and am planning on buying books in Swahili.

Check out the school site:
merupeakschool.com
to learn more about how they are sustaining the school, but need help.

“There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.”
- May Ellen Chase

See It: The Community being helped

To provide educational, vocational and mentorship training services for youth 14 -19 in the Fairfield, Alabama Community.

This new program will offer educational and training opportunities to help youth in underserved communities learn about opportunities for employment that don’t necessarily require a college degree and can pay livable wages. The program was designed to specifically target youth that are not currently engaged in academic programs. The purpose for this is to use this program as a deterrent to criminal activities that have plagued the Fairfield community over the past decade. We know that many of our youth engage in criminal activity for monetary gain.

It is our belief that the McKinstry Movement presents youthful leaders as program advocates that will capture the attention of potential youth participants; helping them to see young people who are committing their lives to positively groom themselves and a have a lasting impact on their communities. It is important for our youth to know that leadership can start at any age. Taking control of ones’ destiny is a human principle that is lost with many of our youth. The McKinstry Movements seeks to reinforce this principal and take that youth by the hand, helping to guide them to avenues of success and prosperity.

See It: The Community being helped

Recently, my friends and I formed a club called "Book Bug" at the Brookline High School. We noticed that almost every kid in our town has the opportunity to do anything, or be anything they want to be. We know that we are very fortunate to have these opportunities and realized that only ten or fifteen minutes from Brookline there are towns where kids do not have the same freedoms. One thing common between all of the members of our club is our love for books. Our purpose is to spread this love while disabling illiteracy. Our first concentration is Sandra's Lodge in Waltham. It is an emergency intake center which is home to more than 120 families of women and children. We will be building a bookshelf and fund raising for books adequate for children 0-8 years old. The books will be fundraised for at our school and we are talking about partnering with a local book store to donate books. In a few weeks this bookshelf will be installed in a playroom located in one of the newer buildings of Sandra's Lodge.