LIVE UNITED Y’All!

Just about everyone I know loves ice cream.  There are an abundance of flavors to choose from, and each one has unique and wonderful qualities.  Sometimes I like plain vanilla, especially on top of a slice of warm Dutch Apple pie.  Other times, I prefer chocolate, or dulce de leche, or toffee, or Spumoni, or strawberry, or even black raspberry.  Come to think of it, there aren’t too many flavors of ice cream that I don’t like.

When I was a kid, the only flavor ice cream I ever wanted was vanilla, and not just as a topping on my pie.  You see, I had tried vanilla when I was really young, liked it, and figured I would never be disappointed as long as I had vanilla.

I think the first time I tried a different flavor was when a neighbor was making homemade ice cream and offered me some peach flavored ice cream.   I was pleasantly surprised how great this fruit-flavored cream tasted, and from that point forward, I wanted to try new flavors all the time!

If variety is the spice of life, ice cream proves how rich our palette can be once we are open to new experiences.

I guess the same can be said about people.  As we reflect on diversity and inclusion, I never cease to be surprised by people who look differently than me.  Often, I have some judgment that they must be unlike me.  In most cases I am right – and thankfully so!  How utterly boring would life be if everyone were the same – had the same viewpoints, interests, skills, manners of expression, etc.   I think our ability to learn would be severely hampered without diversity, since different perspectives offer us new opportunities for growth.

The last couple of years I have had the distinct pleasure of delivering Christmas gifts to immigrant families in our community with my two children.  What a rewarding experience it has been!  I have been impressed by the families I have met from Burma and Cuba , experiencing a bit of their cultures, and realizing how blessed I am to be part of a community that is growing its multicultural identity.

In my limited associations, some of what I have noticed is incredibly strong family connections, a relentless pursuit of growth, a strong work ethic, and a sense of gratitude to our country, while maintaining a sense of cultural pride.  Through these experiences, I find myself appreciating my life even more, taking more pride in our great melting pot, and getting off my duff to capitalize on those things that I formerly took for granted – like giving my voice to things I feel are important.

I am convinced that any time I get discouraged about what is possible for our community, all I need to do is talk with someone from a different culture, and I gain a new perspective that continues to pay dividends.

What opportunities do you see for learning from our growing multi-cultural community?

By the way, the next time I enter the ice cream parlor, I going for Superman!

General, Volunteering diversity, making a difference, multi-cultural, Volunteer

I was recently invited to be a guest Sunday School teacher at church for a group of fourth grade students.  Their exercise was to read about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other people who were making a difference for others through their lives and work, including the President of Heifer International, Jo Luck. 

I asked my class what they could do each day to make a difference for others.  After getting through a couple of “do nots”  I got a few positive action ideas, like “collect can goods for food drives,” and “serve food at a soup kitchen,” which are truly helpful and worthwhile things to do. 

However, I encouraged the students to think about even more basic actions than those.  For example, saying hello to someone you may not usually speak with, or sharing a smile and a helpful hand by opening a door for someone whose hands may be full.  There are countless ways we can lend a helpful hand each and every day. 

I am reminded of a story that I have seen circulate a few times through the internet about a freshman in high school who dropped a large stack of books walking home from school one day.  Another student unfamiliar to him stopped to help him pick up the books, and soon they became fast friends.  Three years later, the formerly clumsy freshman was delivering the valedictorian address at his high school graduation and recalled the story of how a classmate whom he had hardly known had extended an act of kindness.  He then relayed a chilling story about how he had cleaned out his locker that day, as a freshman, with the intention of taking his life that evening, and how he had wanted to save his parents the task of picking up his belongings from school afterwards.  Who could have known that a simple act of kindness by a stranger at that moment had literally saved his life, and had provided him with a renewed sense of hope and confidence? 

Regrettably, I have lost more than one person in my life to suicide.  I think it’s the most difficult form of loss to endure.  I’ve often asked myself – why didn’t I see that coming?  Why couldn’t I have done something to prevent that from happening?  I have come to the realization that sometimes it takes another person to make a difference for those closest to us, whom we love the most.

As a new year’s resolution, I invite you to continue loving and caring for those who are closest to you, and I request that you extend your warmth and compassion to an even broader set of individuals, perhaps even strangers.  Never doubt that even a very simple act of kindness can make a profound difference in someone’s life.  In 2011, let’s all live the words of Anne Herbert that are immortalized on a bumper sticker – “Practice random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” 

How will you make a difference this year?

General Change the World, lend a hand, making a difference

By: Kelly Thompson Garvey, Director of Engagement Initiatives at Metro United Way

(Information provided by HandsOn Network)

Did you know that Metro United Way Volunteer Connection is one of the more than 240 HandsOn Network Action Centers across the United States? HandsOn Action Centers, also known as Affiliates, Volunteer Centers, or Cares organizations, are the engine through which HandsOn Network connects thousands of volunteers to meaningful service opportunities throughout the United States, and increasingly, throughout the world.

HandsOn Network was conceived by a group of individuals that wanted to make it easier for people to get involved in building their communities and helping their neighbors. Groups of like-minded individuals in New York , DC , Chicago and Atlanta got together and decided to formalize the beginnings of this partnership by creating Hands On Network – a national organization that would focus on bringing the Hands On approach to communities everywhere. This important movement made it to the Kentuckiana area when the Metro United Way Volunteer Connection became a Points of Light Foundation affiliate in 1990, and then became an official HandsOn Network Affiliate in 2008.

The Metro United Way Volunteer Connection operates regionally (including Louisville and surrounding counties, and Southern Indiana), supporting a variety of issues and needs. We build relationships with nonprofits, school, faith-based organizations, corporate partners and others; our Volunteer Connection plays a critical role in leveraging volunteer power to the fullest effect.  We help to inspire, equip, and mobilize individuals and groups to take actions that create positive change in our community. Last year alone we helped to connect nearly 18,000 volunteers to service in our community.

The Metro United Way Volunteer Connection, the volunteer center for our region, is leading people from impulse to action, turning their ideas for change into impactful projects, like tutoring and reading to children, serving meals to the hungry, and mentoring.

By visiting our website www.metrounitedway.org/volunteer, you will find that there is truly something for everyone who wishes to engage in volunteering.  If you don’t see something you like, let us help you design, develop and manage a project that meets your need to serve.

When you think of volunteering, think Metro United Way’s Volunteer Connection!

Call us anytime, we would love to help you volunteer today. 502-292-6152

Volunteering Community, community service, HandsOn Network, Louisville, making a difference, Southern Indiana, Volunteer, Volunteering

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

Last week I was fortunate to attend the celebration dinner of the annual WLKY Bell Awards. This special event recognizes the outstanding volunteer efforts of individuals in our community who work hard to make a difference through volunteer service to others.

I have long been aware of this program and was thankful to have the opportunity to attend and shared the invitation with my daughter Mariah who is 16. My thinking was a little on the selfish side. I had noticed two youth awards would be presented and felt like this would inspire her as well.  I was hoping she would take a look at DePauw University where one of the Youth Service recipients Samuel Leist attends, and I was hoping she would want to volunteer. Don’t get me wrong. Mariah has a desire to give back. She volunteers when she can but has told me she wants to do more. I believe when her life is less-busy with an active volleyball season she will follow through.

We met at the Galt House, enjoyed a delicious dinner and watched the awards program unfold. We read the bio’s in our program of the deserving recipients and anxiously waited to hear from them when they shared personal messages at the podium. We noted in our program that the last award was going to Earl Wieting, a 91 year old volunteer who served in World War II, and continues to serve today by volunteering his time to deliver food to places including the Salvation Army. I have confessed before, I appreciate old people and he was so cute and well worth the wait to the end of the program to hear from!

After the ceremony, on our drive home,  I asked Mariah,”so what did you think?”
Then I was quiet as to not elicit any direction on what I was hoping to hear. Here is what she commented.

“Why were all the waiters and waitresses working at the dinner black? I think that was strange? That doesn’t make sense to me.”

“My favorite winnner was the lady in the purple dress. I really liked what she said when she got her award.”

“I heard several of the winners say they were able to do so much volunteering because of their position or husband or were wealthy. I sort of feel like that gives them an advantage -that they have the opportunity to do so much more because of that -and then they also are the ones who ‘get the award’.”

“I really want to do more.”

I won’t include my responses here but can tell you we shared a deeper quality discussion around each of her observations. Like my daughter, I came away ultimately wanting to find ways to do more. You don’t need to look far in our community to find people to help and at Metro United Way there are so many opportunities to help in ways that touch your heart and fit your schedule.

Isn’t that the real reward? Having a desire in your heart to want to help others and then doing it. Tell me about your last volunteer experience? Will you plan to do some volunteering for 85 days of Caring? You could even make it a family affair.

Tune in to WLKY TV on October 16^th at 8 pm and you can hear for yourself what retired attorney Susan Turner aka the lady in the purple dress had to say about volunteering and watch the 2010 Bell Awards Ceremony.

Volunteering Community, Louisville, making a difference, parenting, Volunteering, WLKY Bell Awards, youth

Mary Ann Steutermann

Growing up, I was lucky to have parents and other family members interested in how I was doing in school and very supportive of my progress. Mom would give me snack when I got home from school, tell me to turn off the TV so I could get my homework done, and would check on how I did when I said I was finished. Dad was a big help with geometry and science by helping me come up with ideas for the science fair or making me practice geometric proofs even when I didn’t want to. I also had a special aunt that I go could to for support when I had personal problems that I didn’t want to talk to my parents about. Unfortunately though, not every kid has that kind of support or the parental support provided isn’t enough to meet the academic and personal challenges the kid faces. Often, something more is needed.

Youth mentoring has proven to be one of the most effective ways of improving both self-esteem and academic success for young people. But mentoring isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor. In fact, there are about as many different types of mentor relationships as there are caring adults out there willing to work with kids. A mentor can help with homework, shoot hoops or play baseball, take a young person to the theater, or engage in any number of activities that can help boost self-esteem and confidence.

Making a Difference

Most importantly, mentoring is effective. Students who meet regularly with a caring adult mentor are 52% less likely than other students to skip a day of school and 37% less likely to skip a class during the school day. Likewise, young people in mentor relationships are 46% less likely to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to begin drinking alcohol (National Mentoring Partnership – www.mentoring.org). Even more striking is the fact that minority youth are an amazing 70% less likely to begin drug use than those not in mentor relationships (Child Trends Research Brief).

Short-term gains from mentoring relationships include an improvement in the young person’s attitude about school; improved behavior at school; better relationships with parents, teachers, and peers; higher college enrollment and greater aspirations beyond high school; and improved decision-making, communication, social and relationship skills.

But the young people aren’t the only ones who benefit. Mentors report a greater satisfaction in their connection to the community and an increased sense of pride in making a positive contribution to the lives of at-risk youth. They also benefit from opportunities to develop new communication skills and further enhance their own strengths (www.nwrel.org/mentoring; Cori Brewster & Jennifer Fager, Sept. 1998).

Baby Steps

The great thing about being a mentor is that you can do it any way you like. Mentors can work through programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters or countless agencies that pair caring adults with kids in need of a helping hand. But what if you don’t have time for that kind of commitment? No problem! You can still make a contribution. Consider asking kids in your neighborhood or you friends’ children how they are doing in school. Ask about their interests, what they are learning, and what they want to be when they grow up. Encourage them to stay in school and to go to college. If you can be a mentor through a more formal relationship, super. But if not, just showing some concern for the kids you encounter is a way to make “mentoring” part of the culture in the Metro area and to show kids that plenty of adults out there want them to be successful and are willing to help.

Education, General, Volunteering Children, Education, making a difference, mentoring, Metro United Way, reading, Volunteer, youth

One of my favorite tunes of all times is the Supertramp song that was re-made several years ago by the Goo Goo Dolls - “Give a Little Bit.”  Yeah, I guess I am showing my age here – the original goes back to 1977, but the lyrics are still relevant.  If everyone were focused on giving a little bit of their time, their voice, and their money to help others, I am convinced that many of the challenges we face would be greatly reduced.

I’ll always remember a three day weekend I spent in San Francisco back in 2004 with my buddy Ernie.  We flew to the West Coast to participate in a leadership development workshop and intentionally arrived early to soak in the beauty of the area and spend some time with the local people.

We headed to one of my favorite districts, Haight Ashbury, so we could walk in the footsteps of so many talented musicians of the sixties.  After we grabbed some ice cream and took a seat on a less-crowded street corner bench, we noticed a gray haired gentleman with very few teeth strumming some classic rock tunes on his guitar and belting out the lyrics with an amazingly clear and captivating voice.   We walked over to get a closer look, made eye contact, and smiled.  Between songs we chatted with him.

John shared his name and a little bit of his life with us.  He was homeless, living in a tent in Golden Gate Park.  He was hungry and was playing for money to buy some food.  He was trying to take care of his daughter who had recently moved to his campsite.  Baked beans helped fill their bellies.

We asked him if we could sing a little bit with him.  Ernie is a talented musician with a good voice.   I have absolutely NO musical talent (ask UPS employees) but still try, nonetheless.  Together, we must have sounded okay because a small crowd soon gathered, voiced their approval, and gave a little bit of their money.

After about five songs, John smiled at us, thanked us for joining him, and said he was going to head back to his camp.  He said his daughter’s stomach had been hurting from lack of food, and he said he had collected more money playing that short time with us than he had made in quite awhile.  He thanked us for spending a little bit of time with him, and he was going to buy some baked beans and bread.

When I reflect back on my life, some of my most fulfilling moments are times when I connected with someone who, on the surface, appeared very different from me.  The memory of being on that street corner a couple of thousand miles from home with John, someone who had obviously endured many losses in his lifetime, will always stand out for me.

My first thought about being a donor to Metro United Way and being a volunteer in our community is having a sense of fulfillement and connection.  Doing something that makes a difference in the life of another person, even something very small like the brief time I spent with John,  makes a memorable and lasting difference for ME.  “Give a little bit” – and gain a lot!

“Now is the time we need to share.”  We all see the statistics – unemployment hovering around 10%, more people in our country living in poverty now than ever before, young children entering school ill-equipped to learn and not graduating from high school on time, if at all. 

In tough economic times, for those of us who are able, we need to reach even deeper into our hearts and our wallets to help friends, family, neighbors, and even “the man with the lonely eyes.”  So join me in giving a little bit of your time, your money,  your love, to make a positive difference for guys like John right here at home. 

“So find yourself, we’re on our way back home. Going home. Don’t you need to feel at home?”

Give to Metro United Way!

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I’ll give a little bit of my love to you
There’s so much that we need to share
Send a smile and show you care
I’ll give a little bit
I’ll give a little bit of my love to you
So give a little bit
Give a little bit of your time to me
See the man with the lonely eyes
Take his hand, you’ll be surprised
Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
I’ll give a little bit of my love for you
Now’s the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we’re on our way back home
Going home
Don’t you need to feel at home?
Oh yeah, we gotta sing

General, Giving Giving, homeless, hunger, making a difference, Metro United Way, Volunteer

by Judy Schroeder, Manager of Neighborhood Engagement

Because of Darlene Seabrooks, I’m meeting some wonderful young moms who are getting involved with our Ages & Stages “Action Research.”  I want you to meet some of them, so we’re making a video that I’ll post for you in a few weeks.

Since Metro United Way plans for every child in our Greater Louisville community to be prepared and ready for kindergarten, we have to be asking…HOW? (Where’s Superman when you need him?)

The Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) is one tool used by hundreds of local parents to learn more about what their child is learning, and what they, as parents, can do for their infants and toddlers. After all, free and confidential assistance is available to all Kentucky children under age 3 who have developmental needs, regardless of income. Let’s figure out how to use that!

Nearly 900 families from all backgrounds, scattered throughout dozens of different zip codes, are already involved. That tells me parents from all backgrounds are looking for information about their child’s development, and they are getting it with a personal touch provided by your Metro United Way.

Right now, we’re finding that around 20% of our children generally need some help. Those parents get a personal phone call to discuss great community services that can do that.

Maybe because of my special bias as a Portland neighborhood resident, I always have to ask whether the families who are getting involved include our poorest neighbors.

GREAT NEWS:  In the course of this Action Research study, we’ve seen the few returns we started with from predominantly poor/moderate income zip codes (which were 5% or less) rise to at least 27% of the returns we have now.  We find that some of those neighborhoods are doing better than others. For example, in Shawnee up to 75% of the children are scoring “typical” or better.

It’s also true (at this point in time) that our Action Research neighborhood has the highest participation numbers across Jefferson County. That’s good. The outreach helped.

What’s really important though, is that 60% of these scores are saying that children need some specific help, three times the results in the general population, from what we see now.

Returns from Parkway Place Housing, where there is a median household income of less than $15,000 per year, jumped in July-August 2010 due to participation by our partner, the California Child Development Center, and Darlene Seabrooks. Ms. Darlene is the trusted community advocate and mentor at the Housing Authority’s after-school Tutoring Center who graduated from the Center for Neighborhoods’ Neighborhood Institute with the idea that she wanted to make a difference for children and families’ education.  She has!

She is connecting us to interested parents, who are involved only because Ms. Darlene figured out how to get them involved. Now let’s keep them involved, because parents are the real Superman to their children.
*****
To request an Ages & Stages Questionnaire, call 2-1-1, or complete a request form for Ages & Stages Questionnaires on Metro United Way’s website.

Advocacy, Education, Income Ages & Stages Questionnaires, ASQ, Children, Community, early childhood, making a difference, Neighborhood Engagement, parenting, Success By 6

By Christopher Locke

Wow, it’s that time of the year again! A time when young people of all ages have visions of cartoon-covered backpacks, reams of three-hole, loose leaf paper and bounties of yellow Number 2 pencils dancing in their heads… Which means it’s indeed time for school! With the return to school and visions in mind, I’m reminded of a Henry David Thoreau quote that says “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

And while most parents and adults in the community are expectedly looking at purchasing items like sports and band uniforms, instruments, or even lab supplies to support their children’s education success in the classroom and school– a lot of well-meaning and caring adults have been spending a lot of time creating a compelling child-centered, community-based vision for young people to be successful outside the classroom and school. These caring adults and young people were callers, conveners and participants in a community effort called the Youth Vision. It was exciting to participate and witness the process of developing a vision that the community can be proud of that will also mobilize us to action.

The community response to an invitation from a group of youth development and education experts convened by Metro United Way to come and share their thoughts on youth success was overwhelming. When all the conversations were complete, 36 community conversations had taken place with residents from 30 of the 32 zip codes in the Louisville Metro area, from 11 other Kentucky zip codes and from 3 Southern Indiana County zip codes. The participant demographics revealed that the conversations had attracted broad and diverse participation from community residents interested in young people.

And as Thoreau said, they looked at some things. In fact, the participants looked at a long list of depressing challenges that often impede many young people’s paths to educational success.

• 1 in 4 freshman entering 9^th grade in JCPS don’t graduate on time and in four years with their peers.
• 65% of JCPS students are on free and reduced lunch.
• Worse still, last year JCPS reports that 10,500 students were classified as homeless.

In all three cases, a disproportionate number of the students are African American and Latino.

But again, like Thoreau wisely recommended, the community residents participating in the youth vision conversations did not get mired in pessimism. No, instead, this spirited group, led by Metro United Way and Metro Government, decided that the callers and the residents see what matters. So the optimists flipped the deficit-based reality that many of our students and families deal with everyday on its head and decided to engage resident voices in the process by asking three strengths or asset-based questions.

• Think about a young person in your life…What are your hopes and wishes for their success?
• What helps a young person be successful?
• If you could waive a magic wand, how would our community look different if ALL youth were succeeding?

After over 500 people had answered, the compelling Youth Vision emerged.

Louisville Youth…

• Have the skills and education to be self reliant, healthy, engaged and economically thriving.
• Have hope and show strength of character to achieve their goals, follow their dreams, respect others and contribute to bettering their community and world.
• Live in a caring community where everyone values, supports, invests in and fights for their success.

It sounds  pretty compelling to me, and we hope you agree! What are some of your ideas for our community’s youth? Would you be willing to act in creative ways to bring this vision to life in the community? How?

Advocacy, Education, General back to school, Children, Community, Education, future, High School Graduation, kindergarten, making a difference, Metro United Way, opportunity, parenting, Southern Indiana, students, success, youth, youth development, Youth Vision

by Mary Ann Steutermann

I’ll admit it – I have few domestic skills. In particular, I absolutely, positively do not cook because 1) I don’t enjoy it and 2) previous attempts have resulted in blaring smoke alarms and upset stomachs. Fortunately for me, I am married to a great cook who both enjoys the process of creating a fine meal and actually produces dishes that people find not only edible but downright delicious. Over the years, I have watched him in the kitchen preparing a meal, and I’ve learned his secret to success – preparation.

The Right Ingredients

I was surprised to learn that most of my husband’s culinary efforts go into selecting the best ingredients and then spending quite a bit of time cutting, chopping, dicing, and seasoning them. In fact, he probably spends at least twice as much time preparing the ingredients as he does actually heating something on the stove or baking it in the over. Similarly, Metro United Way has been hard at work preparing to develop a strategy map that will guide our efforts in the coming years as we work to ensure that all of our children arrive at kindergarten ready to be successful and that at least 87% of them complete high school by earning their diplomas.

Just as it’s tempting to jump right into to turning up the heat on the stove without taking the time to chop and season the ingredients first, it’s tempting for an organization to jump too quickly to decisions about its future work without doing the necessary leg work in preparation. But we won’t make that common mistake. In fact, we’ve been hard at work in the kitchen for several months now.

Engaging the Community

Before settling on our specific strategies in support of educational progress, we have been doing a lot of homework. An essential part of this has been engaging the community in various ways in order to make sure we have all of the data and information needed to make good decisions. We have been working with various groups to get their feedback on our emerging role as leaders in community support of educational progress. So far we have engaged the community through:
• Donor conversations
• Colleague discussions
• CEO calls
• CSC committee discussions
• Council of Agency Executives discussions
• CI Cabinet conversations

Another major engagement opportunity we have embarked upon is an Education Research Project in conjunction with Kentucky Youth Advocates. In addition to providing the latest research on how to promote high school graduation and reporting on essential quantitative data by county, the project has also engaged superintendents, principals, government officials, business persons, faith-based leaders, parent organization leaders, service providers, and various other community movers and shakers on their perceptions of both strengths as well as perceived needs. This will allow us to not only identify what is going on in each county in each of the 5 “tipping points” of the UWW education framework (kindergarten readiness, 4th grade reading, middle school transition, high school graduation, and college/career), but it will also let us also know what the community feels they most need to see improvement in educational attainment.

We are in the process of planning community forums in each county to discuss the results and get further input during October and November. We’ll keep you posted on this!

Lessons Learned

Without a doubt, I will never cook a sumptuous meal that meets with the praise (and shock) of my family and friends. But lots of us at MUW have been hard at work in the kitchen doing the prep work on another masterpiece – a framework for moving forward as community leaders in support of greater educational attainment. Watching my husband prepare a wonderful meal has taught me that an ideal result to any creative endeavor takes patience, preparation, and persistence. Even though the thought of applying these traits in a real live kitchen gives me hives, I’m thrilled to be applying them to our emerging plan for helping our community meet its educational goals.

Advocacy, Education, General advocate, Children, Community, Education, engagement, future, Louisville, making a difference, Metro United Way, research, strategic planning, youth

With school having just started back, education seems to be on everyone’s mind.  Getting over the anxieties and challenges of starting a new school year can be a big hurdle – especially if your child is entering kindergarten or a new school.  This year, my son is a 5^th grader at a school that he has attended since pre-school, but my daughter started at a new school as an incoming 6^th grader entering middle school.  At orientation, she remarked “This place is BIG!”  As a parent putting myself in her shoes, I couldn’t have agreed more.

When children have a supportive family and a stable home environment, doing well in school can still be a significant challenge.  Keeping up with all of their subjects, text books, assignment sheets, daily reading, and long-term projects can be a tall task!  However, there are much greater challenges being faced by large numbers of children in our community.

Last year, 10,555 students in Jefferson County Schools were homeless at some point during the year.  To me, that number is staggering, both in terms of volume, as well as impact for each child.  I think about how difficult it must be to try to focus on academics when you may not know where you are going to eat or sleep.  Even if you’re staying with another family, sleeping on a couch in the living room is a far cry from sleeping in the comfort of your own bed in a private space.  It’s also painful to think about the many situations which may have caused the unstable housing to begin with – the loss of a job, a serious illness or death in the family, a lack of financial resources, chemical dependency, mental illness, domestic violence.  Every situation is unique.

Fortunately for us, our community is thinking about some of these most challenged students and how we can support them to make sure they have a fighting chance in school.  Organizations like the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, the Coalition for the Homeless and systems like Jefferson County Public Schools, our Kentucky’s Department of Community Based Services (child welfare), and Family Courts are teaming up to discuss how we can better support homeless children and their families, and how all of our systems can work together to ensure all children have every chance to be successful, by addressing their holistic needs.  When organizations and individuals come together around common goals, amazing things can happen.

I invite you to consider what it would be like to be in a homeless child’s shoes trying to learn in the classroom.  What images does this evoke for you?  How could taking on this perspective help us all as a community to better support these children’s academic success and long-term stability? 

Education, General Add new tag, Children, Coalition for the Homeless, Education, future, homeless, Jefferson County Public Schools, Live United, Louisville, making a difference, Metro United Way, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, parenting, youth