LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

Here’s a brief little quiz and my challenge to you. Take a moment as you read to think about these inspirational statements on education and as you do, see if you can match the correct statement to the person who made the statement. We will call our little game…“Who Said It?”  Here are your choices and you can use each only once:

Helen Keller, Mark Twain, Confucius, Aristotle, Ben Franklin, Malcolm Forbes, Lee Iacocca, John F. Kennedy, Steve ”Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Michael Jordan, Anonymous, Socrates, Malcolm X, Proverbs 12:1

1.  Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.

2.  Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education.  Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.

3.  In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilization along from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and the highest responsibility anyone could have.

4.  If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

5.  The habits we form from childhood make no small difference, but rather they make all the difference.

6.   I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.

7.    The highest result of education is tolerance.

8.   To learn, you must want to be taught.

9.   Great minds discuss ideas, mediocre minds discuss events, small minds discuss personalities.

10.   The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.

11.   I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed.

12. I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.

13. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.

14.  If you think Education is expensive, try ignorance.   

15.  Wisdom begins with wonder.  

Answers: 1. Malcolm Forbes, 2. John F. Kennedy, 3. Lee Iacocca, 4. Ben Franklin, 5. Aristotle, 6. Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter, 7. Helen Keller, 8. Proverbs 12:1, 9. Eleanor Roosevelt, 10. Mark Twain, 11. Michael Jordan, 12. Confucius, 13. Malcolm X, 14. Anonymous, 15. Socrates

How did you do? Is there one quote that you like the best of these? Thanks for playing!

Metro United Way focuses our efforts on the building blocks for a good life- a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family through retirement, and good health. We know that helping children and youth achieve their potential will have a positive impact on our community for years to come. It all starts with Education and we have made a promise in our community. By 2018, we promise to make sure all children in our community are prepared for success in kindergarten and we are working to increase the high school graduation rate from 73% currently to 87%. To learn more about our work and the Education promise, visit our www.metrounitedway.org, check out Success by 6, Bridges to Tomorrow, Kids Count, or give us a call and together we will make a difference.

Advocacy, Education, General, Volunteering Bridges to Tomorrow, Community Youth Print, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kids Count, Success By 6

By David Langdon
Bulldogs in the Bluegrass Intern for Metro United Way

The job title “Intern” doesn’t usually bring to mind the most revered of all positions. For those of you reading now, if you smell coffee, it could be that an intern just placed a cup on your desk, or maybe your carpet still reeks of cappuccino from the last time your intern spilled it on the floor. Just don’t forget to yell at him for forgetting the cream and sugar, or else he’ll never learn!

For some interns, however, this rite of passage goes more smoothly and productively than for others. In fact, as an intern this summer for Metro United Way’s Community Impact Department, I can playfully mock my less-fortunate brethren while knowing that I did a lot more this summer than familiarize myself with the world of coffee makers and copying machines. I was lucky enough to be placed right into the grit of Metro United Way’s extensive work on early childhood education, a role that enabled me to participate in the inspiring effort to meet this region’s ambitious educational goals. And while my entire summer was not spent on early childhood education, I was exposed to enough of it to get a sense of how much Metro United Way does for Kentuckiana and how much is still left to be done.

I began my early childhood research by working with the Ages a& Stages Questionnaires (ASQ), a component of Success By 6 that allows parents to track the developmental progress of their children. Once I was well-versed in that, I took my show on the road and shared the good news of ASQs with several million parents (or maybe just a few hundred) at the Kindergarten Countdown event at Slugger Field. Back in the office, I later found myself working over data figures that told the story of how Metro United Way’s educational initiatives are funded, all the while helping to do what I could with the Border’s Book Drives and college scholarship interviews. Though these efforts cover a wide array of educational projects, they only scratch the surface of the enormous educational machine at work in Metro United Way.

The final early childhood education project I worked on reminded me that despite all of the great work that is being put into the community’s children, we cannot afford to get complacent. The educational figures I studied from JCPS schools, though they are improving in many categories, are staggering nonetheless. Dropout rates, reading levels, and sub-par testing performance remind us how pressing the educational agenda is for the health of the community’s future. For those of us who want to fight to improve the opportunities and the lives of local youth, I suggest that we work together, join hands, and, if I dare say it, live united as we strive toward the common goal of educational progress.

As my time at Metro United Way is coming to a close, I want to point out how fortunate the local community is to have so many people who deeply care about the health of their community and their neighbors. All of the early childhood projects I worked on and the people with whom I worked reflected this. I owe a tremendous thank you to Metro United Way—not just for giving me an internship that demanded more than cappuccino skills—but for letting me work side-by-side with the very people who are going to bring this great community to the cutting edge of education.

If you would like to get involved with education in greater Louisville, please visit our volunteer website!

McKaye, Kayla and David - our wonderful Bulldogs in the Bluegrass!

*Note* - David, along with two other Yale students, connected with Metro United Way through the Bulldogs Across America Internship Program. Click here to learn how your organization or company can get involved!

Education Ages & Stages Questionnaires, ASQ, Borders Book Drive, early childhood education, Kindergarten Countdown, Success By 6

By Natalie Harris

I came across this article,  The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers, by David Leonhardt, in the New York Times business section this morning, and with all the buzz about our recent Kindergarten Countdown event at Slugger Field, I thought the timing was too good to be ignored.

While the article is a bit of an opinion piece (ultimately treading into some potential education policy minefields), I thought the greater point of the study discussed was clearly worth mentioning:  kindergarten, when done well, has an incredible long-term impact.  As Leonhardt sums up:

Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.

An that “more” is nothing to sneeze at:

A student who went from average to the 60th percentile — a typical jump for a 5-year-old with a good teacher — could expect to make about $1,000 more a year at age 27 than a student who remained at the average.

The study discussed, “How Does Your Kindergarten Classroom Affect Your Earings? Evidence From Project STAR”, ultimately concludes that an outstanding kindergarten teacher is worth $320,000 a year.

This could definitely be viewed as depressing news in these days of budget cuts, school closings (i.e. bigger classrooms), and big challenges for even the best teachers — the ultimate toll all this can take on the community is alarming — but it should also be viewed as a call to action.

The work Metro United Way does in support of early childhood education (Success By 6, Gheens Bridges to Tomorrow, Born Learning and more) pushes us towards one goal:  making sure that our children arrive in kindergarten ready to succeed.  This moment of economic crisis makes it even more imperative that we do the work, with our community’s help, to meet this goal.

Education, Events, General early childhood, kindergarten, Kindergarten Countdown, Metro United Way, Success By 6

by Natalie Harris

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid - click for link

Oh, the iPhone.  In my house, it made an appearance just a few months ago.

Boy. has it ever.

My husband really can justify having one (he runs his own business, has no assistant, and is out visiting sites all over the city throughout the day),  but as his attachment to this lovely little device grows and grows, so does my level of frustration.

“But look at all that it helps me do!” he says.  He can send e-mail while at a jobsite!  He can get directions!  He can check prices!  He can take photos!  He can miss conversations!  He can forget to talk to our toddler!  He can help our teenager tune out even more by handing it to him at family functions!

Harrumph.

So when I came across this New York Times article yesterday, The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In, did I ever get excited.  Proof!  Validation of my recent tirades in black and white!  Sudden reason to examine my commitment to my laptop!  Wait — uh-oh.

As I overheard a friend of mine saying last night, “It’s hard being married to a righteous man.”  Ouch.  Turns out I’m the righteous one in the family, and the problem with all that righteousness is that you start to become blind to your own flaws;  I am just as guilty of distraction by way of e-mail, facebook, or, irony of ironies, The New York Times website.

I know that in this world where everyone –work, family and friends – expects us to be accessible all the time that it’s incredibly difficult to turn off all that distraction.  But as the article above points out, this constant need to stay connected electronically gets in the way of the meaningful connections in our lives, especially with our children.

Young children, in particular, need that connection to us.  They need it to develop language skills, to build their social skills, and to simply engage and learn about the world around them.  When we’re tuned into the smartphone at the playground, or even at the grocery store, we’re missing critical opportunities for learning.

As part of our Success By 6 work, one of the major initiatives here at Metro United Way, we’ve connected to a nationwide program called Born Learning.  Born Learning promotes using everyday life as a learning opportunity, and offers lots of guidance and suggestions on how to make it happen.  For many of us, this may seem intuitive, but I know I could definitely use a refresher, and to remember to turn off the computer between the hours of 5:00pm-9:00pm ( AND to hide that iPhone).

Education, General Children, early childhood, Education, parenting, reading, Success By 6, youth

By Angie Ditsler

I’m sitting here at my desk reflecting back over the last few weeks about interesting people I’ve met or conversations I’ve had. Sure, I’ve had a lot of conversations with coworkers and volunteers about work-related matters and big projects coming up.  I’ve also spent plenty of time talking to my husband and friends about the recent primary elections and our impending vacation coming up in a couple days. However, the most memorable conversations I’ve had in recent weeks have been with my 22-month-old nephew Jack.

Now don’t get me wrong; talking to Jack isn’t quite the same as talking to Warren Buffet, but in a lot of ways Jack makes me think and laugh just as hard. I usually don’t make it up to Cincinnati more than once a month to visit him so I treasure the time we get to spend together. When I last saw him on April 14, Jack was talking a mile a minute although I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. This time, when I went to wake him up from his nap on Saturday and asked him if he knew who was waiting downstairs to see him, he not only listed every relative in three generations and our pets, but he also raised his little eyebrows and looked me square in the eyes and said, “I throw the ball?” (It actually sounded more like, “I fro da ba?”) I immediately knew Jack was referring to our dog Dubs whom he loves to play fetch with when we come to visit.

I was stunned! I understood every word he said. Not only that, but I couldn’t believe he was putting three and four words together to form phrases and sentences already. In just a few short weeks, Jack had expanded his vocabulary by at least a dozen words and was actually able to carry on brief conversations- of course, they were about things like doggies, bath time, and his baby sister Cece. Still, it was the first time I had to pause and think, “Wow, the Little Man is really growing up.”

Watching Jack grow has been the most exciting thing to happen in my life so far. It’s amazing to see how much he’s learning and how quickly he’s changing every time I see him. Jack is a daily reminder of how important the first six years of a child’s life truly are. He’s a vacuum to the words, behaviors (and, yes, even dance moves) that are modeled around him. Every sound, sight, touch and taste is a learning experience for Jack- and it’s an absolute delight watching him learn.

For more information about the importance of early childhood visit www.metrounitedway.org/successby6.

Education early childhood, early childhood education, early learning, Success By 6

By Judy Schroeder

I am pretty sure I’m not the only one who is still comparing herself to her mother’s vision for her…right? Even when it spoke through dread and disappointment (“You’re not wearing that!” or “You don’t have any weekend to come home?”), Mom’s voice was the one I wanted to hear.

I was blessed, too. I could actually trust her judgment. Her humor and understanding turned all the little household chores into a great chance to be with her. Really, it was a very sneaky way to pull off raising six children born within nine years of each other! Teamwork. Inspiration. Joy. We won’t go into the temper tantrums here. I’ll just say…Discipline. She was clear enough to “jerk a knot in your tail” or place that worry in your own head when you started to go off track.

My Mom was a passionate, loving woman.

So, you know what you do when you’re the daughter of a passionate, loving woman? No, I didn’t have six children in nine years. I have three of my own, and lots of neighborhood children.

Other people I know who have blessings to share, share those blessings as mentors, tutors, and coaches. Many, like Joe Tolan, just make it their business to know the children and families on their block, or plant a garden like Ms. Lucille at the Russell Community Garden, or even outfit a bike repair workshop as Whit Forrester did in Old Louisville. My husband is the “go to” guy for basketball pumping on our block in Portland.

We do it because it’s fascinating to watch the young societies mix and match interests, bargain and exchange goods, argue and test each other over who they are and what’s important, today, in life. It might look like a fight, but it’s a test of wills and beliefs. We can help them with that. They’re all asking to be heard. They are fantastic! The best thing is that as they grow up, another crop suddenly appears. Those young parents are pretty interesting, too!

I am so proud to be part of a community that wants to make our “Youth Vision” a reality, where we want all children to experience “Success By 6.” Your contributions of time and treasure keep great community facilities open in places where families need those safe, healthy, and free opportunities.

If you are the mentor, tutor, or coach who encourages teamwork, inspiration, joy and discipline, Thank You! Or, like me, maybe you’ll want to keep that backyard basketball hoop and jungle gym just so that – with parental permission and an open ear from the house – we can keep tabs on that next generation.

Education, Volunteering mentoring, Neighborhoods, Success By 6, Youth Vision

By: Angie Ditsler

Last week I had the most amazing volunteer experience.  One of my most favorite Success By 6 volunteers asked me to return the favor and volunteer for a project she was working on in Shelby County.  When I first agreed to be a guest judge for the Shelby County Teacher of the Year Award I assumed that meant I’d be reading over nomination forms and scoring them.  But how well can you really judge someone’s teaching ability and impact on his or her students from reading an application?  My question was answered as soon as I received my judging packet in the mail, and saw that I’d be spending the day observing teachers in action and interviewing them individually about their jobs.  I couldn’t wait!

When I arrived at the Central Office that morning I met the other guest judges, a reporter for the Sentinel News and a school administrator in the Henry County school system.  Together, we read over the bios of the teachers we would be meeting later and then headed off to our first school.

I was absolutely blown away by what I observed that morning at Heritage and Simpsonville Elementary Schools.  It has been years since I stepped foot in fifth grade and kindergarten classrooms.  In some ways, my mind was immediately taken back to my days spent sitting in a beanbag chair in the “reader’s corner” in Mrs. Waggener’s classroom devouring novels as she played soft music in the background.  In other ways, I couldn’t help but think, “Where in the world am I?!”  There were no chalkboards in sight- instead the teachers wrote with their pointers on “smart boards” and erased the board with the click of a button.  I also noticed that neither classroom had a teacher’s desk.  My fellow judge explained to me that these schools practice what is known as “child-centered classrooms,” meaning the teachers are immersed in working alongside their students rather than lecturing from the front of a room.  I couldn’t help but feel “behind the times” as I looked around the rooms and watched these teachers work their magic on the students. 

When it was time for the interview portion of the day, I found myself straying from the scripted questions and asking the teachers about every detail of their days.  I was just so fascinated by everything I heard!  But what I marveled at the most were the teachers’ responses when I asked them why they continue to do this job after 10, 20, and even 30 years.  All responded, “It’s the kids.”  It was apparent to me that these were people living their passion.  I definitely gained more from this volunteer experience than I gave.  I walked away feeling inspired, motivated, and even more energized to pursue my passions, too.

Education, Giving, Volunteering early childhood, living your passion, Shelby County, Success By 6

By Angie Ditsler

Photo by guldfisken - click on photo for link

Russ told me once that his earliest memories as a child are of his mom walking him to the Crescent Hill Library every week to read to him and let him pick out books to take home. He told me that even as an adult he still vividly remembers the smell of the books in that library, and they conjure up fond memories for him every time he drives past it to this day.

Needless to say, this has led to ongoing jokes in our family about “smelling books.” Whenever I can’t decide which book to pick up next to read, Russ’ typical response to me is usually something like “Well, which one smells better?”

On a more serious note though, we’re both grateful to have been instilled with a love for reading in our childhood. Evening routines for us usually involve a glass of wine and a good book, and one of our favorite things to do on Sundays is to peruse the aisles of Books-a-Million or Barnes and Noble then relax and read until the store closes.

An aspiring writer himself, my husband devours books at about twice the rate I do. Russ accomplished a long-time goal of his when he recently published his first novel, a political thriller called Agent of Influence. He spent six years researching and writing his book, and the past year and a half has really been a team effort as we’ve worked together revising, editing, and trying to get it published. Being exposed to books at an early age has really inspired us and honed our talents in different ways: I always remind Russ that he is the creative genius in the family, while I have eye for detail.

Now that I get to work on various Success By 6 initiatives in my professional life, the importance of exposing young children to positive and healthy experiences early on like reading really hits home for me. One thing that my husband and I agree on is that when we have children of our own some day, we want them to grow up smelling books the same way we did. Who knew that a memory like the smell of a book could have such an impact on someone’s life?

Education, General Agent of Influence, books, reading, Success By 6

If there is one thing that working with Success By 6 has confirmed for me it is to instill a love of reading in my child. We read everyday at our house. In fact, Luke has made up a new game to play called “naptime.” He tells his dad and me to “go take your nap.” He tucks us into his bed, reads us a story, gives us our kisses, says goodnight and closes the door to his room. My husband actually finds this to be a very cruel game, because just as we are feeling nice and relaxed, Luke will burst into the room, turn on the lights and loudly say, “Time to wake up!” My favorite part of naptime is when Luke reads our bedtime story. He usually chooses one of his favorite books. So, he knows most of the words or uses the pictures to make up what is happening in the story. I think that it is very cool that reading a story has to be a part of “naptime.”

Luke has many favorite books, including the Clifford the Big Red Dog series. One of the reasons that he loves Clifford books so much is that there are pictures of the covers of other Clifford books on the back of each book. He likes to go through all of the pictures and find the pictures of the books that he has in his collection. Sometimes, this can lead to reading six books in a row, but I don’t mind. My bigger issue is that I can’t walk into a book store without checking out which Clifford books they have. I am constantly trying to find as many of the books featured on the back of the covers that I can. In fact, this morning I ordered a set of six Clifford books– three that we already have – from the Scholastic book order that came home from school just so I could add to Luke’s Clifford collection.

As I placed my order this morning, I thought about all of the children who do not have fifteen Clifford books in their collections or entire bookcases full of beautiful children’s books. It made me sad. But I couldn’t be sad for too long because my next thought was of the boxes and boxes of books that we just received from the Borders book drive.

This summer, for the third year in a row, Borders provided its customers with the opportunity to give a book to a young child who may not otherwise have one. And again this year, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our community.  When I spoke with my Borders contacts about halfway through the drive they told me that it seemed like the donations were going to be down this year because of the economy. We have not yet sorted and counted the books to know for sure how many books there are, but by the looks of the boxes stacked in our basement, our community once again showed its caring power and gave even if it hurt. There will be hundreds and hundreds of small children who will receive a book to take home. I wonder if any of them will tell their mommies and daddies that it is time for a nap, read them a book and put them to bed.

Education, Giving Borders, early childhood, reading, Success By 6

When I first started with Metro United Way almost seven years ago, I staffed what was then the Success By 6 Child Care Action Team. This team had developed several strategies about how to support child care providers in their efforts to provide high quality child care for young children and how to ensure that working families had access to affordable high quality child care.

One of the strategies that this team chose to focus on was the promotion of Work/Life Balance and the recognition of companies that offered their employees family-friendly policies. This seemed like a good idea to me. I was on board with this strategy. I thought that it was important. However, it wasn’t until after I had my own child that I realized just how hard it is to balance all the work life stuff, and I work at one of those places that is pretty supportive of me in my role as a parent.

I’ve talked to lots of my girlfriends about this and it seems to ring true for every single mom that I know that works outside of the home. The basic problem is that you never feel like you can give enough to anything that you do.

I constantly feel guilty that I am not giving enough of myself to my son, my husband, my job, my friends, my family or myself. I worry that the time that I spend with Luke during the week is too limited and that the hours that I am home are spent preparing dinner, getting him bathed and into bed at a reasonable time. Sure, there is some time in there for us to play, read and snuggle, but it doesn’t really seem like enough time to devote to the most important thing in my life!

I also fret that I don’t give enough of myself to my work. (Trust me when I say that my husband clearly disagrees with me on this.) I think I have a really important job. It is a big goal to ensure that all of the children in our community are healthy, safe, nurtured and prepared to succeed in school. Sometimes I think that having a person in my position who could work a sixty hour work week is what is needed to actually achieve that goal.

And then there are all of the other important life factors that seem not to get the attention that they deserve: my husband (sorry honey!), my friends, my family, and not to be selfish but ME!

And here’s the thing: I know that I have it good. I am lucky to work for an organization that values its employees and their families. When I was breastfeeding, I had an office that I could comfortably close the door and pump milk for my baby. I have fantastic co-workers who I can call upon when Luke is sick and they will cover for me. I have the flexibility to schedule Parent/Teacher conferences at Luke’s school during the workday when his teachers are available. I have volunteer hours that I can choose to use by spending time at my son’s school helping out in the classroom or on Board projects.

I am grateful for the technology that is available to me so that I can check e-mail and work on electronic files from home.

I once heard a speaker refer to a study about Generation X parents like me. We don’t want to miss our kids’ soccer games or school events. So, although we may slip out of the office early for that kind of thing, we make up for it by checking e-mail or doing work after our kids are in bed. Hey, if nothing else, we recognize and strive for a Work/Life Balance in a way that many of our Baby Boomer parents couldn’t.

How’s your balance working out?

Photo Credit: James Jordan

General Life, making a difference, Success By 6