Sharing Web Resources

I have been following the Children’s Defense Fund website.  This week, I explored a link called “CDF News”.  This linked to several news stories around the country focusing on issues such as racial gap and exercise programs.  I decided to read a news story based out of Chicago, called “Chicago’s Growing Racial Gap in Child Poverty”.  This news story examined poverty levels among children in Chicago and stated that “more than one in three Chicago children are living in poverty” (Bogira, 2012).  According to Bogira (2012) however, this statistic is skewed because less than 1 out of every 11 white kids are living in poverty while 1 out of every 2 black kids are living in poverty.  This is a startling statistic.  In fact, Chicago has higher poverty rates for every racial group, with the exception of whites, than the national rates (Bogira, 2012).  According to research, the racial gap in Chicago’s poverty levels appear to be growing, with a 10.6% growth among black children from 2000 to 2011 (Bogira, 2012).  Bogira (2012) believes that this gap is caused by segregation in schools and neighborhoods; he describes two distinct “black neighborhoods” that have been segregated for over 50 years.  He later describes these neighborhoods as suffering with issues of fire, joblessness, crime, and high dropout rates (Bogira, 2012).  Bogira (2012) brings it to the reader’s attention that this is not an issue that can just be ignored, which is what is happening now.  He plans to continue addressing this issue in an effort to make others aware and to hopefully move forward with positive change. 

Another news story on the website did not relate to the field of early childhood, but it did relate to education opportunities for immigrants.  Some states have tried to reduce spending by cutting funds available for American citizens who are the children of illegal immigrants (Preston, 2012).  Some Universities view these children as out of state residents because their parents are not naturalized citizens; this causes problems such as tuition that can be three times as high as in state tuition (Preston, 2012).  Some children also have lost their scholarships because of these rulings.  Recently, the Federal District Court ruled this unconstitutional, but many students were afraid of fighting this issue because of the fear of deportation of their families (Preston, 2012).  In this article, it was clear that accessibility of higher education was a concern for immigrant families.  This is similar to the problems families face with costs of child care and the fear that if families take advantage of benefits that it may affect their immigration status.   

Resources

Bogira, S. (2012). Chicago’s growing racial gap in child poverty. Chicago Reader. Retrieved from                 http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/10/04/chicagos-growing-racial-gap-in- child-poverty

Preston, J. (2012). Court rulings help illegal immigrants’ college-bound children. The New York Times.      Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/florida-and-new-jersey-courts-aid-   illegal-immigrants-college-bound-children.html?_r=2&ref=us&