A Motivational Year with Children of the City

The first Children of the City newsletter reflected about the successes from last year. We've increased our board with some wonderful new members who will be a great asset to the organization as we continue to grow. As you know, I am also on the board of Xaverian High School, and we are privileged to have Dr. Salvatore Ferrara who is the president of the school join us at in our development process. You can read more about the school on my Rocco Basile website.

It is with Dr. Ferrara's assistance that we have progressed from having one fundraising event, which is known as our annual Gala (coming up again this March 13, 2008) to several events, including two Legislative Breakfasts.

We now have a number of connections with some of the elected officials who have been watching the results and impact that our programs are making.

One of my personal favorites is the Children of the City after school program, which is doing really well. Several students in our program who were at-risk students in junior high school but are now doing terrific in high school. Plus they are volunteering their free time back into the program.

We have many testimonials that you can read about on the website but one is about Stephanie Garcia, one of five children in a struggling single parented home. She was recently accepted into the National Honor Society. Stephanie attributes her success to the support that Children of the City has given her and her family.

Parent Workshops have been getting high attendance where we are providing needed resources and encouragement to the families. And we're very excited about the possibility of opening a Charter School in 2009. This would enable us to use the methods that have been so successful, taking Children of the City to the next level, increasing the number of children that we can service, and increasing our capacity for the after school and summer programs.

Our goal is to increase the scope of comprehensive services that Children of the City provides to the disadvantaged children of Sunset Park.

The Success of After School Programs

Here's a really interesting item. The 7th Annual Afterschool for All Challenge which brings together youth and afterschool staff as well advocates and administrators from around the country in Washington DC on May 14 and 14, 2008 for two days of workshops, networking, meetings with Congressional offices and celebrations. This year's Afterschool for All Challenge is partnering with the National League of Cities and their National City Afterschool Summit. City officials, superintendents, school board members, and afterschool providers will have a chance to share ideas and strategies to help ensure the growth of afterschool programs.The event honors afterschool all stars and celebrates the 10th anniversary of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Initiative. Plus they all meet with members of Congress and the need for continued investment. Click here for highlights from last year's Challenge

Last ,year, more than 300 advocates, providers, parents and students participated in this year’s Challenge and they visited more than 200 Congressional offices delivering the message that afterschool is key to kids’ success.

I know for a fact that afterschool programs work well because of my work as a Board member of Children of the City. In fact, here's Rosa's story... She is 12 and lives in Brooklyn, New York. If someone dared asked Rosa to read, even a book as simple as one by Doctor Seuss a few years ago there would have been mayhem. In the midst of screaming and pounding fists, she was known to overturn her desk and send books flying across the room. School teachers gave up on Rosa, aiming to manage her tantrums rather than provide any instruction. In third grade, Rosa was still learning addition and subtraction.”

When Rosa began to attend an educational after school and summer program at Children of the City, she found the nurture and structure she needed to survive. She began doing her schoolwork, and she found a new home. Now Rosa is in sixth grade and doing well in school.

I have other information on my Rocco Basile website for anyone interested.

Education Trends

I was poking around on the Internet and found this interesting National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities article entitled, Educational Trends Shaping School Planning and Design 2007 by Kenneth R. Stevenson, Department of Educational Leadership and Policies, College of Education, at the University of South Carolina. He originally wrote the article in 2002 and had ten points, but this is the latest version with 12 points. The trends that he has identified came about by reviewing the latest research along with the school facilities and student outcomes; current issues, problems, and initiatives in the educational field. It also takes into account any emerging demographics. Below are the top five trends...

Trend 1 - School Choice. Parents and policymakers around the country are unhappy with public education, so they have attempted to dismantle what they consider to be a public monopoly over the delivery of K–12 schooling. They have pushed for vouchers and tax credits that permit parental choice and offer alternatives to the local public school. In response, school districts are embracing the idea that parents and their children should have choices. So they have started offering parents options ranging from magnet schools to charters (Shostak, 2004), and by 2005 there were approximately 3,400 charter schools in the United States serving about 800,000 students (Carpenter, 2005).
Trend 2 - Small May Be Better. Over the next 25 years we may see elementary schools housing an average of 200 students, middle schools with no more than 400 to 500 students, and high schools with 500 to 750 students. Supporters argue that small schools are particularly good at improving the academic achievement for students who have not done well in traditional settings. They believe small schools have higher graduation rates and improved behavior among students(Wasley, 2002; et. al.).
Trend 3: Reduced Class Sizes. Significant research demonstrates that smaller-class benefits not only include enhanced academic performance but improved student behavior and teacher morale (Finn & Pannozzo, 2003). A few studies further suggest that such classes particularly benefit students whoare at risk (Nye, Hedges, & Konstantopoulos, 2004).
Trend 4: Technology in Education. School districts will need to develop effective methods to control costs caused by more-numerous neighborhood schools, lower teacher-pupil ratios, higher energy costs, and reduced tax revenues. One solution would be by means of virtual education, or “e-schooling” (Berge & Clark, 2005). Students seeking more specialized or advanced courses could take classes via closed circuit television or through Internet e-learning.
Trend 5: The Mission. School buildings must accommodate a change in mission. For example, schools attempting to maximize standardized achievement test scores may need to modify their curricula (Dillon, 2006). Students with academic difficulties may be required to take additional courses in their problem areas. To enhance scores on state or national tests, students may be required to sign up for a second course in math rather than taking art as an elective. And those students doing well in math or science may be encouraged to take more math and science, rather than non-academic electives. This will raise their school’s academic profile. As schools increase the focus on traditional academic subjects, demand for music, art, and vocational courses may diminish.

I find it fascinating that our own Children of the City (COC) charity in Brooklyn, NY is already proving some of these kinds of trends. You can read more about Children of the City on my own personal Rocco Basile website. As a Board member, I know that our programs such as Create Success work. It is an after school and summer program for a student’s academic success. Click here to learn more about this program.

Could After School Programs Help Crime Prevention?

The recent news on February 15th about the gunman who shot 18 students from a stage before killing himself at Northern Illinois University (NIU) is devastating, and deserves our thoughts, prayers and condolences. Yet many of us dig deeper and wonder how could this have been prevented?

In the charity work that I do at Brooklyn, New York-based Children of the City, we are no strangers to how crime and violence affect children every day. But we also see how a community can help. Perhaps if there were more programs nationwide like this, tragedies like the one at NIU would have been prevented.

It is interesting that violent and property crime rates at our country's schools during the year 2005 were statistically unchanged from the year 2004 versus 2005.

According to a report released a year ago on December 2, 2007 by the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics violent and property crime rates remained about the same in the year 2005 compared to 2004. They measured crimes such as rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault and also theft. Here are some of the highlighted statistics:

-- Older students, of the ages 15 to 18, were less likely than younger students, of the ages 12 to 14, to be victims of crime at school during 2005.
-- Older students were more likely than younger students to be victims of crime away from school.
-- Other serious violent victimizations were lower at school than away from school for every survey year from 1992 through the year 2005.
-- During the year 2005, 99 percent of the students aged from 12 to 18 observed at least one of selected security measures at their school; the percentage of students who observed the use of security cameras at their school increased from 39 percent in 2001 to 58 percent during 2005.
-- Of the students in grades 9 through 12 an estimated 43 percent reported drinking alcohol anywhere and four percent reported drinking at school during the 30 days prior to the 2005 survey.

The charity's programs including its FutureSafe program, which is is a collaborative monthly event attended by an average of 500 children. It's like a neighborhood block party, complete with food, games, singing, crafts, and other fun activities for children. Children are picked up from their homes and brought to a community center where they participate in this event. Children of the City provides a much-needed preventative element designed to deter children from drug abuse, delinquency, gang involvement, teen pregnancies, as well as teach them on important issues such as health and education.

Stay tuned for more information on this topic. Or check out my Rocco Basile Charity website.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. More information can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/.

Education Historically Focused on Music, Math and History

Recently, along with my research on successful programs for students being done at Children of the City, I started researching the history of education in other parts of the world. In China, for example, formal education can be traced back to around the 16th century B.C. At that time, education was a privilege for the elite, and basically for the purpose of producing government officials. The studies included what was known as the “Six Arts”: Rites, Music, Archery, Chariot-Riding, History, and Mathematics.

I am sure glad that today’s gym teachers don’t have to worry about teaching chariot-riding!

But what I do find very interesting is that the basics are still the same – given music, history and math. These topics are to this day still quite challenging for some students, and why our Children of the City after school program called Create Success has been such a success. Many of the kids in Brooklyn come from ethnic families who do not speak English at home. One little Asian boy who started studying in the COC program is now reading books way above the standard level for a second grader. He sounds out the harder Latin based words with ease.

Create Success is an after school and summer program focusing on each student’s academic success with intense tutoring and daily personal help with homework. The program has shown dramatic results, increasing many students’ reading and math skill levels, and encouraging healthy study habits, communications, along with improved peer relationships.

By personally connecting with each child in their environment, Children of the City volunteers and staff are able to reach the children at home, at school, on the streets and playgrounds, and in their facilities. This builds strong relationships and from there we are able to teach, inform and counsel on various life issues and skills.

Basile Builders Group Sponsors Seminar on Brooklyn Subprime Market

With all the latest information on the subprime market, the saddest news is how much it has affected the minority neighborhoods all over the U.S. They have been heavily targeted for risky high cost loans. That's why my family's company Basile Builder's Group, is joining a group of other specialists including Legacy Financial, the law offices of Daniel Boldi, Esq., L.I. Business Consultants, Amenity Appraisals and Ameraprise Financial to hold a free seminar on February 19 at The Knights of Columbus, Brooklyn , New York.

Why? Our community needs advice and guidance. With millions of Americans suffering from rising mortgage payments due to adjustable rates, balloon payments and other unscrupulous sub-prime programs, many folks have started to really panic as they hear about or know other family members and friends who are losing their homes. It's our goal to help answer questions.

Minorities are at the center of the subprime mortgage crisis, according to a study that was put out by United for a Fair Economy, a Boston-based economic policy group. The “State of the Dream 2008: Foreclosed” report evaluated subprime lending during the past eight years and projects a direct loss from defaulted subprime loans to range between $365 billion and $605 billion.

It's estimated that whites hold 55 percent of the bad subprime loans, while minorities hold the other 45 percent. African-American borrowers are projected to lose between $71 billion and $122 billion — about 20 percent of the total projected losses, while Latinos will lose $76 billion to $129 billion for the same period, about 21 percent of the subprime default burden.

It's pretty bad here in New York in places like Brooklyn. According to this January 26th Bloomberg subprime article, the communities of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights had a foreclosure rate of almost four times the national subprime figure of 6.89 percent, which was the highest since March 2003.

These sharp increases in subprime mortgage loan delinquencies and in the number of homes entering foreclosure do raise important economic, social, and regulatory issues.

For more information on the Feb. 19th free seminar, contact Jonathan at 516-404-5855.

Motivational Quotes for the Future of Education in America

Trends in the future have always interested me, especially trends that might shape the future of educators and students worldwide.

The future of America's education system, for example, according to futurist James Canton, is that "the quality of public education, in crisis today, will either propel or crash the future aspirations of the American workforce." And with that he mentions that America's workforce needs a transformation as well, to accomodate a more competitive and global group of people with higher education in science, as well as the innovation skills necessary to ensure a prosperous future. He also predicts that education is failing to prepare skilled, high-tech-savvy workers.

Another future forecase from his book Extreme Future: "America's youth will be unprepared in science and math to compete successfully in the global economy by 2010 unless drastic changes to public education are undertaken now."

Did you know that foreign students are awarded the majority of U.S. scientific PH.D. degrees? No matter how many motivational sayings we all read about, or hear from todays new politicians, the reality check is that without education, our country might just be doomed because our country will not be competitive.

There is also a rise in the hispanic population in this country. Many of the kids in Brooklyn, New York, for instance, come from hispanic families, many of whom cannot afford help when their kids are not doing well at school. This is why I love the work I have been doing with Children of the City, and the Joe DiMaggio Committee for my Alma Mater, Xaverian High School. Their educational programs are fantastic, and helping kids daily.

As a father, it is really important that my kids grow up to be educated, inspired and competitive so they can be future-ready and survive. In fact, Canton even has a page in his book that says this:

HEADLINE FROM THE FUTURE: 2012. U.S. High Schools rated Best in World at Teaching Science.

And he also predicts that communications and the Internet will be available to all nations and people by the year 2040. And that the creation of immediate, portable, transferable, in-demand knowledge sources on a scale equivalnet to the Library of Congress. It is number eight among the top ten trends of the new innovation economy of the future.

In fact, I even created a new website to promote the importance of education and my charity work -- check out www.roccobasile.org.

What Happens When a Society Does not Invest in Education?

For years, educators have struggled with all the reasons why education is one of our essential rights of a democracy. Reasons include equal opportunities for everyone, productivity among citizens, participation among members of that democracy, and more. Often forgotten is the importance of education in terms of its benefit to our country’s economic strength. Education is the engine that drives a healthy economy, and without it we would lose many of the benefits of a democracy.

That’s why I believe education is so important and not only has such far-reaching effects on a person’s life, but also on our communities. In fact, the National Education Association (NEA) has some interesting statistics on the topic including what happens to a society that does not invest in education. Does this affect the economy?

William Schweke, a researcher, says that “prevention is almost always cheaper than treatment. If we do not invest now, we most certainly will pay later.”

Author of a book called Smart Money: Education and Economic Development, he discusses the costs, socially, of inadequate educational and preparation for the workforce. Schweke believes that by increasing earnings, education can lower social costs. Following are some interesting facts:

There is a strong relationship between low basic skills and welfare dependency—60 percent of out-of-wedlock births among 19- to 23-year-olds are to those who score in the lowest 20 percent on basic skills tests.

Raising the means-tested skills of 19- to 23-year-olds by the equivalent of one grade would increase lifetime earnings by 3.6 percent and reduce the likelihood of births out of wedlock by 6.5 percent, welfare dependency by 5.3 percent, and arrests by 6.2 percent.

Did you know that 82 percent of all Americans in prison are high school dropouts?

The United States spends almost 10 times as much as Western European countries on security services, arrest, incarceration and parole. These same countries spend comparable amounts on subsidized training and employment.

About 2 percent of our nation’s gross domestic product is allotted to crime control activities, and another 2 percent is lost to crimes that occur. Inequality in earnings and wealth in the U.S. has been increasing for two decades, so growing economic disparity is hindering the nation’s ability to provide the high-value-added products and services necessary to compete globally.

Education positively affects income distribution and its effects on people’s income. By the way, this is well documented among economists, social scientists and in economics literature. helping to reach children at risk and who can be resilient if they are given the right intervention and education.

My website, http://www.roccobasile.org/, is a composite of all the latest news and information about education in the country. I believe that by helping to reach children at risk, they are resilliant and will become important people in our communities when given the right intervention and education. So you will see some case studies of success stories on my site as well. For more information about the charities where I am on the Board and volunteer -- go to Children of the City and the Joe DiMaggio Committee for Xaverian High School.

Children of the City Success Stories

Once in awhile it is really nice to actually hear about the success of a charity program. In my work with Brooklyn-based Children of the City, I came across a story about a little 12 year old girl named Rosa. A couple of years ago she could not read a book as simple as Dr. Seuss, and when asked, she would scream and pound her fists, turn desks over, and send books flying across the room. Why? She would think, "I would think, 'Are they slow? why don't they understand? I don't read!! Do they even care?'"

But things changed when Rosa began attending an after school educational program sponsored by Children of the City (COC). She found nurturing volunteers, and structure that she needed to help her with her homework. It was also a refuge away from her home where her drug addict, alcoholic Mom lived.

Rosa met Nina, who is currently the director of education for COC. It was Nina who turored Rosa for three years, helping her learn how to read things like C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters .

Today Rosa says, "The plans I wanted for my life weren't possible unless I got an education from someone like Nina." Motivation was the key.

This organization serves the children and families of Southwest Brooklyn, and has for two decades plus. Most success stories include families that have overcome welfare and poverty, and even people who have overcome substance abuse, violence and gang activities. Today, like me, they are putting their time into the community and volunteering.

Education Helps Mitigate Crime and Drug Use

I was reading the US Department of Education (ED) tagline, which states, "Promoting educational excellence for all Americans." This organization was created in 1980 and the ED mission is "to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access."

A $71.5 billion budget and about 4,500 ED employees are dedicated to establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, as well as distributing and monitoring those funds; focusing national attention on key educational issues; disseminating research; prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education; and collecting data on America's schools.

For example gang violence is just part of everyday life in places such as Brooklyn, NY. It’s amazing, but out of every three families lives below the poverty line and there are 17 thousand documented child abuse cases in this community.

Drugs, disease, gang violence, and crime contribute to about a thousand deaths annually. More and more people are realizing that the answer is education. There is a 48 percent drop out rate among high school students, so out of the 30 thousand students, 15 thousand are dropouts.

The good news is that there are a number of organizations that are bringing light and making a difference. With hundreds of people in need of intervention, kids in need of education, and families that could benefit from counseling, I truly believe in the work being done at organizations like Children of the City. It is a completely volunteer-based outreach program that connects people in need with basic services, educational as well as employment training, counseling, and even health care. I highly recommend and encourage people to go to their website and help by contributing time, resources, and donations.

My education taught me to be sympathetic to the needs of others, which has also helped me understand that I can change the world - like Gandhi said - it is important for us to be the change we want to see in the world.

745 Children Visited During Holidays

We had a very hectic couple of weeks prior to Christmas - starting with all the toy deliveries by different individuals and organizations over several days, and three nights in a row of gift wrapping with the help of 89 volunteers from a number of organizations throughout Brooklyn, as well as out of state. There were 44 volunteers from Ohio and Virginia who helped our staff visit all the families on our roster, which included about 745 children visited.

Hundreds of children and families came through the Children of the City doors to pick up gifts and groceries. The charity's executive director, Joyce Mattera said she is really pleased with the outcome and the great connections that were made through the Christmas project.

Children of the City serves the children and families of Southwest Brooklyn, and has for more than twtwenty years. Families have overcome welfare and poverty, substance abuse and lifestyles of violence and gang activity. And they are now pouring back into the community and volunteering their time into this organization.

In fact Joyce Mattera, the executive director of Children of the City was interviewed by Sandra Bookman from channel 7 Eye witness 5:00 news. Here's the link.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/media?id=5845687

Child Abuse in Brooklyn NY

Did you know that there are 17 thousand cases of child abuse in Brooklyn? 48 percent high school drop out rate. Of the 30 thousand students, 15 thousand are dropouts. One out of every three families lives below the poverty line. Some kids wear sandals in the winter. There are drugs, disease, gang violence, and crime. There are about a thousand deaths per year.

I decided eight years ago to join the Board of an organization called Children of the City - to help do something about these statistics. This is happening right in our own back yard in Sunset Park. There are hundreds of people in need of intervention, children in need of education, and families in need of counseling, and hope. And our motivational quote is that Children of the City "is an organization making a difference."

This group was founded in 1981, and is a volunteer-based outreach that connects these people in need with basic services, educational and employment training, health care, counseling, and many opportunities for personal growth.

If you are familiar with my work (Rocco Basile) then you already know that I am helping to reach children at risk and who can be resilient if they are given the right intervention and education. In fact if you would like to help, please join us at http://www.childrenofthecity.org/