Blog
May 11, 2007
Hands Around City Hall for Children
Good morning! I am so excited to report to you that our event "ALL JOIN HANDS" around City Hall, which The Philadelphia Children's Commission co-sponsored in collaboration with Safe and Sound was a huge success, dare I say "hands down"!
Lots of photos were taken and soon I will post them all on the website.
The image of 1000+ children joining hands and encircling city hall will be long remembered by all who were present.
Although it was not on the scale of the original "Stand for Children" in Washington, DC back in 1996 (which I attended with about 12 of my children, interestingly enough, 12 of my children and grandchildren participated as volunteers yesterday too!) but the energy and the sense that this was really the beginning of a "movement" was similar.
If you were not there and did not yet see the Commission's "Listen to our Youth" Voter's Guide created by the young entrepreneurs from the Project H.O.M.E. Honickman Learning Center, please go to the "Resources" section here on the website and check it out - it is quite a wonderful piece of work.
If you attended this event, or saw pictures and news about, I'd love to hear from you - I think we sent quite a powerful message to city leader's that our children need their fair "slice of the pie" when we make our political and budget priorities. And speaking of pie - here is a public shout out to TastyKake for donating the 2500 pies we gave away yesterday to help us send our message!
April 3, 2007
Effective Schools
All children need effective schools.
What does this mean? Does it have to do with the bricks and mortar, the copyright date on the textbooks, the class size, the competence of the teaching staff?
Of course, all of the above.
Yes, but . . . .
But students CAN learn in less than stellar buildings, and without all the bells and whistles. What they cannot do without are teachers who have the combination of subject knowledge, communication skills and passion for teaching.
Teachers who love learning as much as they want their students to. Teachers who care about the art and the craft of learning and who are passionate about sharing that with their students.
Teachers who believe in the possibility within every student and the desire to see it bloom in each student.
Too attract and keep teachers like these, we also need to pay attention to the bricks and mortar, teaching conditions, safety, class size, quality textbooks, mentor-teachers for them to lean on, technology, and other tools.
Hmmmm, whats good for teachers is also good for students, and whats good for students is also good for teachers.
We have many of these kinds of teachers in Philadelphia already.
But not enough, nowhere near enough.
What will it take to attract and retain these kinds of teachers and to ensure that all Philadelphia's school children have these kinds of teachers in their daily lives?
March 22, 2007
Caring Adults
All children need connections to caring adults.
Hmmmm, what does this mean and where do we find those caring adults?
When I was in 4th grade, I was a little chubby and not in with the popular girls. They could be vicious at times, taunting and teasing. The person who was most supportive? The school janitor, Mr. Jackson. He always had a kind word, a big smile and a quiet manner that helped me to realize that the world was not going to end if I didn't get invited to a certain birthday party.
I was also a pretty bookish kid, always had my "nose in a book" as my mom would say. My great aunt Ruth understood this, and shared books from her personal collection with me. She was a school teacher and inspired me to major in Early Childhood Education when I went to college.
Then there was Mr. Casey, a high school English teacher. He saw potential in my writing and encouraged me to join the yearbook staff. He also liked the Red Sox as much as I did and we kept each other up to date on box scores and favorite players.
Mr. Jackson, Aunt Ruth and Mr. Casey - three of the many caring adults who helped guide me through the turbulent waters of childhood and inspired me to set and achieve my goals.
Who were the caring adults in your life? Who are the caring adults in the lives of Philadelphia's children?
Are you one?
How can we find, encourage and support more Mr. Jacksons, Aunt Ruth's and Mr. Casey's?
What are your thoughts?
March 7, 2007
Defining those Connecting Links
In my first post on this blog, I stated:
All children need connecting links. They need connections to a strong family, to caring adults, to effective schools, to a safe and nurturing community and to a sense of hope for their future.
In the next few days, I'd like to think out loud a little about each of the 5 types of links I suggested above, and more specifically, what our city leaders can do to promote and support these links.
The first one mentioned is a strong family. What makes a family strong and what can a mayor or city council do to help support a city filled with strong families?
Today, I'll start by sharing my list of "ingredients" for a strong family. I'd love to have some of you add to the list. Then we can talk about what city leaders can do to ensure that every family in our city has all of these ingredients.
Ingredients for a Strong Family
* Parents who themselves are physically and mentally healthy and stable enough to care for and nurture children
* A physically and emotionally safe, secure place to live
* A reliable source of income to provide for every day needs
* A safety network of services and supports (both formal and informal) to tap when crises, unexpected challenges or other hurdles appear
* A sense of family identity, pride, cultural heritage - connection to both a past and a future
These ingredients would be a good beginning - what else would you add?
March 1, 2007
What could our Mayoral candidates learn by taking a break from the stump and playing with Legos for an afternoon?
I was watching news updates on Philadelphia’s Mayor’s race while my grandson was busy constructing something incredibly complex out of Legos. Almost imperceptively, my attention began to shift from the news to his emerging creation, and before long the two objects of my attention morphed into one interesting train of thought.
What could our Mayoral candidates learn by taking a break from the stump and playing with Legos for an afternoon?
When I was a child, I had a great set of colorful wooden blocks, and loved building with them. Alas, they were as easy to knock over as to stack, a fact not lost on my 2 year old sister, who clapped her hands with glee each time she made the blocks “all fall down.” What Legos have that my blocks did not are the connecting links.
And connecting links, I believe, are what children who grow up safe, strong and healthy have, that many other children do not. Without these connecting links, many of our city’s children “all fall down” just like the blocks of my childhood.
All children need connecting links. They need connections to a strong family, to caring adults, to effective schools, to a safe and nurturing community and to a sense of hope for their future. Our children, like individual Legos, are the building blocks of our community. We cannot make Philadelphia “The Next Great City” without ensuring that every child is connected to the whole.
When our children have these connecting links, what a great city we can build. My grandson’s complex structure would not have been nearly as sturdy, interesting or complete without each individual Lego block. And yet, none of the Lego blocks could contribute to the whole until they were first linked one to another. While many of the blocks looked alike (same color, or size), they each filled a unique role in the completed structure. The diversity of colors and sizes also ensured the richness, beauty and strength of the final product.
As Executive Director of the Philadelphia Children’s Commission, I intend to ask each of the Mayoral candidates what they will do in their administration to ensure that all of Philadelphia’s children have the opportunities they need to be well-connected. And I will encourage them to take a little time to play with Legos.
What do you think?