Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

I visited the website of the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre’s page (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/),  and read about issues in Mongolia.  Mainly because I didn't know anything about the goings-on in Mongolia, I was curious what their situation was like.  After reading about it, I have to say I was greatly disheartened.  Mongolia was heavily tied to the USSR but when they opted for the "shock reform" in 1990, things began to go downhill.  Such rapid change that took place hit the economy hard, and unemployment rose and social services were cut.  Health care options for poor families were greatly reduced.  30% of children under 5 years of age showed signs of malnourishment and many children were not attending school.  Migration is a common practice in Mongolia due to the amount of livestock herders.  However, it was reported that most migration began taking place to give children a better education.  However, those who did move to another area for education were 3 times more likely to be out of school than those who had not migrated.  This is due to a number of factors including non-acceptance of students at schools, lack of nearbye schools, or cost of attendance.  Though the situation in Mongolia is beginning to look up, these facts are still an issue.  With such a gap between the rich and the poor, something needs to be done to help the children in this country so that they can overcome these obstacles and perhaps eliminate them in the future. 

Sharing web resources

The website I chose and subscribed to was http://www.zerotothree.org/.  Zero to Three is an excellent resource for any information regarding infants and toddlers.  They provide information for a variety of issues related to early childhood.  They are a non-profit organization whose goal is to simply improve the lives of infants and toddlers through information, trainings, and support of those in the early childhood field.  Though I did not find any current articles related to changing demographics or diversity, Zero to Three has a variety of articles that are updated frequently that address current issues in the field, so I feel that diversity is an issue that they provide information on as it comes up. 

One issue that was addressed in a July edition of Zero to Three's Baby Monitor newsletter was the debt ceiling debate.  Funding is a major issue in early childhood right now and this debate could effect the future of early childhood programs.  It is important that the government continue to support and fund programs for infants and toddlers.  The website offers a wide range of information regarding the debate as well as information on how to advocate for young children. 

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

For part 1 of this blog assignment, I have yet to hear back from either people I emailed.  Therefore, I am going to continue on to the alternative assignment.  For this, I subscribed to World Forum radio podcasts.  I viewed TJ Skalski's podcast, of Canada.  I was interested in the mother nature perspective of her charter school.  I also visited their website, http://www.meccs.org/site/ .  I found their mission to be inspiring.  They foster an atmosphere in which children learn to respect one another and accept everyone's individual attributes.  They honor thier cultural backgrounds while also instilling a mainstream education.

For part 2 of this assignment, I chose Zero to Three.org.  I chose this site because I often visit it already for my position as an Early Head Start teacher.  I have referred to it often for articles, information, etc.  I find it to be very informative and applicable to my needs.  There are many informative websites for early childhood education, but I find Zero to Three to be the easiest to follow.  Their website is designed so that I can quickly find anything I need to.  I was not already signed up for newsletters, but while visiting for this assignment I did sign up to recieve newsletters.  I look forward to getting my first next month.

Resources:
World Forum Foundation
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio

Mother Earth's Children's Charter School
http://www.meccs.org/site/

Zero To Three
http://www.zerotothree.org/   (May have to use http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/ )
(Newsletters:
http://zttcfn.pub30.convio.net/child-development/from-baby-to-big-kid/ and
http://capwiz.com/zerotothree/mlm/signup/ )