First Lady Michelle Obama makes surprise visit to Para Los Niños, a Partner of Child360

First Lady Michelle Obama visited Para Los Niños' Tina and Rick J. Caruso Early Education Center, Los Angeles. photo: Para Los Niños

(PRNEWS) LOS ANGELES, November 19, 2018 - First Lady Michelle Obama visited Para Los Niños' Tina and Rick J. Caruso Early Education Center, an organization that receives program support from Child360 in the heart of LA's Skid Row, as a part of her Becoming book tour. During her visit to this exemplary program, Mrs. Obama had an opportunity to read three books and engage in a conversation with some of our nation's youngest learners.

Soldiers in schools: The impact of military occupations on education

Female student leaves al-Furadh School at the end of the day in Yemen. Soldiers relax outside the school walls. They lived in third-floor classrooms for several months. priyanka motaparthy/Human Rights Watch©

 
(IRIN) BANGKOK, June14, 2014 - Schools are targeted in conflicts around the world - they might represent ideas viewed as controversial, the destruction of a civilian building that is important to a community inflicts terror, and a school reduced to rubble can rob an entire generation of education. But attacks are only part of the problem, as significant harm can also be done when educational buildings remain intact and armed forces move in.

Displaced CAR youths in Chad desperate for school

A volunteer teacher holds a class under the trees in Doyaba transit camp in Sarh, southern Chad, May 2014. Some 3,200 primary and pre-primary school age children are enrolled in the school, set up by displaced teachers from CAR.

photo: gnata salomon yngamaye/UNICEF©

 
(IRIN) DOYABA/SIDDHO/N’DJAMENA, May 27, 2014 - Some 40,900 children and thousands more youths displaced by the violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) are stuck in transit camps in southern Chad with no formal school to attend, few to no training opportunities, and no jobs, leaving them with no sense of what the future will bring.

Rebuilding in Jakarta: learning what works

Tracks of houses in the slums outside of Jakarta, jammed close together up against a public dumping area. jefri aries/IRIN©
 
(IRIN) DAKAR, April 8, 2014 - A whole industry has emerged to foster humanitarian learning and, in the main, actors are increasingly collaborative and open when it comes to learning lessons from emergencies.

Alabama school board passes policy that threatens student privacy

(PRN/USN) TUSCALOOSA, Ala., October 11, 2013 - The state board of education on Thursday adopted a policy that supposedly protects student privacy while it allows the collection, data-mining and sharing of private, non-academic information on students without parental permission.

This pervasive collection, tracking and sharing of student privacy information with the federal government and private parties was made possible when President Obama changed FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) through regulation in December 2011.

 "Even George Orwell would be shocked to the extent that the State Superintendent of Education and majority state school board will allow spying on our children at school," said Elois Zeanah, president of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women, continuing, "Concerned citizens asked legislators to restore the privacy rights stripped by President Obama during the 2013 session, but the Superintendent lobbied hard against it."

 Zeanah speculated that a primary reason the Superintendent wrote a bill that vastly weakens SB190 and doesn't want the legislature to pass a bill to restore the privacy protection stripped from FERPA is that he fears he will lose federal money.

"ALDOE received one-half billion dollars from the 2009 Stimulus Bill in exchange for developing a state longitudinal data system. Also, when the Board applied for a waiver from No Child Left Behind, it agreed to implement the standards, aligned assessments, and data-mining; and it will receive additional multi-millions of dollars.

The Board no longer has the power to protect student privacy because they've 'sold' their right to the federal government. Only the State Legislature can help us now." Personal data unrelated to academics will include some students' behaviors and psychosocial attributes. Zeanah stated, "Children can be asked about their sexual preferences, drug use, political and religious beliefs, etc.

Given the recent examples of how the federal government uses data to punish its political enemies and picks winners and losers, why would the Superintendent and state board (with the exception of Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters who voted against the policy) want to subject our children to this threat? The only way to protect our children is to not collect compromising information in the first place. Let's hope the Legislature will right this wrong."

To find out more, you can visit:

www.afrw.org

200 Jewish Communities act against global hunger

AJWS gathers American Jews for Educational Program on hunger, encourages congressional action on stalled farm bill 

(PRN/USN) NEW YORK, October. 29, 2012  - More than 200 synagogues, college groups and households across the U.S. will participate in American Jewish World Service's 3^rd annual Global Hunger Shabbat on November 2-3. During Global Hunger Shabbat, participants will examine the root causes of global hunger and commit to advocate for passage of U.S. food aid policy that would support people in the developing world growing their own food to feed themselves and their communities.

American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the only Jewish organization focused on empowering people in the developing world to end poverty and realize their human rights, anchors this weekend of learning and action in the Jewish Sabbath, a period traditionally centered on worship, study and rest.

"Global Hunger Shabbat is about ensuring that people in developing countries are able to grow their own food and feed themselves with dignity," said AJWS president Ruth Messinger. "Our responsibility as Americans and Jews is to change ineffective U.S. policies that contribute systemically to global hunger, especially in the developing world. We must urge Congress to reauthorize the Farm Bill with new reforms that empower local communities to grow and consume their own food."

Global Hunger Shabbat is a key component of AJWS's Reverse Hunger campaign, an initiative to rally the American Jewish community to change U.S. food and agriculture policies which the organization believes are major contributors to global hunger. Global Hunger Shabbat provides participants with resources about the U.S. Farm Bill and its impact on food prices and the livelihoods of small-scale farmers in developing countries.

Over the past year, AJWS has mobilized thousands of American Jews around hunger and Farm Bill reform. In June, AJWS and its partners in the Jewish Farm Bill Working Group delivered a petition with over 18,000 signatures to the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives and officials of the Obama Administration demanding a food system that pursues long-term, sustainable approaches to eradicating hunger. AJWS also organized hundreds of Jewish activists throughout the country to meet with their representatives to talk about global hunger and the Farm Bill.

"Our community has made tremendous strides in the battle for international food aid reform that could save millions more lives," said Messinger. "Let's tap into the power of our community and keep the pressure on our government to enact policies that make economic and moral sense."

To help individuals, congregations and communities host Global Hunger Shabbat events, AJWS created an online toolkit available here, which includes:

• A sample sermon on ending global hunger
• Readings about communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America that are developing innovative solutions to hunger
• Activities and discussion guides for various audiences and ages
• Jewish text studies related to global hunger
• A prayer for the world's hungry
• Talking points about food insecurity and aid, along with a reading list on these topics
• Suggestions for ways that American Jews can take action to end hunger

To view a map of Global Hunger Shabbat events throughout the country please, visit www.ajws.org/hunger/ghs.


Inspired by Judaism's commitment to justice, American Jewish World Service works to realize human rights and end poverty in the developing world. www.ajws.org