Children Rising: Providing Hope, the Dare To Dream, and Opportunity To Thrive

By Jim Wambach | April 10, 2019

Perspectives article by Jim Wambach, Executive Director

Our Community Must Nurture and Equip Vulnerable Children to Rise Above

“Let us remember: one child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world“ Malala Yousafzai

Now, more than ever, the full support of our community is required to help nurture and equip vulnerable children to rise above the generational effect of poverty, violence and educational inequity.

Mother Teresa observed: “We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” We know children living in poverty grow up with lower aspirations, shorter life expectancy and higher incarceration rates.

But poverty is not the only challenge many families in our communities face. The rate of violence in the neighborhoods served by Children Rising is higher than in communities just a few miles away. We know young children who come to school bearing the weight of exposure to violence may have a difficult time opening their hearts and minds to learning.

We also know the children and youth we serve are faced with an unequal distribution of academic resources, including but not limited to: insufficient school funding, untenable student-to-teacher ratios, and high teacher turnover.

Treating all students equally does not help those children that need more support. It actually promotes more educational inequity.

For all of these reasons, treating all students equally does not help those children that need more support. It actually promotes more educational inequity. Last fall, greatly concerned by the scope of the educational inequity in our local neighborhoods, we made a decision to substantially expand our services so we can enable larger numbers of the community to support many more children in the coming years.

Please help us ensure every struggling child is reached by a caring community at a critical time in their life to provide hope, the dare to dream, and opportunity to thrive. Together we will make it possible for the most vulnerable children in our community to truly rise above the many challenges they face, and enjoy more opportunity to realize their God-given potential.

For the children,

Jim

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