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Category Archives: National

Turning The Tide

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Yesterday, the 2012 International AIDS Conference (“Turning the Tide Together”) began here in DC. According to the International AIDS Society, the Conference is:

… the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward. […]

By acting decisively on recent scientific advances in HIV treatment and biomedical prevention, the momentum for a cure, and the continuing evidence of the ability to scale-up key interventions in the most-needed settings, we now have the potential to end the HIV epidemic.

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The Time Has Come

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… This disease will be the end of many of us, but not nearly all and the dead will be commemorated and will struggle on with the living, and we are not going away. We won’t die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come.
Bye now.
You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.
And I bless you: More life.
The Great Work Begin.

Angels in America: Perestroika by American playwright Tony Kushner,
born today in 1956

In The News …

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Do Schools Challenge Our Students: What Student Surveys Tell Us About the State of Education in the United States (Center for American Progress): “Consider, for instance, that 37 percent of fourth-graders say that their math work is too easy. More than a third of high-school seniors report that they hardly ever write about what they read in class [… and] 72 percent of eighth-grade science students say they aren’t being taught engineering and technology.” Moreover, “students from disadvantaged background are less likely to have access to more rigorous learning opportunities.” Read the full report right here and check out this interactive state-by-state map of student engagement.

Fairfax considers first charter school (Washington Post: Virginia Schools Insider): “More than 100 parents, teachers and activists turned out Tuesday night for an informational meeting about the Fairfax Leadership Academy, which would be the first charter school in Northern Virginia if it?s approved by the county school board in October […] Proponents of the Fairfax Leadership Academy say that the charter school model, which allows for more flexibility and experimentation than a traditional public school, will give the county a new way to attack that stubborn gap.” We talked about the approval of the first Montgomery County charter school last July; what do you think about a new charter in Fairfax?

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It’s Possible!

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By Sveta Wilkson, Development & Communications Manager at Horton’s Kids

Share the experience of a lifetime for a nonprofit (publicity on a national television show) but also the challenges that come with it. For more information about Hortons Kids on Restaurant Impossible, check out the show’s site.

This winter, Horton’s Kids received the phone call that every nonprofit fundraiser dreams about — a production company was scouting organizations for Restaurant: Impossible, a reality show on the Food Network. The show, which usually focuses on improving failing restaurants, wanted to renovate a nonprofit space in a special episode featuring First Lady Michelle Obama.

Two days after the phone call, our staff members met an associate producer and led her on a tour of our Community Resource Center, then a four-room apartment in the children’s neighborhood. Three weeks later, filming and construction began, and the completed episode finally aired this month. The past few months have been a whirlwind for everyone at Horton’s Kids. And our development team learned quite few lessons along the way!

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In The News …

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What’s Driving College Costs Higher? (WAMU): Just days before student loan rates are set to double for millions of Americans, President Obama and congressional leaders haven’t reached an agreement on legislation to keep those rates at 3.4 percent. The debate reflects the growing concern over the debt burden many take on to get a college education. About two-thirds of bachelor’s degree recipients borrow money to attend college, and collectively, student debt has topped $1 trillion […] The average college senior in the U.S. now carries $25,000 in student loan debt at graduation. Those figures rise when graduate degrees are figured into the equation.” We’ve written about the briefing at the White House on College Affordability before and highlighted some of our nonprofits that are dedicated to college affordability. What needs to improve besides interest rates?

County officials, nonprofits fear domestic violence funding cut due to Congressional gridlock (Gazette): “Prince George’s County officials and advocates for domestic violence victims said they are worried that gridlock in Congress could jeopardize essential services to victims and their families […] nonprofit and government organizations in Prince George’s County received $4 million in VAWA funding last year, through a total of 91 federal grants.” County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks says that “the largest impact will be to the outreach and support efforts for victims, particularly in the Latino community.” You can learn about, and support, nonprofits in Prince George’s right here.

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Immeasurably Rich

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[…] I chose to be a lawyer and ultimately a judge because I find endless challenge in the complexities of the law. I firmly believe in the rule of law as the foundation for all of our basic rights.

For as long as I can remember, I have been inspired by the achievement of our founding fathers. They set forth principles that have endured for than more two centuries. Those principles are as meaningful and relevant in each generation as the generation before.

It would be a profound privilege for me to play a role in applying those principles to the questions and controversies we face today.

Although I grew up in very modest and challenging circumstances, I consider my life to be immeasurably rich.

— Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Sonia Sotomayor, born today in 1954

Growing Up LGBT

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The Human Rights Campaign has published “a groundbreaking survey of more than 10,000 LGBT-identified youth ages 13-17,” delving both into their present challenges and expectations for the future:

With an increase in public awareness about anti-LGBT bullying and harassment and the strikingly high number of LGBT youth who are homeless, in foster care, or living in high-risk situations, it is critical that we get a better understanding of the experiences, needs, and concerns of LGBT youth.

[…] They find safe havens among their peers, online and in their schools. They remain optimistic and believe things will get better. Nevertheless, the findings are a call to action for all adults who want ensure that young people can thrive.

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The Loan Crisis

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By Hannah Lardent, Catalogue Development Associate & Executive Assistant

In recent weeks, the student loan crisis has become a hot topic — due in part to the impending deadline for Congress to prevent student loan interest rates from doubling. The New York Times article, “A Generation Hobbled by the Soaring Cost of College” (May 13) offers real life examples of the harsh realities of student loan burdens; and this infographic from LearnVest shows that the average debt burden for graduates is $25,000, while the median starting salary is just $2,000 above that.

On May 10, Community Partnerships Coordinator Marie LeBlanc and I attended a briefing at the White House on College Affordability hosted by the Office of Public Engagement. There was a panel discussion, keynote from Vice President Joe Biden, and a Q&A session. Members of the audience included college students from local universities, campus action groups, and players in DC community engagement. Catalogue was proud to be included in the discussion.

The briefing focused on the Obama administration’s efforts to make college more accessible and affordable. And while student loans will continue to be a reality for a high percentage of college graduates, he hopes to make repaying those loans as manageable as possible. If Congress does not act by July 1st, student loan interest rates will double from 3.4% to 6.8%. Keeping student loan interest rates low helps keep college accessible. If you are interested in getting involved in this political issue, reach out to your Congressman.

A college degree is an essential factor in economic mobility and prosperity. By 2018, 63% of new jobs will require at least some college education. And while DC currently has one of the highest concentrations of individuals with college degrees, the city also possesses a deep wealth gap. But thankfully, numerous Catalogue nonprofits are tackling the problem of college access and affordability in the greater Washington area. Here are just a few:

College Bound: College Bound targets under served junior high and high school students who have the drive and desire to attend college.Each week, students meet one-on-one with college-educated mentors who assist them in math, SAT prep, and college admissions, with the goal of improving the District’s historically low test scores and college-attendance rate. Mentors explore scholarship opportunities and help students navigate the college application process.

Reach for College!: In the District, only 43% of students graduate high school and nearly half of those never attend college. So every day, as part of their academic schedule, 2,000 students in more than 40 classes in DC use Reach for College!’s curricular materials to boost their skills in college-level reading, writing, and time management. Classes in SAT prep, college selection and application, and financial aid, help them navigate the application maze.

The Posse Foundation: The Posse Foundation identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who might otherwise be overlooked in the college admissions process. It helps them pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams (“posses”) of ten students that act as traveling support systems. Posse expands the pool from which top universities recruit students, helps create more inclusive campus environments, and ensures that Posse Scholars persist in their academic studies and graduate (an astonishing 90% of them do).

In The News …

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Gap between best and worst DC schools growing (Washington Examiner): “The gap between the District’s best- and worst-performing schools has been growing amid the most intense school reform in the city’s history […] The American Institutes for Research found that, if two students have the same test scores in 2010, but one attends a wealthy, high-performing school and the other attends the opposite, the student at the wealthy school likely would have outpaced the latter student substantially in 2011, even though they were on equal footing the year before.” For example, on average, students in Ward 3 schools demonstrated a 70.8% two-year growth percentile, while students in Ward 8 received a 46% growth score.

State Of The World’s Mothers Report 2012 (Huffington Post): This year, Save the Children ranked Norway, Iceland, and Sweden as the best places to be a mother. “In addition to its annual ranking, the 2012 report focuses specifically on the issue of children’s nutrition. One in four of the world’s children are chronically malnourished or stunted […] malnutrition kills as many as 2.6 million children and 100,000 mothers every year. Millions of others are left struggling with the physical and mental impairments of stunting.” Over half of the world’s children do not have access to vitamin A, zinc, and water and sanitation — universal access to these perhaps could save as many as 680,000 lives.

Battered and Bruised Minds Lead to Homelessness (TIME: Battleland): “The Department of Veterans Affairs first-ever large-scale study of homeless vets shows that the vast majority of homeless vets have mental disorders […] Dealing with veterans’ mental health may be just as important in preventing homelessness among vets as dealing with their lack of housing;” the study shows that “78?83 percent of the newly homeless diagnosed with mental disorders at the end of the study, were diagnosed before they became homeless.” Additionally, the “Homeless Incidence and Risk Factors for Becoming Homeless in Veterans” report also followed 300,000 veterans who left active duty between July 2005 and September 2006 until October 2010; while none of these particular veterans had been homeless before, more than 4% became homeless at some point during that period.

In The News …

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The Effect Of Youth Unemployment On Crime (DCentric via Justice Policy Institute): “DC has an unemployment disparity, in which joblessness is very low in wealthy neighborhoods, while low-income neighborhoods have Depression-era unemployment rates. The Justice Policy Institute report also showed how unemployment is chronically high in places with a lot of crime.” A graph of 2010 property crimes, violent crimes, and unemployment rates by DC Ward show that the three correlate almost exactly. The report also points out that “as compared to their more advantaged peers who may have received more preparation from their family, school and overall community environment, youth from low-income areas of the District may need additional guidance to meet the expectations of the workplace.”

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