Education: The Path out of Poverty

The Children's Defense Fund has released its annual "The State of America's Children" report, in which it takes a close look at 37 million people living in America who are poor (including 13 million children). The 2005 edition includes Sept. 2005 poverty data and in depth analysis and recommendations for just treatment for children and poor families. Chapters can be downloaded from http://www.childrensdefense.org/publications/greenbook/

As I write this post, the big question is "Who Cares?" Who cares enough to get personally involved with time, talent, treasure, and to stay involved for many years. With so many other issues bombarding us every day, how do we create a focus on the 13 million kids living in poverty, and on the various programs that are working to help end poverty by helping a youth through school and into a job/career?

That's the goal of the Tutor/Mentor Connection. Last week conversations were hosted at http://www.socialedge.org and http://www.mentoring.org/community. On May 17th IUPUI will host a one day eConference at http://econference.uc.iupui.edu/

On May 25 and 26 a face to face conference will be held in Chicago. If you're interested in helping kids out of poverty through tutoring/mentoring, please try to attend. The agenda can be seen at http://www.tutormentorconference.bigstep.com