Building Beyond Ourselves and Creating Community
By Tonya Carter
If you’re lucky enough to remember playing after dark without fear, having an overabundance of people interfering in your life choices, and helping guide you on your next steps in life, then consider yourself extremely lucky…because sadly those days seemed to be long gone. Now don’t get me wrong – we still have versions of that today, but it’s far less visible and impactful. Somehow, as the world continues to evolve, everyone seems to be more preoccupied within their own bubble and it’s causing the foundation of community to weaken, impacting our greatest resource and legacy: our children.
This is one of the reasons why the Carter Education and Community Foundation was created – to bring us back to community and focus on improving the accessibility to necessary resources for our youth. We want to empower them and create positive opportunities so each one can feel competent on their path to succeeding. As we begin to rebuild a version of community, we need to look at some of the areas impacting the work most needed:
- The long term effects of the growing financial wealth achievement gap
- The need for diversity of perspective and students
- The benefits of extracurricular activity participation
- The improvement of graduation rates
- Qualified workforce in the USA versus other countries
Financial Wealth Achievement Gap
There is distinct divide when it comes to the academic outcomes between communities with higher disparities and those in more affluent neighborhoods. Even more prevalent is the gap in academic achievements among minority students and their white counterparts. This causes irrevocable challenges for communities and individuals to thrive. Therefore, closing the financial wealth achievement gap becomes essential for everyone.
“Our nation is currently experiencing growing levels of income and wealth inequality, which are contributing to longstanding racial and ethnic gaps in education outcomes and other areas. These large gaps, in combination with the significant demographic changes already underway, are threatening the economic future of our country. Thus, closing racial and ethnic gaps is not only key to fulfilling the potential of people of color; it is also crucial to the well-being of our nation,” according to Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford.1 The Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions presented a report which included this statement: “Closing the wage, housing, education, and business investment racial gaps can help narrow the wealth gap, which is significant for facilitating homeownership, business, and job creation, plus establishing a pipeline for intergenerational wealth accumulation.”2
Diversity of Students
If we want to create the best leaders possible, we have to make sure we develop the foundation for all kids because we really never know where a leader will come from. Consider Maya Angelou (a world-famous author, poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar) and John Paul DeJoria (an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products): both grew up in the foster care system. Both became well-known leaders and made a positive impact to many lives.
The long-term positive benefits for all youth when exposed to diverse people, perspectives, and experiences are endless. Competency and leadership skills are enhanced because they have been given natural opportunities to challenge their own status quo. Diversity is the best of who we are and strengthens the very foundation the best leaders stand on.
Extracurricular Activity Participation
Inequality also affects opportunities for kids to experience getting involved in extracurricular activities. We are seeing a greater gap between and in communities where resources are scarce and/or tax dollars go to the wealthier schools in communities. Participation in extracurricular activities can instill important values, such as: life skills, teamwork, responsibility, confidence, discipline, and creativity.
The benefits of extracurricular activities give children an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of experiences. In some cases, they get to travel outside of their community which can enrich their lives.
Graduation rates
At the most basic level, a high school diploma is needed for post-secondary education and most of the time to obtain a job. Nevertheless, graduation rates tell a different story as well as highlighting what matters most, because it is an indicator of a school’s ability to prepare youth for the future.
Unfortunately, as a community we don’t always see the benefit of our involvement in encouraging all youth to obtain this first goal. We also become busy and end up minimizing the positive social and emotional impact youth get from obtaining a high school diploma. However, for children who have spent their entire lives living in family chaos or wading through self-doubt and insecurity, this accomplishment can bring a boost of confidence and independence needed to succeed. So for this reason, we have to work together to address the systemic issues having the greatest impact on our youth’s ability to achieve this major milestone. Below are some stats to reflect on. Imagine if we hit at least 90% across the board.
According to the Kids Count Data Center4 for 2018-2019, the graduation rates in Illinois by race ethnicity were as follows:
- Black – 76.5%
- American Indian – 78.1%
- Latino – 82.2%
- Two or more races – 86.9%
- White – 90.8%
- Asian – 93.9%
A note with the statistics stated: “Illinois must do more to reduce the attainment gaps between groups.”
Qualified workforce in the USA versus other countries
We spend years working to get youth ready to be functioning and contributing members of society, so we have to make sure salaries are equal. Yes, there are a number of factors that go with addressing this inequality. Some of those factors include benefits, ongoing training, certifications, and raises. However, we have to be willing to see that Income inequality affects everyone in and out of the workforce in the United States.
“The United States has a higher level of income inequality and a larger share of low-income residents than almost any other advanced nation, according to an annual employment report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an economic organization with 36 member countries.”3 “American workers suffer from longer-lasting consequences when they lose a job, and the majority lack the type of labor protections that workers in other countries enjoy,” the OECD group said.3
Creating Community
The Carter Education and Community Foundation is here to help address some of the biggest problems facing our youth today. We want to provide a safe community and accessibility to resources that will empower and encourage our youth to find positive opportunities. We are here to share some of our own talent with any and all youth striving to give them skills to feel competent in meeting life’s challenges because we want them to feel confident in their capabilities to succeed.
To contact the Carter Education and Community Foundation:
Website: https://thecartercommunity.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecartercommunity
Email: thecartercommunity@gmail.com
Sources:
1 The Economic Benefits of Closing Educational Achievement Gaps by Robert Lynch and Patrick Oakford
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2014/11/10/100577/the-economic-benefits-of-closing-educational-achievement-gaps/
2 Closing the Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S. by Citi GPS: Global Perspectives & Solutions [page 8]
3 For workers, U.S. falls short versus most developed nations by Kate Gibson (CBS News)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/for-workers-u-s-falls-short-versus-most-of-developed-world/4 Kids Count Data Center by the Annie E Casey Foundation
https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/9735-high-school-graduation-rates-by-race-ethnicity–illinois-and-chicago#detailed/2/any/false/1696,1648,1603,1539,1381,1246,1124/2160,4739,2159,2161,2757,3307/18997
