This is an effort by Abiline, Tx. to develop and bring the community together to live into “loving God, loving neighbor. TMO has as one of its goals to create community where people can not only develop meaningful relationships, but in the process transform their communities.
A few days ago I was talking to a lovely young woman. She has one small child with another one on the way. She’s married and has a job that she really likes. We began talking about what she was going to do when the baby came. It’s been so long since my own children and grandchildren were small that I knew little to nothing about the hurdles of childcare for young people who are barely living above the poverty level. When our children were young, my wife was a stay at home mom, so the question never came up about the cost of childcare. She then said that each child would cost $400. a child and that was a cut rate since her employer picked up part of the cost. I asked if there was a break for the second child. She laughed and said, “you know both children need to be fed and changed and be given attention. They probably should charge more for the second one.” She then said, “Childcare will take most of my take home salary.” Her answer angered me. Why should this woman who loved her job and loved her family have to make the choice of either quitting her job or basically working for nothing. As I heard her answer, I thought about women who had no husband or other family to help. What do low income single mothers with children do to get by. So, I decided to do a little research and see what other countries did in the way of childcare for working parents. I was appalled at what I found.
Family Leave in the United States
“The FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) provides the right to a short (12-week), jobprotected parental leave for workers who meet qualifying conditions (that is, those who work in firms of at least 50 employees and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the prior year). Because of these qualifying conditions, fewer than one-half of the nation’s private-sector workers are eligible for leave guaranteed by the FMLA.5,6 A further limitation of the FMLA as a family leave policy is that it does not include any income replacement or pay during the leave; as a result, some workers who are eligible for leave do not take it.7 ” (See Table 1 :not shown here)
“Countries also vary in the extent to which the costs of child care are borne by government or by parents.26,27 Although data are not available for all countries, the pattern of results in Table 2 indicates that here, too, the United States lags behind other countries. One estimate suggests that the U.S. government covers 25% to 30% of the cost of child care for children under age three and children ages three to six. (This support takes several forms in the United States: tax credits to reimburse parents for child care fees, subsidies given to parents, and care that is purchased for free or at a reduced cost.) In the other countries for which data are available (Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, and Sweden), government funds the majority of the costs of care, covering between 68% and 100% of the costs depending on the country and the age of the child.” (show table 2 not shown here)
In other countries Family Medical leave can be from one to three years with some countries providing income replacement. After family leave has expired most of these same countries provide some form of subsidized or complete childcare.
For volumes 14, No. 2 and before, please use this attribution: “From The Future of Children, a publication of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation from 1991 to 2004.”
For volumes 15, No. 1 and all subsequent journals and written materials, please use this attribution: “From The Future of Children, a collaboration of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.”
The health and education of children are greatly influenced by early childhood development and nurturing. If you were to consider the educational achievement in those countries having a liberal family leave and childcare programs, you might be able to make inferences to why those countries have a higher educational achievement and the U.S. lags behind those same countries. Many school district in the U.S. provide some form of early childhood intervention. However, they are only partial educational interventions which still require parents to leave work early to take care of the children.
It would seem that one of the richest countries in the world could help provide a more liberal program for family leave and childcare. This is particularly true as it affects the working poor. Affluent families are more able to provide these benefits to their children and families.
This is not just an issue that affects my young friend in Alief. It affects millions of families all over America.
As stated in the “What Made Alief Change” article rolling migration was almost imperceptible until years after it began. After the beginning influx of African Americans there was three waves of Vietnamese and other Asian groups. With the end of the Vietnamese war in 1975 the first wave of Southeast Asian refugees began to flood the United States. Catholic Charities and the YMCA were instrumental in resettling these refugees, many of whom resettled in Alief. The first wave were generally professionals and educated. The second wave were the boat people who were settled here because they were close to the coast. Man of these people were fishermen who resettled near the coast but often had family in Alief. The last wave were political prisoners who were freed from jails and were resettled here. Much of the same story holds true for other displaced persons from all over the world. It was the land of opportunity and millions of dollars have been invested in Alief businesses and infrastructure by these resettled immigrants. Many of these people have found the American dream.
For others the American dream has been elusive. This is particularly true for Hispanics. Hispanics now comprise over 50% of students in Alief public schools. Nearly 60% of the parents of these children from Mexico and El Salvador did not graduate from high school and they typically work for minimum wage or less. That does not mean that these parents don’t want more for their children. In personal interviews with hundreds of Alief ISD parents, TMO found that their dream for their children was that they go to college and experience the American dream. And even though most do not speak English when they arrive it was one of the parents goals to learn English. All Alief ISD schools have ESL classes that are well attended. Other ethnic groups making a big impact on the community are Africans and Middle Easterners. The majority of these immigrants are well educated and in many cases have opened businesses and are making an economic impact on Alief. Many of the non-Hispanic and non-African Americans are beginning to seek alternatives to public schools and are enrolling their children in private and charter schools. There are also a variety of religious venues and reflect the diversity of the community.
There are demographic indications that the rolling migration is continuing and that the Asian population may now be beginning to migrate further West and Southwest into more affluent neighborhoods. The test for the community will be whether the community can stabilize around its current demographics where institution such as schools, the business community, religious institutions and the International Management District can create a more organic community.
As in all communities there are several critical components to creating an organic community. They include:
1. Keeping crime in check
2. Maintaining a strong school system that is supported by parents and other community stakeholders.
3. Creating a viable business community that creates living wage jobs for those in the community
4. Building a relational community that crosses religious, ethnic, and economic lines
5. Stabilizing the community where people put down roots and call Alief their home.
6. Ensuring that there is a viable and affordable housing stock
7. Provide an environment where community observances such as parades, holiday celebrations etc. can bring the community together.
Much is being done to create this environment and TMO looks forward to being a part of it.
Do you think we have enough bullets?
The Houston Chronicle recently reported on murders committed in Houston in the last year. There were approximately 200 murders in Houston in an area of over 600 square miles. In a corridor of 20 square miles from Bissonet to Richmond Ave. and a mile on each side of the Southwest Freeway, there were nearly 30 of those murders. Quoting the Chronicle
“Nearly half of the murders in District 19 were clustered within a half mile of one another, in and around a string of apartment complexes along f few blocks of Forum Park Drive to Bissonnet Street.”
This is the area where “six brave mothers and grandmothers” (see previous blog article) went to over 400 apartment units to enlist support for cleaning up the community and assisting the school. As a result of their efforts the community addressed such issues as prostitution, drug dealing, inadequate housing and crime including murders on some of their door steps. As a result prostitution, drug dealing and other crime are down and there is a sense of trust among community members. Mothers walking their children no longer have to contend with used condoms on the sidewalk or navigate around used needles. This is not a one time effort though. It has to be ongoing and coordinated. The mothers, grandmothers and businesses need to continue their efforts. The Alief ISD with it’s family engagement program, churches, other non-profits and the International Management District, and city councilman Mike Laster, must address these issues as a high priority. And it has to be a coordinated effort. The police cannot do it alone. If you haven’t already done so, check out the documentary video called “Alief Hoods”. It’s on the Blog Roll. It gives one perspective of what many of the young men and women in the area call “the West” see as their turf.
As Sgt. Walter Gaw of the HPD Westside Division says:
“People who live here need to report the things,” he said, “instead of turning a blind eye and keeping it shut inside.”
TMO (The Metropolitan Organization) has been instrumental in assisting parents at Best Elementary as well as other community leaders in their efforts to clean up the community, but making the community safe and economically viable will have to be a concerted effort. There are no easy fixes.
Follow the ongoing effort of TMO and others to bring people together to make “the West” and “the corridor of violence” a proud example of Alief’s ability to revitalize its schools and community.
click on map
Go to the bottom left of the map to Bissonet.
That’s the beginning of the 10 miles. Go up Hwy 59 to near the top at Westpark.
Those are the 10 miles. Refer to this map in subsequent articles
If you are a Christian Minister, you have many responsibilities. One of these responsibilities may be for the ministry to children and youth. This offers real challenges for a pastor, particularly for a congregation with limited resources. I have known many pastors who have said that they don’t have children and youth in their services. However, I know several ministries that have an abundance of children and youth and few adults. Obviously, adults pay the bills that keep the lights on, but without a ministry to the next generation, the congregation will wither and die.
I’m interested in what types of ministries you have for children and youth–particularly youth. We know that we most often lose young people in the church when they can crow loud enough to stop going to church. And if we have youth, what do we teach them. Is it just dry boring stuff or do we talk about responsibility and perseverance to get a good education and give back to the community? In Alief, about 70% of our children pass the STARR tests. Some people think that’s pretty good. But what about the other 30% that don’t pass the test. And what about the challenges of going to college? Putting all these factors together to ensure the success of our children
Working together to make Alief a better place
is a real challenge.
I have been impressed that the district, under the leadership of Mr. Chambers is reaching out to the faith community to make our schools better. His periodic meetings with pastors is informative and helpful. As I have attended those meetings I have wondered how we can continue the conversations on how to reach out to our children and youth so we can narrow the achievement gap. It is a very challenging endeavor but our congregations have many gifts and graces. I only know of a few of you personally but I know some of you are doing some wonderful ministry in the name of Christ. I know that Ron and Uater are doing some fine youth work at Collingham Park Townhomes and Terry and Chavonna Houston are very active in their ministry to children and youth at Olle middle school. Fr. Uriel Osnaya of Santa Maria Virgen Episcopal Church also has a vibrant youth program that reaches out to children and youth all over Harris county.
Terry Houston made an interesting comment a few weeks ago. He said, “we’re not competing with one another”. I would agree with that. God has placed us here in different roles and maybe its time that we collaborate with one another to further the Kingdom in Alief. I would ask each of you to pray about the challenges and opportunities for reaching our youths spiritual needs as well as their moral values and how we can impact their academic achievement.
Please share what you’re doing and give us suggestions about how we can collaborate.
In our blog article “Breaking the Evil of Relational Isolation” I explored TMO’s efforts in the Astrodome during Katrina and how we were able to bring people into relationships and help create an atmosphere of trust. We broke the evil movement towards impending anarchy, by potential gang organizing. This example can be generalized to most interactions in our urbanized societies. We share few rituals and traditions that give us a common bond. Our diversity creates distrust and fear. For those in poverty the goal is just to get by. We have little time to get to know our neighbor much less take part in children’s education or voting,or learning about the political issues of the day that impact our lives. And for those of us in the church, we are confronted with a sad commentary of the times. that in the last thirty years neighborhood mainline churches have consistently lost membership. The answers to these concerns are not easy, but we can consider a few of the reasons.
Imagine that you are a pastor and you come to your church one Sunday morning and it is filled to overflowing. You have prepared a terrific sermon. But there’s no choir and when you pass the plate you only hear the tinkle of a few coins–no paper. You then ask for volunteers to help teach children’s Sunday School. No takers.
Imagine that you are a school principal and you are having your school open house. You have several hundred parents in attendance. You ask for volunteers to help out in the school and you encourage parents to be involved in their children’s education by staying in touch with the teacher, of giving them strategies for helping their children in homework and helping their child to set positive academic goals to help insure the long term success of the child. But as the year goes by parental engagement wanes or does not exist at all.
Imagine that you an apartment dweller and are at home at 1pm in the afternoon. You hear a commotion in the courtyard and see teenagers fighting. You wonder why they’re not in school. You think you should call the apartment manager or the police, but you’re afraid of retribution so you do nothing. Most of these examples are about lack of involvement and engagement. We just don’t want to risk the involvement because we may feel that we’re alone in our concern. But involvement is the first step in creating community, helping our children and being a part of a religious community. So, take the first steps. Go to church, go to school open houses and meet your neighbor. Find out who your child’s friends are. When your child is having trouble in school, call the teacher and find out what you can do. And when you meet your neighbor or begin going to church regularly, you may be able to assist your neighbor in car pooling, sharing talents that can be bartered with your neighbor or fellow church members. And as a member of your little support group, work together to help ensure that the kids in your apartment project are staying out of trouble. And surprisingly in the process, you become a leader that others look up too.
Alief ISD has embarked on an innovative and bold plan to get parents involved in school activities but also to get families more engaged in the school and in particular to help parents help their children academically and to be good parents. Currently, this is being done in the Family Centers in all Alief schools, where activities such as ESL classes, parenting classes, learning about what your child is learning and building relationships with other parents in a supportive and open forum. This is not just a place where someone is going to tell you how to do things. It’s also about doing with. It is a process of being with new friends where you can learn, make new friends, and to help your school and your children.
It’s tough to feel alone. In our work with TMO we see a lot of aloneness and hopelessness. Being a part of something greater than yourself can help. Let us hear from you by leaving a comment.
TMO Alief 