Speak United

Keeping Kids in School

Guest Blogger — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:34:44 -0500

The following post was written by Guest Blogger Mazy Yap, a student at Boston University.

As I went online to cruise through my high school website reminiscing my youth, I discovered that each of the past graduating classes had a graduating rate of 99%. This means that in the past 10 years, only 10 of the approximately 1,000 total graduates have dropped out. Growing up in an international school environment that maintains such a low dropout rate, I was surprised by the relatively low graduation rate in Massachusetts last year. The 2009 report released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates that only 81.5% of the 77,038 enrolled students in Massachusetts graduated last year. If my math didn't fail me, this means that roughly 14,252 students dropped out from school in 2009. read more »

Avoiding check cashing, payday loans and other high-cost services

Guest Blogger — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:34 -0500

United Way joins with the FDIC and other financial institutions and community-based, not-for-profit organizations as part of the Boston Alliance for Economic Inclusion. BAEI developed a guide to respond to a growing reality - clients losing sleep over money problems. The guide, called "Understanding High-Cost Financial Services Providers and Mainstream Banking Alternatives,” is a 24 page quick reference guide that describes several of the most common high-cost financial products and the ways each of them can adversely impact people. Through the following post, written by guest blogger Joanne Evans of the Winthrop Federal Credit Union, we are hoping to make it more widely available. read more »

An appreciation for the effect of the unexpected

Guest Blogger — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:57:15 -0500

The following is a guest post by Lisa Palin, an attorney at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo, P.C. On September 15, Lisa participated in a United Way Poverty Simulation. The United Way Poverty Simulation aims to provide participants with a closer view into in the life of a family living at or near the poverty level in Massachusetts. Each participant takes on the role of a family member and are assigned tasks to accomplish to sustain their families – work, grocery shop, go to school, sign up for needed services, etc.

The experience is simulated, but participants get a sense of the real-life constraints, such as transportation, work and time, that many families face in trying to attain financial stability. In her guest post, Lisa walks us through her "role" in the simulation and what was going through her mind during and after the experience. read more »

The Workers Pathways to Self-Sufficiency Act of 2009

Guest Blogger — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:05:25 -0500

Today's guest post comes from Jessica Bavuso, an intern at Crittenton Women's Union and a student at Merrimack College. Jessica emailed SpeakUnited last week about The Workers Pathways to Self-Sufficiency Act of 2009 , a piece of legislation aimed at expanding investments in education and training for low-income workers. For more, read on. read more »

Practicing Independence

Guest Blogger — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:07:33 -0500

When toddlers leave toddlerhood, and continue to change in size and shape, it is at this time we begin to bid good bye to those beautiful chubby legs, and say hello to the taller independent child!

In our practicing of graduating Early Childhood Professionals we know that kindergarten teachers are grateful when young children are “aces” with self help skills, i.e. the ability to serve their own snack, pour their own juice, find and zipper their own jacket, successfully go to the bathroom, and are at an emotional level where they are past experiencing separation anxiety. read more »

Sharing is Caring (...about me first!)

Guest Blogger — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:41:55 -0500

Bay State College's Robin Carmody and Yana Lapaix return (yay!) as guest bloggers. This post resumes their series on advice for parents and professionals working with young children. Up this week: Why is it so hard to get my child to share? See also their previous posts on teachable moments and toddler behavior. read more »

Moving on to Toddlers

Guest Blogger — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:31:28 -0600

The following is the second in a series of guest blogger posts by Robin Carmody and Yana Lapaix of the Early Childhood Education Department at Bay State College. Robin is the program chair of the department and Juliane (Yana) Lapaix teaches several courses on the education and development of young children. Their series will focus on advice for parents and professionals working with young children read more »

Teachable Moments

Guest Blogger — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:40:05 -0600

The following is the first in a series of guest blogger posts by Robin Carmody and Yana Lapaix of the Early Childhood Education Department at Bay State College. Robin is the program chair of the department and Yana Lapaix teaches several courses on the education and development of young children. Their series will focus on advice for parents and professionals working with young children. read more »

A New Perspective on Homelessness

Guest Blogger — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:41:18 -0500

The following is a post from SpeakUnited's very first guest blogger. Katie is a 7th grader at Wellesley Middle School. She was introduced to Homelessness issues by her mother who helped to implement a program in London for homeless teens called Business Action on Homelessness. Katie also recently researched homelessness for a school assignment and interviewed United Way housing expert Liz Curtis. Click the headline to see her post. read more »