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Increasing Opportunities for Youth

Meghan Keaney
Meghan Keaney
Fri, 02/15/2008

"An entire street of boarded up, foreclosed houses."

video footage of Hendry Street in Dorchester
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Carl Stevens of WBZnews radio reports with footage from Meeting House
Hill in Dorchester. It's worth it to see. It is one thing to read about all of the causes and repercussions of
foreclosures, but it's quite another to see the visual effect of how
the crisis is playing out in some neighborhoods, where tripledecker
homes, one after another after another, have been boarded up. Click the headline of this post to see the video, and let me know what you think.

You may also want to read the
editorial in today's Globe which points to a "virus of foreclosures" in the same neighborhood. (Thanks to Chris for pointing the editorial out for me via a comment on an earlier post. Click here, scroll down for his comment).  read more »

Patti Keenan
Patti Keenan
Tue, 02/19/2008

"It's been 5 years since my last Cancer diagnosis..."

A story of philanthropic decisions
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I often think about the motivations that lead someone to give to one organization over another. A couple of months ago, an article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy: “A Growing Divide Emerges as 2007 Fund-Raising Year Comes to a Close” took at look at the reasons why charities that provide social services (or poverty-focused charities) tend to lag behind the fundraising achievements of colleges, arts institutions, and hospitals. For me, it has never been an either/or scenario. Here’s my story:  read more »

115,126 youth served in quality programs

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From July 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007, United Way enabled 115,126 young people to be served by quality youth-focused programs.

5,311 youth matched with supportive adult mentors

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Because of United Way investments, 5,311 youth were matched with supportive adult mentors between July 1,2007 and December 31, 2007.

Clare Sanford
Clare Sanford
Wed, 05/07/2008

A Child Lost

Mental illness in children is real, and it is devastating.
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You may not have noticed the story in Monday's Globe.More bad news, like background noise - just another person you've never met, who had problems that you couldn't do anything about. Big deal - turn page to see photo du jour of Tom Brady and Gisele.

Except this was different.  read more »

Guest Blogger
Guest Blogger
Tue, 03/18/2008

A New Perspective on Homelessness

Guest blogger Katie writes on Housing First
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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 »

Carrie Weatherbee
Carrie Weatherbee
Mon, 05/12/2008

Calling for Youth Responses

A reaction to a new book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future''
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I had just settled in for a cup of coffee this morning when this headline screamed at me on boston.com: "8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation". This feature shows the reader eight reasons Mark Bauerlein, (author of the new book: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future) gives to not trust anyone under 30.

The author is a professor of English at Emory University and he is scheduled to moderate a chat on boston.com this Wednesday at noon. While I have a number of concerns about the “8 reasons,” there is one that is jumping to the forefront:

Why host a chat about youth at noon when youth are in school and will be unable to participate?  read more »

Your 2006-2007 Investment in Action:
115,126 youth served in quality programs

Charles Smith

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"My mother told me before she passed away, 'You can be anything you want to be, as long as you work hard for it.' I will carry those words in my head 'til the day I die and pass them on to my kids..."

Charles Smith's mother would be very proud of him today. His young life has come full circle from tragedy, loss and homelessness to a future filled with college plans, valuable computer skills, and a job helping others at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation.  read more »

Sarah McNeely
Sarah McNeely
Wed, 05/14/2008

Children go to jail, for lack of options

Why jail is seen as an alternative
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I was particularly struck when I viewed my Boston Globe email alerts the other day and read an editorial called Children go to jail, for lack of options.
I know that this might seem strange, since we are saturated daily by media articles and sound bites of youth violence and crimes on the streets. Last year, in fact, 5,400 children in our state were sent to jail after being charge with a crime.

But that’s not what surprised me.  read more »

Connecting Schools and Afterschools

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United Way’s Connecting Schools and Afterschools Initiative aims to improve outcomes for children and youth by fostering relationships among schools and afterschool programs.

The initiative is grounded in findings from the 2005 Massachusetts After-School Research Study (MARS), which found that afterschool programs with stronger connections to schools had more engaging, challenging activities, higher staff engagement, and higher quality homework assistance.  read more »

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