Engage Her: Activating Women and MultiCultural Communities

A newly released report has documented the rise in the loss of teens hearing to 20% or 1 out of 5 teens now suffer from hearing loss. It’s increased in the past years since the last survey. The survey also documented the number of kids who suffer from a mild hearing loss equivalent to not hearing someone whisper in your ear. Also kids from poor families were significantly more likely to show hearing loss than those living above the poverty income levels. That equates roughly to 1 teen out of every classroom who has some listening impairment. Kids might not even notice they are having this problem.

What does that mean? Can these teens hear the teachers in their lectures? Are they responding to questions and instructions? What are the impacts on these students’ achievement scores, knowledge absorption and participation in a classroom? Does hearing loss affect their self esteem, participation in activities, prevent them from participating in more activities? Studies are beginning to document that hearing loss in teens ultimately impacts their performance to the point it could partially contribute to kids dropping out of high school. What are the long term lasting outcomes of hearing loss for these teens as they become adults?

Researchers don’t know the actual causes of hearing loss. It could be a combination of environmental factors, medication side effects, exposure to toxins, diet, nutrition and genetics. There’s also the possibility that the increased use of music and mobile devices they stick in their ears for hours a day may have significant impact. We know that many teens love to turn up the volume, so what are the outcome and solutions? What are some suggestions? If you think or as a parent you suspect your teen may have a hearing loss, get them tested. They may need to sit up at the front of the class, ask people to speak louder. As a parent asking your teens to do something for the tenth time, maybe there’s a reason they’re not “hearing” you. Check back for more.

Elena Kagan has become our new Supreme Court Justice. Women justices now comprise one third of our nation’s highest court. She is also the first justice in 40 years to be sworn in who has never been a judge. She is a great example of how people and women in particular can aspire and reach the highest echelons of their careers based on their merits, work production and strong leadership. She joins the court as they face critical social justice issues such as Immigration, Health Care reform and Same sex marriages. It is a great accomplishment and will provide another great role model for multicultural women and communities.

Today the U.S. Government announced that our country has more than 70 million or 26.7% of population’s adults are obese. It is considered to be a major public health threat by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control. Over 400,000 people were surveyed and the results and numbers are huge. In 9 states, over 30% of their population is considered obese. There is increasing concern and effort to address this situation as obesity is directly related to increased heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers.

The survey also reported that multicultural communities were especially hard hit. African Americans were most likely to be obese with 36.8% of African American men and 41% of African American women were considered to be obese. Hispanics were reporting 30% obesity in their populations. With women providing most of the health care support, food preparation and education to our families, it is important that we begin to educate and change the way we eat and exercise within our families. Many multicultural families continue to prepare traditional cultural foods that use high fats, sodium, carbohydrates that can lead to increased obesity and related diseases. We need to explore utilizing substitute ingredients that are healthier and begin to address this obesity situation.

This further supports the work that First Lady Michelle Obama is undertaking with her national “Let’s Move” campaign aimed at seriously reducing Childhood Obesity in a generation. Let’s take a look at what our children, parents and families are eating and determine how we can begin to modify our eating and exercise habits in order to increase our families’ longevity and health.

The hearing to determine if Elena Kagan nominated by President Obama to be the next Supreme Court Justice opens this week. As she endures questions and inspection into her qualifications, records and opinions people will get to learn more about her positions on key issues that affect us all. If she is confirmed, she could have 25 years or more on the Supreme Court that would clearly have strong impact on issues facing our country. It is a crucial appointment for all of us that we need to watch closely and understand how her decisions and opinions will affect all of us for multiple decades. If she is confirmed, Elena Kagan would be the 112th Supreme Court justice and the fourth woman to sit on the nation’s highest court.

In yesterday’s mid term elections, women ran for major high profile positions and in many cases won. Women like Blance Lincoln in Arkansas, Meg Whitman in California and others across the country. There were winners in the Democratic, Republican and independents that demonstrated women coming out and getting success in high profile campaigns. While there is a strong anti-incumbent feeling among voters, there were incumbents and newcomers alike that won a spot moving forward. Voters will be watching these women carefully to see what issues they represent and solutions they suggest other than just being “anti-establishment” alternatives. Our economy is faced with many challenges including high unemployment, rising costs, and job creation issues. It will be important to see if these women can gain the trust of voters and come up with real solutions and resolve to put our country and states back on track.

A new law in Santa Clara County, California bans restaurants from giving away free toys with children’s meals exceeding healthy levels of calories, fat, sugar and salt. “This ordinance breaks the link between unhealthy food and prizes,” said the law’s author, Supervisor Ken Yeager. “Obviously, toys in and of themselves do not make children obese. But it is unfair to parents and children to use toys to capture the tastes of children when they are young and get them hooked on eating high-sugar, high-fat foods early in life.”

This new law bans free toys in meals containing more than: 485 calories, 35 percent of their calories from fat, 10 percent from sweeteners, or exceeding 600 mg of sodium. These guidelines follow the children’s health standards set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As a nation we are facing skyrocketing obesity rates among adults and children and in some places 30% of our population are obese, overweight and becoming diabetic, experiencing related coronary disease. We all have to find ways to counteract this unhealthy trend and determine what are some of the contributors to this epidemic. While many critics of this new law say that parents should determine what their children should be eating, it is apparent from looking at the dramatically increasing numbers of adults getting obese, overweight and having associated illnesses that many of the parents are not making the healthiest choices for themselves and their children. If the fast food chains offer healthier meals that meet the guidelines they can continue to offer the promotional toys with the healthier menu offerings. Stay tuned and let’s see how this legislation affects other parts of our nation.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/28/MNLA1D5QFV.DTL#ixzz0mUssRXNc

Census forms and your money!

To help promote participation in the Census, we’re announcing our new Text Message campaign: Text FreeCensus to 53137 and register your name in a drawing to win a FREE iPod Touch! Starting today, we’re announcing it to all our partners and the public.

While the deadline for sending in the Census has passed, the government is now getting ready to send representatives to the doors of people who failed to send in their census forms. They will be sending them up to several times to ensure we count everyone who lives in the United States regardless of their citizenship status. It is important that we encourage all our families and friends to open the doors and answer the questions to ensure they are counted in the Census to receive federal funding for their communities.

Remember: Text FreeCensus to 53137 to register to win a FREE iPod Touch and receive periodic messages.