New Beginnings
Riverside for Change met for the first time on December 13, 2008 to discuss how we could enact Barack's vision by working as a positive force in our local community. We gathered in small groups based on issues most important to us and explored ways that we might use our available resources to improve folks' lives in nearby neighborhoods.
Key Findings
As the groups joined together to discuss our findings, several key issues and avenues for action emerged. If you're interested in reading more about this discussion, please view the complete post.
01 The Economy | 02 Education | 03 Healthcare | 04 Energy
Planned Service Event
Our service event will take place in early January. We will plan a food + donations drive in Riverside and then serve folks at a local pantry. We will use existing community networks we have ties to in order to have as large an impact as possible. More details to follow. If you're interested in being included in our project, please email casie.simpson@gmail.com.
The Pickens Plan: For those who would like to become an active participant in a solution for our nations energy needs I urge you to join with T.Boone Pickens in his quest for a cleaner planet through alternative energy.
Also see Green Wave Energy: Green Wave was founded by Mark Holmes and was formulated for viable alternative energy solutions. Green Wave Energy is promoting state-of-the-art energy-saving products and services throughout the country.
Green Wave Energy understands alternative energy technology will become “main stream” when
Call 949.645.1701 for information on how Green Wave Energy can help you save the planet.
Alternative EnergySource: David Apperson
url: http://veterans.barackobama.com/page/community/tag/alternative-energy
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Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss is a few points from Democrat Jim Martin for U.S. Senate in current polling in the Georgia U.S. Senate runoff race. Senate Runoff in 35 Language Translations. Runoff election to be held Tuesday, 2 DEC 2008.
Any help you can give polling voters is greatly appreciated. Democrats want to win this race!
The more Democratic Senators in office the easier it will be for President Elect Obama's economic policies to be implemented without a chance of a partisan filibuster.
REGISTERED GEORGIA VOTERS ARE REQUESTED TO VOTE DEMOCRAT
To register, contact Geneve [ gbergeron@martinvictory.com ] or call 815.252.9684
Ted, Vote Builder Administrator [ techsupport@georgiademocrat.org ] or call 678.278.2103
Georgia Voting Locations [ PDF ]
Want to vote - call 404.748.2754. A Jim Martin for U.S. Senate volunteer will be happy to hand-deliver an absentee ballot application to you home or office.
Obamagelicals are requested to distribute this message to friends within the Obama groups and to other individuals you feel comfortable asking to help on your mailing list.
Thanks - David Apperson
GEORGIA SENATE RUNOFF SEARCH QUERIES Altavista | Google | Lycos | MSN | Yahoo
Here in Riverside, near Dayton, Barack just finished giving remarks at Stebbins High School, where he very clearly laid out the planks of his education platform--which aims to get American children to compete in the globalized world of the 21st century.
Barack was introduced by Greg, a local Dayton parent (and former Republican) who has been closely involved in his child's education. He was a perfect predecessor to Barack, because the fundamentals of Barack's education policy are rooted in the strong conviction that everyone--teachers, the government, and especially parents--must be involved in order for kids to make progress at school. Barack had this to say:
It's time to stop passing the buck on education, and hold ourselves accountable...It starts in our home. It starts in our family. No government program can turn off the TV set, or put away the video games, or read to your children. But we can help parents do a better job.
It's time to stop passing the buck on education, and hold ourselves accountable...
It starts in our home. It starts in our family. No government program can turn off the TV set, or put away the video games, or read to your children. But we can help parents do a better job.
He then floated the idea of posting report cards online for parents, so that they can more easily track their child's progress, and determine for themselves how involved they need to be.
But what Barack made sure that everyone knew at this event was that he is an unwavering advocate of public education. Beyond fully funding No Child Left Behind, he established firm ideas on how to make public schools competitive, so that children are guaranteed the best education and are fully prepared for college. This includes prioritizing the recruitment of well-trained teachers, and helping floundering schools instead of leaving them by the wayside.
All of this was in addition to his consistently mentioned plan to prioritize early childhood education and help pay for the schooling of students who choose public service as a profession. At its heart, Barack's plan calls for the federal support of education programs that have been proven to work. And as for funding? Barack swiftly allayed that concern with a one-liner that had the numerous teachers hungry for change here standing up off their seats:
We can do all of this, for the cost of just a couple days in Iraq.
With a meeting scheduled afterwards with the embattled workers of the DHL subsidiaries in the Wilmington area, who potentially face massive job cuts, today Barack is letting it be known that he cares about the struggles of Southwest Ohio.
Yesterday, at the Arlington Public Library in Riverside, California, 27 average Americans came together to do an uncommon thing. We gathered together, at the request of the Democratic National Committee, to discuss our values, priorities and recommendations for planks in the Democratic Party's 2008 national platform.
From discussion among these 27 average Americans emerged a range of priorities, from resurrecting the Constitution to ending the war on Iraq to finding ways to reduce the drop out rate. From six flip chart pages we narrowed the topics down to six for in depth discussion, then three of us went home and crafted the notes of that discussion into planks for the platform.
Tonight, we submitted those recommended planks for consideration by the DNC Platform Committee, and we share them below.
The No Child Left Behind Law has unfairly put pressure on teachers and schools. While it is important to create tools for accountability, these tools have to be reliable and agreed upon with all stakeholders. It is interesting to see that the federal government has been by law kept away from education, leaving the management of education to States. However, the States have to follow Washington's mandates.
Who has benefited the most from No Child Left Behind? The answer is: testing companies, not students, not schools.
According to “Rethinking Schools”, in the article written by Barbara Miner “testing Companies Mine for Gold”, “States are likely to spend $1.9 billion to $5.3 billion between 2002 and 2008 to implement NCLB-mandated tests, according to the non-partisan Government Accounting Office (GAO).”
"The amount of money spent on standardized testing is not the real problem," notes Monty Neill, executive director of the Boston-based group FairTest. "The real problem is how it distorts teaching and learning."
“Three companies have traditionally dominated the market for developing tests: Harcourt Educational Measurement, CTB McGraw-Hill, and Riverside Publishing. All are part of larger conglomerates, and their financial data generally are not reported separately from the controlling corporation.”
“A fourth, little-known company, Pearson Educational Measurement out of Iowa City, Iowa, has significantly increased its market share in recent years. According to the Dec. 1, 2004 Education Week, Pearson has for now overtaken Riverside as the third main testing company.”
“As with any business, the testing companies are driven by the need to make profits, not to improve education. They will do what the market requires them to do—nothing more, nothing less.”
It is clear that students and schools are not the first beneficiaries of testing. All the money given to private testing companies would be better spent in educating the whole child, in “making sure that every student has access to a rich and challenging curriculum” as recently written by Vaishali Honowar in Education Week (March 28, 2007).
“The definition of a successful student has to change from one whose achievement is measured solely on the basis of test scores to one who is healthy, emotionally and physically inspired, engaged in the arts, and prepared for employment in a global economy.” “Academic achievement cannot happen without significant emphasis on other factors, including student engagement, personalized learning, and skilled and caring teachers”. (Report prepared by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s Commission on the Whole Child).
