Childcare is critical infrastructure and for families of color, it’s even MORE critical | Eclectablog

Childcare is critical infrastructure and for families of color, it’s even MORE critical | Eclectablog

Childcare is critical infrastructure and for families of color, it’s even MORE critical

The following essay was written by Krystle DuPree, a working mother and member of the Ann Arbor School Board. The views expressed here are hers and not those of the Ann Arbor School Board, her employer, or any other group.

Enjoy.

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In March of 2020, the world as we knew it came to a grinding halt. Restaurants lowered their numbers to a close. A new fashion and safety accessory emerged as we all covered our faces in crowded spaces. Most significantly, schools and childcare centers that served as essential support to parents and working families closed their doors in the name of health and safety. However, although schools and childcare centers closed, for many parents, work continued, so they faced a significant dilemma, according to the U.S Census bureau. Parents either have had to cut back on work hours or usher in a new generation of latchkey kids.

In states that lead the way in school closures, women were 68% more likely to cut back on or stop working during the school closures in 2020. 1 in 5 working adults stated that they stopped working during the pandemic due to a lack of or a significant change in childcare. Of those not working, women ages 25-44 were almost three times as likely as men not to be working due to childcare demands. When we think of the disproportionate effect on Black and Brown women, Essence magazine noted in December of 2020 that Black mothers are twice as likely to be responsible for CONTINUE READING: Childcare is critical infrastructure and for families of color, it’s even MORE critical | Eclectablog

CATCH UP WITH ECLECTABLOG AND Your middle & high school-aged daughter can become part of the network of unstoppable girls! | Eclectablog

Your middle & high school-aged daughter can become part of the network of unstoppable girls! | Eclectablog

CATCH UP WITH ECLECTABLOG

Your middle & high school-aged daughter can become part of the network of unstoppable girls!

I recently became aware of two programs being offered by Michigan Women Forward (MWF), a community development nonprofit group that is dedicated to empowering women and girls of all ages. The programs are being offered specifically to middle school and high school girls in Michigan. Both programs are being presented virtually (though they hope to go back to in-person in 2022.)

I spoke with the woman who is the driving force behind these amazing efforts, Meaghan Bergman, the Program Manager for UGOGirls and HERstory. She was brimming with enthusiasm for these programs, both of which have spots for 50 girls this year.

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Virtual S.T.E.A.M
S.T.E.A.M. stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. You may often see this as “STEM” because not all groups include the “A”: Arts (an unfortunate omission, in my opinion.) Meaghan described how she sees STEAM education as a gender equity issue because the arts are often considered feminine and, therefore, less valuable.

For this program, MWF has partnered with Motor City STEAM and it is opened to all kids who identify as girls and are entering grades 6-8 this fall. Girls in this program will be receiving two different “experiments in a box”. Last year, the first week’s box was CONTINUE READING: Your middle & high school-aged daughter can become part of the network of unstoppable girls! | Eclectablog

Michigan AG Nessel is being sued to restore earned paid sick time & increased minimum wage laws

31 18h

In 2018, worker advocacy groups gathered enough signatures to put several citizen-initiated ballot proposals on the November ballot. However, according to law, before that happens, the legislature has the ability to make them law immediately by passing them as legislation. If this is done, it bypasses the governor and they become law without the governor’s signature. There were several ballot […]

I’ve got 39 election bill problems and early tabulation ain’t one of them

68by Barb Byrum / 20h

With outsiders trying to politicize election administration in the United States, it is time to enshrine voter protections and access to the ballot box nationwide. The constant drumbeat of election conspiracies, prompted by the former President and perpetuated by radical Republicans has resulted in suppressive legislation being introduced in 47 states across the country. Some of these laws have e

No more F-35s – with special guest Dan Grazier from the Project on Government Oversight

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Dan Grazier on Twitter: @Dan_Grazier Project on Government Oversight on Twitter: @POGOwatchdog Project on Government Oversight’s website: POGO.org Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Inquirer: Will U.S. learn from a $1.7 trillion goof that would have paid for Biden’s infrastructure plan? Tony Capaccio at Stars and Stripes: Pentagon reportedly estimates that the F-35 budget plan is running $10 billion

The American Rescue Plan is a chance for a new beginning in education and teaching children, especially those with special needs

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The following essay was written by Trina Tocco. She is a resident of Royal Oak and has two amazing children who attend Ferndale Public Schools. When the pandemic hit, I had to make a choice – either one of my children wouldn’t be able to participate in virtual school because of mental illness or I would have to put my […] The post first appeared on Eclectablog .

Paid time off to get a COVID-19 shot is good, earned sick time for all workers is better

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Late last month, the Biden administration to an important and necessary step of offering a tax credit to employers who offer paid time off related to COVID-19 or the vaccination. To qualify, the must be a business with under 500 employees that offered paid sick or family leave to their employees through September 30th of this year and have employees […] The post first appeared on Eclectablog .

Trying to cling to the last shreds of power – with Michigan State Senator Erika Geiss

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Michigan Senator Erika Geiss on Twitter: @SenErikaGeiss Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #mileg pic.twitter.com/voOZpPYWOs — Senator Dayna Polehanki (@SenPolehanki) April 30, 2020 #OTD a year ago at 7:04 p.m. ET the #mileg senate adjourned (see […] Th

Trying to cling to the last shreds of power – with Michigan State Sen. Erika Geiss

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State Senator Erika Geiss on Twitter: @SenErikaGeiss Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms

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The American Rescue Plan is a chance for a new beginning in education and teaching children, especially those with special needs | Eclectablog

The American Rescue Plan is a chance for a new beginning in education and teaching children, especially those with special needs | Eclectablog

The American Rescue Plan is a chance for a new beginning in education and teaching children, especially those with special needs

The following essay was written by Trina Tocco. She is a resident of Royal Oak and has two amazing children who attend Ferndale Public Schools.

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When the pandemic hit, I had to make a choice – either one of my children wouldn’t be able to participate in virtual school because of mental illness or I would have to put my family at risk by bringing additional caregivers who I didn’t know into my home to help with my children so that I could work. I chose to open my home because the risks of an unsafe home with no one to really turn to didn’t seem like an option.

As a single mom trying to work and homeschool my children, it has often felt like I wouldn’t make it through the day. Emergency services like the Oakland County Mobile Youth Crisis line haven’t been available to go into homes since the start of the pandemic. The pediatric mental health hospitals are at full capacity and families are having to wait weeks in hospital waiting rooms for placements to ensure safety for their children and families. What were gaps in supports and services before the pandemic are now gaping holes.

During this pandemic, families like mine with special needs children have needed an adult from the school to be physically present. Unfortunately, given the lack of school staff, the limitations created by social distancing, and the outdated separation of services that are provided by schools versus community mental health agencies, this just wasn’t possible. Instead, I have had to CONTINUE READING: The American Rescue Plan is a chance for a new beginning in education and teaching children, especially those with special needs | Eclectablog

The most effective civil rights protest that you probably never heard of | Eclectablog

The most effective civil rights protest that you probably never heard of | Eclectablog

The most effective civil rights protest that you probably never heard of

In 1977, the longest occupation of a federal building in the history of the United States of America took place and, when it ended, the protesters had achieved what nobody thought possible: regulations covering the enforcement of a four-year old law — Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The protest is now called “The 504 Sit-In” and for over three weeks, members of the disability community occupied the Federal Building at 50 United Nations Plaza in San Francisco, which housed the regional office of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW), the federal agency tasked with creating the regulations required by Rehabilitation Act.

The original protest rally at the HEW office in San Francisco was part of nationwide day of protests which began on 44 years ago today on April 5th. Unlike the protests in other cities, the organizers of the San Francisco rally had been quietly planning an occupation of the office there. Occupiers came to the rally with backpacks filled with some essentials and, when the rally concluded, the entered the building and refused to leave until HEW Secretary Joseph Califano signed the Section 504 regulations which gave guidance on how the law would be enforced.

Stories from the nearly month-long occupation are riveting and dramatic. Over 100 people with disabilities of all kinds participated. People with deafness. People with blindness. People living CONTINUE READING: The most effective civil rights protest that you probably never heard of | Eclectablog

LOLGOP: The entire GOP is fixated on kids’ genitalia | Eclectablog

The entire GOP is fixated on kids’ genitalia | Eclectablog

The entire GOP is fixated on kids’ genitalia

It’s not just Matt Gaetz

The GOP’s failure when it comes to Covid-19 — which is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, according to a Lancet commission— is even more unforgivable when you realize how effective and focused Republicans can be when it comes to something they care about, like stopping Black people from voting or bullying trans kids.

Arkansas has become the latest GOP-led state to frantically confront what the right sees as the most pressing problem in the midst of a pandemic that has killed almost 600,000 Americans and put almost 10 million out of work. That problem? Some trans kids possibly not feeling suicidal.

A bill signed into law on Tuesday by Governor Asa Hutchinson denies trans teens gender-affirming care and is the “the single most extreme anti-trans law to ever pass through a state legislature,” according to Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU.

This is the most extreme poke of the spear from the GOP’s war on trans kids, which is generally fixated on “preserving” girls’ and women’s sports and stomping out the fictional scourge of trans competitors showing up and dominating the landscape. This scourge is so immense and urgent that Republicans either can’t produce any significant examples of it occurring.

Why is America’s right so concerned about the “fairness” of sports they’d never watch?

Their foray into making bathrooms the wedge issue they could nail trans people to has generally failed, thanks to effective activism that engineered a backlash to these sick laws that exist simply as a way to humiliate people Republicans have decided to bully for fun and profit.

The game here is obvious. Pretending concern for kids, especially the poor, “helpless” young female athletes of America, reinforces the “strict father” worldview that the right is built upon. It CONTINUE READING: The entire GOP is fixated on kids’ genitalia | Eclectablog