SPEAK exists to help raise awareness about the critical issues and lingering needs within our communities facing children and youth, women and their families and the poor through the use of technology, multi-media tools, activities, events and programs. The goal is to produce positive change in the lives of those whose voices are not being heard and needs are not being met.
SPEAK Target Populations
Foster Care & Adoption Issue This Awareness Campaign will share stats and communicate the challenges facing the more than 20,000 youth aging out of the US Foster Care - Child Welfare System each year! Yet, about 50% of youth in foster care do not graduate from High School! It will highlight key programs, strategies and individuals that are working tirelessly on the behalf of this vulnerable population...
A report on www.childwelfare.gov, showed that there were over 408,000 children in foster care.* In 2011 out of the over 209,000 children living in Delaware, 814 were in foster care and more than 2,000 were victims of abuse and neglect. A bright spot in all of this is that 125 were adopted out of foster!**
Employment & Education Issues
This SPEAK Awareness Campaign will focus on these 2 foundations of mobility in the US and global economies...
Click here to see a interesting chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows the percentages of women in certain occupations.
For youth and young adults ages 16 to 24 the BLS reports that employment-population rates in 2011 were at the lowest since record keeping started in 1948 - from about 60% to about 49%. Unfortunately, the unemployment rates, especially for young men seems to be steadily increasing.***
See the SPEAK Careers Page for information about SPEAK Volunteer Internship Opportunities.
Singleness, Dating & Relationship Issues
This Campaign will focus on the triumphs and challenges that single adults in various life situations face: single young adults; single parenting; singles by divorce, not design; the widow and widower. It will discuss some of the most important decisions an individual makes in his/her lifetime:Should I date him/her or should I marry him/her...
and the impact these decisions have on our communities.
According to reports from UNICEF USA, "Worldwide, 5.5 million children are victims of forced labor and child trafficking.****
This SPEAK Awareness Campaign will attempt to help bring to light this black-hole of depravity that is destroying innocent lives and undermining societies around the world... It will connect the readers with stories, testimonies of emancipation and those who are working on the front-lines to rescue lives and end this unforgivable evil...
Housing & Homelessness Issues
This SPEAK Awareness Campaign will share with its readers information about individuals and families facing and the organizations on the front-lines of this cronic issue. It used to be that the face of homelessness was that if single men middle aged men. Today the facts show that an increasing number of women, children and whole families are now experiencing periods of homelessness in alarming numbers.
This SPEAK Awareness Campaign will bring its readers into the largest penal system in the world that has upwards of 6 million either imprisoned or on probation... The inability of the US to rehabilitate its ex-cons is reflected in the recidivism stats from state to state... Campaign will show the connections with the children of single mothers, youth in foster care, homelessness, unemployment...
See this 2012 WDDE online article about online article about Delaware's efforts to help ex-inmates and reduce recidivism
In 2011 about 6.9 million individuals were part of the correctional population in the US. This enormous figure includes:those on probation, parolees, jail inmates and federal and state prisoners.*****
See the following alarming statistic, "Nationally, 1 in 3 Black and 1 in 5 Latino boys born in 2001 are at risk for imprisonment during their lifetime."******
Family Issues
This Awareness Campaign will deal with a variety of challenges and needs that families face on a day to day basis. It will attempt to offer solutions by directing the readers attention to individuals and programs that are working diligently to help, encourage and build healthy families...
April is National Autism Awareness Month. During April, SPEAK will post helpful information and highlight families, organizations helping families and children working through this critical issue.
