Leaders in Austin, Texas understand. Fort Worth, Texas doesn't. I know that subsidized housing (permanent supportive housing) will happen in Fort Worth because the buzz around the country is that if you build housing for the "homeless" x-cons & addicts that your tax dollars will be saved (in the short run). However, I haven't found a housing program yet, that has been in existence longer than 5 years and has reduced the budget that a city spends on homelessness. Sure it will look good for the first couple of years because a large percentage of the chronically homeless individuals will go for it, especially in the months of cold weather when their camps are an inconvenience to their lifestyle. Where in the 10 year homeless plan does it show that the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Homelessness (MACH), have allocated funds for programs that address the "root" causes of homelessness, such as irresponsible parenting?
Meadowbrook Middle School (East Ft. Worth) is a Category 4 school (which means if test scores don't go up, the school closes) with mostly minority children. Fortunately the school has an awesome Principal who is turing the school around. However, guess what the #1 problem is for her? Getting parents involved in their children's education.
Talk to any homeless person and ask them what their childhood was like, you will learn that 99% of them had irresponsible, "dead beat" parents.
So, tell me again why the City of Fort Worth is not investing in rewarding responsible parents and holding irresponsible parents accountable as part of their "erradification" plan for homelessness. Tell me again what our County Commissioners are doing about irresponsible parenting.
http://www.responsibleparenting.com/
http://www.fortworthgov.org/PlanningandDevelopment/info/default.aspx?id=48530&linkidentifier=id&itemid=48530
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Responsible Parenting - Where are Fort Worth's investments?
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2 comments:
What is the school doing to reach out to parents and where, exactly, is the irresponsibility? Passing the buck by labeling all parents in that school not willing to help is, well, irresponsible.
The last meeting I attended, there was discussion of having snacks, offering drawings for gift certificates at parent-teacher conferences, etc. in order to encourage more parental participation in school activities. BTW, did I say that no parents were involved in their children's education? I have re-read the post and don't see where I said that "all parents in this school were not willing to help." IMO, if you can't or aren't willing and able to invest in your childs well being and education then you should keep your pants zipped or make sure your contraceptive is effective so that you won't be passing the "responsibility" of your childs well being and education onto "others" such as taxpayers, drug dealers, prostitutes, gangs, etc.
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