Burnet Elementary Needs Your Help

Burnet Elementary students need us! Mr. Ronald Caraway wiht Communities in Schools is collecting toiletries for Burnet students. Mr. Caraway has shared that Burnet students are in need of:

Loofahs

Shower caps

Toothbrushes

Mouth wash

Deodorant 

Lotions

Wet wipes 

Donations can be dropped off/sent to Burnet Elementary addressed to Ronald Caraway at Communities in Schools. 

The Future is US Policy Task Force will meet at its new time this Wednesday via zoom from 4:00pm-4:40pm. This meeting occurs weekly and is open to all. Register at tinyurl.com/PolicyInterestForm to receive updates, agenda, and meeting link. 

Who is the Policy Task Force?

The Policy Task Force (PTF) is an arm of The Future is US initiative based in Galveston, TX comprised of students, parents, and other community stakeholders and advocates

What is it designed to do?

The PTF is designed to facilitate policy change within the areas of social determinants of health pertaining to Arts & Cultural Expression, Social Networks & Trust, and Norms & Culture through community voices and the redistribution of decision-making to the communities most affected by the decisions being made. 

How?

·        Educating, organizing, and mobilizing students, parents, and community members to advocate for policy change and increase public awareness of current policies pertaining to school discipline, Arts & Cultural Expression, Social Networks & Trust, and Norms & Culture. 

·        Provide free, accessible educational content and opportunities on what policy is; how policy affects us; the relationship between data and policy; policy analysis; stages of policy making; how to advocate for policy change; advocacy through art; stages of policy change; rhetoric and composition; writing for justice; and civil discourse.

·        Educating about and facilitating access to existing policies connected to school discipline; Arts & Cultural Expression; Social Networks & Trust; and Norms & Culture

·        Facilitating opportunities for advocacy and actionable, measurable works to achieve institutional and structural policy changes that promote positive health outcomes for all youth and families in Galveston. 

·        Creating public documents including policy briefs, policy recommendations, and policy reviews.

·        Education and capacity building around methods of policy advocacy and raising public awareness

·        Supporting financial and structural sustainability of TFIU.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten!

Did you know that by reading and sharing stories with babies and young children not only helps their brain development, but strengthens your relationship with them? Research has found that reading and story telling:

• Helps in developing children's brain development in concentration, focus, social skills and communication

• Expands children's vocabulary! A 2019 study found that children that were regularly read to the 5years leading up to Kindergarten were exposed to 1.4 million more words.

• A 2008 study found that children feel secure when read to and can support a solid parent-child relationship.

Sign up today for Rosenberg Library's Reading Challenge!

AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #45

Nigeria has imperial and neocolonial trappings it must acknowledge and vehemently reject. This includes surrendering decision making about financial and credit facilities or political organization to the West, which has a significant impact on the actions of those who take political office in the country. The United States is an imperial power that operates through its neo-colonial subjects and its control over imperialist structures, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as through its control over the politicians in office.

Nigerian sovereignty is reduced to mere “flag independence” because of U.S. external-policy interference and economic control. This allows the space for Nigerian elites to engage in wrongdoing—whether by corruption, nepotism or human-rights abuses. We must contextualize these instances in terms of how Western corporations and governments often enable (and encourage) such actions to preserve lucrative economic arrangements.

General elections will be held in Nigeria on February 25 to elect the president and vice president, as well as members of the Senate and House of Representatives. These elections will take place amid an unprecedented state of general crisis. Any politician or party coming into power will have to contend with an ongoing capitalist crisis. The response of any neo-colonial government is likely to  be to tighten fiscal consolidation on behalf of big business. The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and its U.S. Out of Africa Network (USOAN) must support the antithesis of neo-colonial governance, which are self-determination and bottom-up, participatory democratic processes.

Original link: https://blackallianceforpeace.com/africomwatchbulletin/edition45 

TFIU School Board Watch Doc!

The Future is Us’ critical goal is to effectuate policy change in GISD, so that black students, and ultimately, all children receive a quality education. However, institutional power can be adversarial at times. Therefore, it is compulsory to us as parents, youth, and Galveston community members to hold our local institutions and Board of Trustees accountable.

Through a collaborative effort, TFIU created and is making available our The Future is US SCHOOL BOARD WATCH Document. With this self-explanatory document, any interested community member can attend or watch a school board meeting, and record detailed notes and minutes, as well as assess, in real time, the quality of content in the meeting.

Once completed, please e-mail the document to info@thefutureisus.co. We will compile the information so that we can become better equipped and more effective in our advocacy for positive change and creating better GISD schools.

Thank you all in advance for your support and dedication to making sure all of Galveston’s students get the best education possible!

Upcoming Board Meetings: 

Check here for all GISD Board of Trustees meetings!

More Upcoming Dates!

There are lots of ways you can make a difference in the community! 

• Take our Survey (QR Code below) and let us know what you think will make change in the school district.

• Join the TFiU/NIA Book Club.

• Become a TFiU Member!

• Visit TFiU's Youtube.

• Visit TFiU's Website