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GEN's Voice
Issue 13
July 2002
In This Issue:
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Vote GENaustin for
Best Nonprofit in The Austin Chronicle’s
annual “Best of Austin” |
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Please take a second before Monday, July 1, to
register your vote for GENaustin as the best
nonprofit at http://www.austinchronicle.com/bestofaustin/
And please send along this note to all your
committee members and other GENaustin supporters!
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Danger of Youth
Access to the Internet |
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We all know that the Internet can be a valuable
educational tool, and the role of technology in
business makes it essential that children learn how
to navigate online. But the Internet also has its
hazards.
In a recent survey, one in four kids reported having
at least one unwanted exposure to sexually explicit
pictures online during the past year, and one out of
five reported receiving a sexual solicitation
online. Unfortunately, there is no panacea for
protecting youth from Internet pornography. Rather,
the best strategy is a combination of social and
educational interventions, technology-based tools,
and legal and regulatory approaches.
A recently released report from the National
Academy, entitled “Youth, Pornography, and the
Internet,” serves as a practical guide for parents,
teachers, librarians, information technology
vendors, service providers, and public
policy-makers. The report examines approaches to
protecting children and teens from Internet
pornography, threats from sexual predators operating
on-line, and other inappropriate material on the
Internet. Chaired by former Attorney General Dick
Thornburgh, the report is the most comprehensive
study yet on the topic.
The report itself is available online at: http://bob.nap.edu/html/youth_internet/
And for more information on the report go to:
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/onpi/webextra.nsf/web/porn?OpenDocument
Another danger is the role that the Internet plays
in relational aggression (please see the April and
June GEN’s Voice issues for other articles on this
topic http://www.genaustin.org/public/content/news/newsletter.asp).
Instant messaging, in particular, can be used in
hurtful and harmful ways. One of GENaustin’s parent
liaisons has experienced this problem firsthand with
her middle school aged daughter. She compares
instant messaging to online slam books and feels
that its impersonal format leads young people to
type things they wouldn’t normally say. This
includes both messages that may be hurtful as well
as messages that are too intimate.
Her daughter even had an episode where a stranger
entered into a chat with her group of friends and
started asking personal questions. The group felt
that the stranger was probably not a kid. It
shouldn’t be new news to parents that pedophiles
often use the Internet to select their victims,
sometimes posing as just another kid.
Another problem is simply the time that instant
messaging occupies. The parent liaison and other
parents she knows have seen their children’s grades
and time with family suffer because they are
spending so much time online. Sometimes even getting
up in the middle of the night.
She wishes she had known about the dangers before
her daughter reached middle school and wants other
parents to be aware of this problem so they can set
limits from the beginning. “I didn’t see this coming
a year ago,” she said. “Going to some of the
GENaustin presentations has been helpful though.
It’s also nice to know that I’m not the only parent
that is dealing with this.”
GENaustin is currently working on our speaker series
and other programs for the next year. We recognize
that parents need help with the problems the
Internet presents and are currently planning an
event to address them. Look for more information to
come.
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GENaustin College
Scholarships Awarded to Outstanding Volunteers |
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GENaustin recently awarded two $500 college
scholarships to Miranda Oropeza and Lauren Hermes.
These young women have provided outstanding service
as clubGEN facilitators.
“I’m truly amazed by their drive and generosity,”
said Anita Mennucci, executive director of
GENaustin. “They’ve accomplished more in their 18
years than most people do in a lifetime. We’re
really happy to be able to award them with the
scholarships. They’ve made a tremendous difference
to GENaustin and I’m sure they’ll make us proud in
their future endeavors.”
Lauren and Miranda will both be attending Southwest
Texas State in the fall and will continue to
volunteer for GENaustin as facilitators for our new
clubGEN program in Wimberly, Texas. |
Help GENaustin and
Get a Chance to Win Two Airline Tickets |
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GENaustin is currently selling raffle tickets to
raise funds. The raffle will be held on August 1st
and is for two round trip tickets on Southwest
Airlines. The tickets are $5 for one or $20 for
five. Please contact the GENaustin office at [email protected]
if you’re interested in buying or helping to sell
tickets.
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Informative
Article on Girls Self-Esteem Posted on
AboutOurKids.com! |
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According to an article entitled “Mirror Mirror on
the Wall: How to Raise Girls with Healthy
Self-Esteem” by Robin F. Goodman, Ph.D., women and
girls are still losing the self-esteem war. “Girls'
self-esteem peaks when they are 9 years old, then
takes a nosedive,” writes Goodman. “Overall, boys
have a higher sense of self-esteem than girls in
elementary school and are better at retaining it
over the years.”
Some startling statistics from the article:
- 20-40% of girls are dieting beginning at age 10.
- Among working class 5-12th graders, 47% said they
wanted to lose weight because of magazine pictures.
- When elementary school boys were asked how often
they felt "happy the way I am", 67% said always, by
high school it fell to 46%. For girls the figures
dropped from 60% to 29%.
- Health risks accompany girls drop in self-esteem
due to risky eating habits, depression, and unwanted
pregnancy.
- Only 6% of women are in nontraditional careers,
women cluster in only 20 of 400 different job
categories.
And some more positive indicators:
- High school girls who participate in sports are
40% less likely to drop out of high school, 33% less
likely to become teen mothers, and less likely to
smoke cigarettes.
- More girls were enrolled in algebra I, algebra II,
geometry, pre-calculus, trigonometry, and calculus
in 1994 than 1990.
Goodman’s article examines why girls' self-esteem
plummets and what can be done prevent this decline.
To read the full article go to: http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/mirror.html |
Introducing
Honorary Board Member Dr. Kaye Forgione |
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Kaye Forgione, Ed.D., is a life-long educator,
having devoted over 25 years to the service of
children and schools. With expertise in mathematics
education and education policy, she has worked at
the classroom, district, state, and national levels.
She is currently working as a senior consultant on a
number of state and national projects. In addition,
Dr. Forgione is actively engaged in community
activities in Austin, Texas, where she resides,
particularly with respect to programs impacting
children. She serves as a member of the Board of
Directors of the Girl Scouts - Lone Star Council and
the Board of Directors for the Zachary Scott Theatre
Center. She is married to Dr. Pat Forgione,
Superintendent of Austin Independent School
District.
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Center for
Community-Based and Nonprofit Organizations
Provides Valuable Service |
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The Center for Community-Based and Nonprofit
Organizations at Austin Community College assists
community-based and nonprofit organizations to be
more effective by helping strengthen their strategic
creativity and organizational capacity.
The Center seeks to optimize the identified and
latent capacity of the community by leveraging,
facilitating, brokering, and fostering strategic
creativity, collaboration, networking, support, and
pragmatic nonprofit education for those interested
in and/or engaged within the nonprofit sector. It
does so via learning opportunities/workshops,
publications, weekly ANNOUNCEMENT LISTSERV, online
discussion forum, nonprofit leadership and
management resource centers, board development
workshops, nonprofit job postings in Central Texas
area, comprehensive database, and calendar of/for
nonprofit organizations in Central Texas area,
on-line Strategic Creativity journal, fostering and
supporting nonprofit organizations affinity groups,
and other initiatives such as the Grants Information
Clearinghouse (in collaboration with the Community
Action Network/CAN), Justice Through Service (in
collaboration with Austin Young Lawyers
Association), and professional publication program
(with The Fielding Institute).
Center session leaders and publication authors
provide their services pro bono and almost all
Center services are available free of charge.
To register for Center learning opportunities,
download free publications, and/or for more
information about it, go to http://www.austin.cc.tx.us/npo
or e-mail Barry Silverberg, Center Director at
[email protected]
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Easy Ways to Help GENaustin |
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When you make a purchase at the following places part of your purchase goes to help fund GENaustin.
Also, mention GENaustin when you shop at Giada, a unique boutique and gift shop just west of downtown, and 2% of your sale will go directly to GENaustin. GENaustin is excited to be a part of Giada's Community Investment Program. Giada is located at 704 West Sixth Street, a block west of Katz' Deli, 457-8881.
One more way you can help is by purchasing one or more raffle tickets. The raffle is for two roundtrip tickets on Southwest Airlines, and the tickets are $5 each or $20 for 5. Call 512/414-0472 to find out how to get your raffle tickets.
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This site was last updated on 04/04/2005.
Copyright © GENaustin, Inc. 2001. All rights reserved.
GEN, GENaustin, and GENaustin logos used and displayed herein are registered and
unregistered trademarks of GENaustin, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks
and logos used herein are the property of their respective owners. Email us at
office@genaustin.org.
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