Our Life & Times by 1199SEIU

A JOURNAL OF 1199SEIU March/April 2010

Rules for April’s Union Election SEE INSERT

PROTECTING OUR FUTURE New York City high school student Melanie Chu takes advantage of 1199SEIU Child Care Funds’ programs. Her mother, Rikers Island pharmacist Carol Hong, is a longtime member of the Child Care Advisory Committee. Page 6.

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THE FUTURE IS NOW Our children are at risk. PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Our children should not pay for economic crisis. WORKING PARENTS WORRY ABOUT CHILDREN “I want to see them get what they want.” EDUCATION OUT OF REACH Officials are starving our schools. A HOME IS A RIGHT Children need safe, secure home. THE WORK WE DO Members at Cerebral Palsy. CHILDREN’S PAGE Drawings and puzzles. CHILDREN’S RESOURCES Websites, books and films recommended by our Child Care Fund. SAVING HAITI’S CHILDREN Report from UNICEF. OUR TOXIC ENVIRONMENT Children need a safe environment. AROUND OUR UNION We should all be counted.

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Our Life And Times, March/April 2010, Vol. 28, No. 2 Published by 1199SEIU, United Healthcare Workers East 310 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 Telephone (212) 582-1890 www.1199seiu.org

E DITOR : J.J. Johnson STAFF WRITE R : Patricia Kenney PHOTOG RAPH E R :

Jim Tynan PHOTOG RAPHY ASS ISTANT :

Belinda Gallegos ART DI RECTION & DES IG N :

PRES I DE NT :

George Gresham S EC RETARY TREASURE R :

Maiarelli Studio COVE R PHOTO : Belinda Gallegos

Maria Castaneda EXEC UTIVE VIC E PRES I DE NTS :

Seneca Manor’s Amy Stutz with children Alyssa, 3, and Tyler, 4.

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Norma Amsterdam Yvonne Armstrong Angela Doyle Mike Fadel Aida Garcia George Kennedy Steve Kramer Patrick Lindsay Joyce Neil John Reid Bruce Richard Mike Rifkin Neva Shillingford Milly Silva Estela Vazquez

Our Life And Times is published 6 times a year by 1199SEIU, 310 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036. Subscriptions $15 per year. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. ISSN 1080-3089. USPS 000-392. Postmaster: Send address changes to Our Life And Times, 310 West 43rd St., New York, NY 10036.

EDITORIAL

The Future is Now

Bryan Negron, 4, was diagnosed with asthma at six months old. He lives with his mother Zaida Ramos in one of the nation’s asthma hotspots, the South Bronx in New York City.

Our children are at risk. hildren generally do best in two-parent homes, but in some 14 million households and in a disproportionately large percentage of 1199SEIU homes, the mother is the sole parent. But whether a child is reared in a one- or two-parent home, there is no greater predictor of a child’s future than the status of the mother. It begins with health care. Lack of access to quality prenatal care, for example, can lead to serious consequences for the mother and her baby. And once infants leave the safety of their mother’s womb, parents are confronted by multiple challenges. They include providing safe, nutritious food, clean water and an environment where parents needn’t be concerned about the air their children breathe. Parents must also tackle issues such as education, health care and safety. Many of us take providing adequate nutrition for granted. But according to Feeding America—a nation-wide network of food banks and food resources organizations— 17 million—nearly one in four—of our children don’t have access to enough healthful food to thrive. Food insecurity exists for 49 million Americans and 14.6% of U.S. households. That number climbs to 37.2% for households headed by

March/April • Our Life And Times

single mothers. In the South Bronx, the home of 1199SEIU home health aide Zaida Ramos and her family (see page 14), the 37 percent rate is the highest in the nation. In place of healthful foods, children too often consume fatty, sugary and salty foods and snacks, which often are far more accessible than more healthful foods like fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. That helps to explain why the rate of obesity and attendant diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in many communities in which high concentrations of 1199ers live. Virtually all 1199SEIU children have health insurance, either through our employers or the state. But that is not true for some 10 million other children. And it is far worse for adults. Health insurance companies, for example, are earning record profits through their abuse of an exploitative system. or example, in Washington, D.C., which is in an 1199SEIU region, a woman can be denied health insurance coverage if she has been a victim of domestic violence. In fact, women in eight states and the District of Columbia don’t have laws that specifically bar insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny them health coverage. “The best anti-poverty program is

a good education,” Pres. Barack Obama has said. Thousands of 1199ers take advantage of Training Fund classes to advance their careers. But there are many who do not have access to such classes for themselves. Nor do they have access to adequate schools for their children. The availability of quality preschool programs and of adequate public schools is a casualty of the economic crisis and years of administrations hostile to public education. Today, charter schools are being hailed as a fix for our troubled system, although they often exclude the most challenging students and abuse resources to the detriment of the public school system. n New York City, high school students are fighting to save their transit passes so that they can remain in their schools. College students are being priced out of city and state schools as local governments hike tuition to help close budget shortfalls. Parents and students have to take out loans even for local community colleges. Many members with steady incomes are finding it increasingly difficult to keep a roof over their families’ heads The challenges of parenthood today are greater than they’ve been since the Depression of the 1930s, but there are 1199ers that are meeting the challenge. This issue of OLAT tells some of their stories.

Nearly one in four of our children doesn’t have access to enough healthful food.

THE PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

The community served by St. Vincent’s has rallied to support the endangered hospital.

George Gresham

There’s a Better Way Why should we and our children bear the budget deficit burden The theme of this issue of Our Life and Times is “Fighting for Our Children.” That could also well be the theme of this year’s fight in our state legislatures to defend patient care and the healthcare industry from shortsighted budget cuts. It seems like every year in Albany, Boston, Trenton and Annapolis, the legislators and the governors try to balance their state budgets on the backs of healthcare workers, our schoolchildren, and our patients. And every year, we in 1199SEIU have to pull out all stops to educate and convince our elected officials that there is a better way. It doesn’t get any easier and this year’s may be the toughest fight of all. Every state is operating at a deficit. In New York, the biggest state for us 1199ers, the budget deficit is now estimated to be close to $10 billion. There are many reasons for this: the collapse of the economy; massive unemployment and widespread housing foreclosures which mean the loss of billions of tax dollars; long-term disastrously wrongheaded tax policies that redistribute income from the working and middle classes to the wealthy and the corporations; federal priorities that favor military spending over human needs and financial aid for Wall Street over help to our states and cities. None of this is the fault of healthcare workers or our sisters and brothers in other industries, and it certainly isn’t the fault of our children. But at budget time in Washington and our state capitals, we are the ones who are asked to carry the burden. Health care and education—perhaps the two most important functions and services of government—are always the first targets. There are alternatives that would better serve “the people” in whose name budget decisions are made. In New York State, 1199SEIU is happily a member of the Alliance for a Healthier New York (AHNY), a coalition of nearly 60 diverse organizations. The Alliance has launched a comprehensive statewide “Just a Few Pennies” campaign to persuade lawmakers to support Gov. David Paterson’s proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. The “soda tax”—a penny-per-ounce excise tax on non-diet sodas and other drinks containing large amounts of added sugar—will help reverse the state’s obesity epidemic (especially among children), generate hundreds of millions for critically important health care services ($450 million in 2010-11 and $1 billion the following year, according to the State) and eliminate the need for severe healthcare cuts and taxes in the Governor’s proposed budget. The tax also would reinforce First Lady Michelle Obama’s national campaign against childhood obesity. “Sugar-sweetened beverages play a significant role in New York’s obesity epidemic,” says Lisa Altshuler, Ph.D., Maimonides Infants and Children’s Hospital in Brooklyn. “Healthcare costs associated with obesity cost New York’s taxpayers upwards of $8 billion per year. This campaign is about sending a message that by adding a small excise tax on soda and other sugary drinks, we can reduce consumption of these empty calories and make real progress towards making all New Yorkers healthier.” The “Just a Few Pennies” campaign enjoys growing public support. A Quinnipiac poll released in February found that a majority of New York City voters favor the tax, and a recent Kiley & Company poll found that nearly 60 percent of New Yorkers support the tax as a way to reduce childhood obesity and fully 78 percent support it if the revenue raised is used to prevent healthcare cuts. Sixty percent of adults and one-third of children in New York State are overweight or obese. AHNY believes the soda tax can help reverse these unacceptable numbers by decreasing consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and encouraging New Yorkers to buy healthier, lower-calorie drinks. This is truly a win-win situation. New Yorkers get healthier—and so does the state budget. We encourage all 1199SEIU sisters and brothers to let your legislators know you support the “sugar soda tax”—and so should they.

Letters PRIDE IN ST. VINCENT’S t. Vincent’s Hospital has always been a gentle giant in New York City. I knew that when I walked in the doors 28 years ago. My aunt convinced me to take a job there after I had been working in the hotel industry. I never looked back. After I saw how the Sisters of Charity ran things, I never wanted to leave. They took homeless men in from the Bowery, treated them and helped them dry out. The men were treated with dignity just like everyone else. The medical staff in the O’Toole Outpatient Clinic knew all their patients’ names by heart. We had one of the first cystic fibrosis programs, and those kids grew up in this hospital. Our spiritual leaders gave hope to the hopeless – our patients as well as our workers. We had one of the first rape crisis centers in the city. I saw over the years how important that was for so many women. The people were so caring. St. Vincent’s workers do our jobs with pride. We have always been proud to tell people where we work. We don’t just do what’s expected of us. Our nursing care is second to none. For years, our nurses were taught at our own nursing school that was right here in Greenwich Village. Over the years it amazed me to go to work and see people treat each other with such respect. Who would ever believe that we would find ourselves in the position we’re in today? We can’t let this historic institution close. I still believe that help can come for St. Vincent’s – whether it’s from the state, the city or the federal government. So many of the tens of thousands of people who have passed through these doors are praying for us. But we need help and we need to believe that this has to get done.

DIANA NEWBALL St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, New York City

OUR PRECIOUS EARTH s we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 let us remember that this grand unifying perspective was made possible by one of our nation’s greatest gifts to the world, the first stunning photo of Earth from outer space taken during the Apollo moon missions. This awesome image of our beautifully round whole Earth, suspended in the vast blackness of space, may be humanity’s crowning achievement, the climax of our long collective urge to explore our surroundings. This new perspective of the Earth took our self-consciousness to a whole new dimension. We could all suddenly feel part of a much greater self, the whole Earth. The photo of Earth from outer space gives us the connection and perspective that unites us all. When we celebrate Earth Day, we are giving thanks for the wondrous gift of life on Earth, a gift we can no longer take for granted as the catastrophic consequences of global warming begin to unfold. We are finally recognizing the paramount importance of protecting our Earth’s fragile life-support system, a responsibility we all share. When we embrace this humbling and unifying perspective our lives take on new meaning. In honor of Earth Day and in light of this new meaning and this fundamental change in our perception of the world I propose the following revision of our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag Of the United States of America And to this precious Earth Upon which we all stand One people, the human family indivisible With liberty and justice for all. I believe that the time has come to have our Pledge reflect on what all of us share and cherish as citizens of the United States of America and as citizens of Planet Earth. JEFF VOGEL Beth Israel Medical Center, New York City

March/April • Our Life And Times

FAMILIES

“I Want To See Them Get What They Want Out Of Life” Working parents worry about the struggle ahead for their children.

Stacey Popplewell, a medical assistant at Manhattan’s Physician Group in New York City, is the single mother of three-year-old twin girls, Kimora and Skyler. “Just trying to make things work is stressful. Our day starts at 5:30 and ends at 8:30 at night. The girls go to school far from where we live and I have to take three trains to get to work,” she says. “But I don’t show them my stress. I make it look easy because I want my children to be happy.” Popplewell is typical of many working mothers. Resources for the basics such as housing, education and transportation are stretched to the limit. Women in general earn 77 cents for every dollar white men earn. The average single mother who’s employed full time earns just $25,000 per year. “I can’t afford a car. If I could, my day wouldn’t have to start so early and things would be easier for us, but I can’t because workers at my center are underpaid,” she says. “The Union is trying to help us with that, but still, we’re waiting.” Appropriate housing is a challenge in her Bronx neighborhood, says Popplewell. “Good apartments are hard to afford where we live, so we don’t live in the best neighborhood,” she says. “In good neighborhoods, they’re tiny. They’re cut down to nothing.” Still she believes it’s vital that she presents a strong image for her girls. “I don’t want them to have to go through what I went through. I worry. I want them to know that I’m there to protect them,” she says. “I want to see them get what they want out of life, and I’ll be there to support them.” As of 2008 there were 73.9 million children in the U.S. under 18 years old. By 2021, children will make up nearly a quarter of the nation’s population. The security and well being of children is reflective of the security and well being of their parents. Current statistics indicate that children’s lives are destabilizing

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in several key areas, including family structure and economic progress. Amy Stutz is a delegate at upstate New York’s Seneca Manor in West Seneca, New York. She and her partner John are the parents of four children, ages 14, 12, 4 and 3. He works in a food processing plant on the shift opposite hers because the pay is better, so they rarely see each other. They have little family time, she says, because one of them is always running out the door to work. They’re making ends meet for their family of six, but she worries about the impact this has on their kids. “It’s not like everyone sits down for dinner together every night,” says Stutz. “It takes away time from us and their school activities. We’re not really able to participate all the time. I worry that they think this is what their lives will be

like. They’ll just have to work all the time.” Stutz lives in Erie County, where there’s a high rate of unemployment. A lot of people have to work two or three jobs to get by. “My kids say it would be nice if you weren’t tired all the time or you didn’t have to work so much,” she says. “But I have explained to them that isn’t economically possible. What would be nice is if we could have some affordable day care so parents could work the same shifts. The problem is there just aren’t a lot of places that people feel they can turn for help.” Stutz hopes that someday her kids won’t have the same kind of pressure she and her partner face. “We just want to take care of our kids and provide for our family,” she says.”I want my kids to grow up and feel that they can stay here, that they can grow up and get good jobs.”

Women in general earn 77 centsfor every dollar white men earn. The average single mother who’s employed full time earns just $25,000 per year.

Seneca Manor delegate Amy Stutz with her children (from left) Tyler, 4, Zachary, 14, Alyssa, 3, and Hunter, 12.

EDUCATION

Starving Our Schools Privatization and budget cuts take their toll. The decline of the manufacturing base of the U.S. economy has greatly reduced the availability of unskilled jobs. Today, education is a must. But as it becomes more essential, it simultaneously is becoming far more difficult to obtain. Across the country, thousands of teachers have been furloughed. Severe budget restrictions have prompted boards to shorten the school day, week and year. Gone are Pre-K and after-school programs and classes such as music, art and physical ed. For parents and their children during primary and secondary school years, governments on all levels have backtracked on their support for public education. This is especially true in urban areas. Most studies indicate that parents in suburbs and small towns are far more satisfied with their children’s education. It is in the urban areas where budget cuts and the advance of charter schools have taken the greatest toll on traditional public schools. Many parents, particularly in crowded, low-performing urban schools, have given up on their neighborhood public schools. They argue that as the inner city becomes less white and middle class, the commitment of government and educators decreases. 1199ers who are covered by the 1199SEIU Child Care Fund (CCF) have a leg up. “Some of the Child Care Fund programs have given us a lot of help,” says Carol Hong, a pharmacist at Rikers Island, the New York City jail complex. Hong’s daughter, Melanie Chu, is a junior at the School of the Future, a small Manhattan public school that manages to prepare its students for college without forcing them to take high-stakes tests. “The CCF helps children not only with the academics but also with social skills and other aspects of education,” Hong says. She adds that School of the Future’s philosophy, including smaller classes, diverse student body, interdisciplinary

curriculum and project-based assessments, is good preparation for college. “We’ve been planning for Melanie’s college career by exploring whatever financial assistance we can get,” Chou says. In communities across the nation, parents are fighting the growing trend of governments to hand over the public school system to private operators who ignore the neediest children in the system. The current fad across the nation is the charter school system, a first step towards privatization. This process is being driven by foundations such as those of Bill and Melinda Gates and the owners of WalMart. Public officials argue that market solutions are the silver bullet for problems in public education.

Today, education is a must.Butasitbecomes more essential, it simultaneously is becoming far more difficult to obtain. These schools often fail to enroll the most needy higher-cost students, including English language learners. Some charters are run by for-profit firms that use public dollars to pay exorbitant management fees. These are dollars that should be used to educate our children, say critics Parents and teachers argue that rather than setting up privately run alternatives to regular schools, the Department of Education should concentrate on

Rikers Island pharmacist Carol Hong and daughter Melanie Chu are using the 1199SEIU Child Care Funds to help Melanie make the high school to college transition. improving the schools we already have. The situation is not better for college students. Tuition prices are skyrocketing because private schools have seen their endowments dwindle and public colleges are suffering from major reductions in state funding. That, combined with higher unemployment and stagnant household incomes, is making it harder than ever to finance a degree. On March 4, students, teachers, parents and school employees rallied and marched at campuses and government buildings in some 32 states in a strike and day of action to defend public education. One California student told a reporter, “We are being shut out of the American dream.” Michelle Riley-Morris, with the help of the 1199SEIU Training Fund and her employer, Hebrew Home for the Aged in the Bronx, worked her way up to become an RN. Today she is trying to figure out how she and her husband will be able to pay for their daughter Tabitha’s college education. “It’s getting a lot harder to pay for college than it used to be,” RileyMorris says. Tabitha, a senior at Lehman High School, is a gifted athlete who has a chance of getting a basketball scholarship. “We’ve gone to college fairs and have looked into financial assistance,” RileyMorris says. Chow’s daughter, Melanie, says that she’s leaning toward a career in health care. “I want to be able to help people,” she says. “It is also an area where jobs should always be available.” Melanie has taken advantage of CCF programs that help teens succeed in high school and begin to explore career alternatives. “The Workforce 2000 program has helped me a lot both with my high school work and in preparing for college,” Melanie says.

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HOUSING

Keeping A Roof Over Our Heads Children need a safe and secure home. hen former home health aide Patricia O’Connor-Grant separated from her husband last fall, she was unable to pay the rent on the family’s Dorchester, Mass., apartment. She and her three children – Chad, 9; Jahvonny, 6; and Amelia, 3 – found themselves homeless. O’Connor-Grant got help from the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance and with temporary funding from the federal Stimulus Bill, was able to move the family into a Days Inn Hotel. She has managed to keep her children in their Dorchester school and she’s close to finding an apartment. O’Connor-Grant recently earned her license as a CNA and has earned high marks for her work with the 1199SEIU Mass. Division on political campaigns. “Patricia worked tirelessly and was able to make the connection between politics and our priorities as healthcare workers,” says Tim Foley, the region’s political director. The region’s leaders were so impressed with O’ConnorGrant’s work that she’s been working since January as a supervisor of member canvassers in the region’s campaign to organize patient care assistants (PCAs). Meanwhile, she struggles to find an

1199ers don’t have to look to their housing situation to feel the effects of the crisis.

Massachusetts 1199er Patricia O’Connor-Grant is struggling to find housing for herself, Chad (left), Amelia and Jahvonny.

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affordable apartment. She is not alone in her quest to find a safe and secure home. Mortgages covering some 340,000 apartment units across the country were either delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of 2009. The total number of homes foreclosed in that period is estimated to be between 4.5 and 5 million. The epidemic of foreclosures has ruined families, communities and towns. 1199ers don’t have to look to their housing situation to feel the effects of the crisis. The sub-prime meltdown is a major cause of the economic crisis. By the end of 2008, for example, the 1199SEIU Pension Fund had lost one-third of its assets, leading to a renegotiating of the majority of New York City 1199ers’ contracts. nd for renters such as O’Connor-Grant, the crisis does not necessarily mean that there will be more decent affordable units to rent. When landlords owe more on their mortgages than their properties are worth, they often opt for abandonment or bankruptcy. Some attempt to cut their losses by scrimping on services or utilities. In New York City, the owners of the largest affordable-housing complexes,

Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, foreclosed on the 11,000-unit property because they could no longer meet mortgage payments. The fate of the complex and its renters is in limbo. n Washington, D.C., some 2,500 occupied rental units were in foreclosure in July. That is double the number for the same period in 2007. But rents are still prohibitive. According to government statistics, Washington is one of the areas in the country in which a person earning the minimum wage would have to pay more than 100 percent of her income for a two-bedroom rental. O’Connor-Grant says that finding a place would make her day less hectic. Now she puts the two boys on the school bus each morning. She then drives Amelia to day care. After school, the boys take a bus to their Dad’s from where O’Connor-Grant picks them up every evening after getting Amelia from day care. O’Connor-Grant can work as a CNA, but she says she also finds fulfillment in union organizing. “It’s been a great experience,” she says. “I’m not sure what the future holds. I’ll go wherever God is pointing me to go.” And her children will be by her side.

t Cerebral Palsy in New York City, 1199SEIU represents some 1,200 direct care counselors (DCC’s), who each day serve the needs of thousands of adults and children with a wide range of neurological and developmental disabilities. On an Cerebral Palsy Direct Care afternoon in early Counselors March Our Life And Times visited one of the agency’s 24-hour, residential care facilities for children and young adults in New York City. During the visit to the Staten Island institution, the workers shared, with striking humility, what it is like to care for severely disabled young people.

THE WORK WE DO

4 1. “I got excited when somebody told me I could come here and work with young kids,” says Pearl QuanKing shown here with consumer Michelle Martinez, 14. “I just wanted to take care of them. Your heart goes out to them and you want to take care of them as best you can. You get very attached to them.”

2. “I got a referral to Cerebral Palsy for a job program and I thought it would be perfect because I have a brother with Down’s Syndrome,” says Karla Jackson, with consumer Talitha Beaubrun, 25. “When I first came in I immediately took to the kids. I don’t see hard days. I just see them as days we’ve got to pull it together and do it and get to work and get things done.”

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THE WORK WE DO

5 3. Direct care counselor Eunice Oluwaseyi has been at Cerebral Palsy for nearly three years. “When I first came here I was scared,” she says. “You work with somebody for three days and then you’re on your own—you can ask questions or ask for help—but you’re working by yourself a lot. In home care I was more of a companion. Here the kids have so many issues; they have trachs and g-tubes. They require a lot of care. It was nerve wracking. I’m used to it now.”

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4. LaToya Jordon came to Cerebral Palsy nine months ago. She’s shown with consumer Derrick Moiera, 18. “I’ll spend the whole day with him today,” she says. “You have to make sure he doesn’t pull out his g-tube. You can’t turn your back on him for one minute because he’s fast and really smart. He can be a wild boy. You can’t put him to bed until he’s asleep in his chair.”

5. Tyeisha Cook has been at Cerebral Palsy for two years. In the past, Cook worked in a group home, but never with kids with such profound needs. “Physically this job takes a toll. The lifting is a lot,” she says. “But emotionally - I just love them. It’s great. You have to have the heart for it and sometimes people say they don’t know how I do it, but if you have the heart everything just falls into place.”

KIDS’ PAGE

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

By 2012 kids will make up more than 25 percent of the nation’s population. What you eat and drink has nothing to do with asthma symptoms. Two thirds of all graduates leave college with student loans. There are two languages spoken in Haiti: French and Spanish. The U.S. Census is every five years. UNICEF is the part of the United Nations that helps the world’s children. Nearly 25 percent of school-aged children speak a language other than English at home. 8. If a family loses their home for some reason, they cannot stay together. 9. Women earn higher salaries than men. 10. Kids who live in cities have the same kinds of health problems as kids who live in the suburbs and rural areas.

7. True. Almost a quarter of school-aged kids in the U.S. speak a language other than English at home. 8. False. If a family loses their home for some reason they can stay together in temporary housing until they find a new home. 9. False. Women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. 10. False. Kids who live in cities have different health problems than kids who live in rural areas and in the suburbs. City kids have higher incidences of asthma, allergies and exposure to chemicals and other pollutants.

What’s in this issue of OLAT ?

Answers: 1. True. Kids will be more than a quarter of the country’s population by 2012. 2. False. You can help manage your asthma by watching what you eat and drink. 3. True. Two thirds of all graduates of four-year colleges leave school with student debt. 4. False. There are four languages spoken in Haiti: French, Creole, Spanish, and English. 5. False. The U.S. Census is every 10 years. 6. True. UNICEF was founded in 1946 to promote relief for children devastated by WWII.

TRUE or FALSE:

ART BY MEMBERS’ CHILDREN Drawings of New York City institutions, from top to bottom, left to right: 1. Mount Sinai Medical Center Patients by Stephen Lyte, son of Petula Tute, Mount Sinai Business Associate. 2. NY Presbyterian Hospital Entrance by Zahir Whatley, son of Valencia Whatley, NY Presbyterian Hospital Admitting Dept. 3. Who’s Calling by Nathanael Fleming, son of Isabel Chatelain Fleming, 1199SEIU Member Services Dept. 4. Mount Sinai Map by George Elliott, son of Petula Tute, Mount Sinai Business Associate. 5. NY Presbyterian Hospital Drive Thru by Qiuyana Whatley, daughter of Valencia Whatley, New York Presbyterian Hospital Admitting Dept. 6. Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center by Tyreek Brown, son of Karen Brown, an LPN at Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. 6

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Educational Resources for Families A list from our Child Care Funds BOOKS FOR ADOLESCENTS AND SECONDARY-SCHOOL AGED KIDS

WEBSITES FOCUSED ON RESOURCES FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AGED KIDS www.Childcareexchange.com Child Care Exchange - Promotes the ideas and resources for early childhood learning programs. www.Childcareinc.org - The website of Child Care Inc., which contains information about family childcare providers and child development and education. www.ESL-GALAXY.com - ESL Galaxy- Free printables, and exercises for grammar and pronunciation www.Lakeshorelearning.com Educational supplies, products and toys. www.Newyorkpubliclibrary.com New York Public Library www.Nickjr.com - Nickelodeon - Nick Jr. www.Scholastic.com - The website of Scholastic, Inc. www.Starfalls.com - Phonics games and online interactive books.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (Fireside Publishers, New York, 288 pages) Behind the Mountains by Edwige Danticatt Chanda’s Secret by Allan Stratton (Annick Press, New York, 196 pages) Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul by Jack Canfield Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story By Gregg Lewis and Deborah Shaw Lewis Zonderkidz The Skin I’m In by Sharon Flake Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 20th Ed. Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man and Life’s Greatest Lesson by Mitch Albom Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip M. Hoose (Hardcover - Jan. 20, 2009) BOOKS DISTRIBUTED AT THE CCC COLLEGE FAIR A is for Admission: The Insider’s Guide to Getting into the Ivy League and Other Top Colleges by Michele A. Hernandez The Princeton Review and The ProTesters SAT Test Prep Manuals Admissions Matters: What Students and Parents Need to Know about Getting into College by Sally P. Springer, Jon Reider and Marion Franck

VIDEOS

Best 371 Colleges (2010 Ed.), by The Princeton Review The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History by Steven Kasher Abbeville Press, 256 pgs Complete Book of Colleges, 2010 Edition by Princeton Review Countdown to College: 21 To Do Lists for High School: StepBy-Step Strategies for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th Graders 2nd Edition by Valerie Pierce Daily Life Strategies for Teens by Jay McGraw Guide to College Majors, 2009 Edition by Princeton Review Fiske Guide to Colleges 2010 by Edward B. Fiske Fiske Real College Essays That Work by Edward Fiske and Bruce Hammond How to Make Colleges Want You: Insider Secrets for Tipping the Admissions Odds in Your Favor by Mike Moyer Kaplan Scholarships 2010: Billions of Dollars in Free Money For College by Gail Schlachter and R. David Weber

1199: the History of a Fighting Union The Adkins Life Skills Program: Career Development Series (multi-media program) Amazing Grace Celebrate Moe Crash Glory The Great Debaters Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes John Q The Lion King Mississippi Burning Philadelphia Power of One Sarafina Sicko Stand and Deliver Swing Kids Tuesdays with Morrie

A Unique Partnership M B U M Q D X O BWT A C K MWG D H WW E Y J I B G B C S L F D K N U D N Z A S Y R E O I O L E L N O Z J N G J M N T I M L Q I A S P E C I A O D Z C L H V U J N U G V F Z S MW

E H U F O R L A J P O L H V J

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March/April • Our Life And Times

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O R T G D I J I E Y J T Y M F O W I Y H T M J Y L I M F WORD D A O U SEARCH N L E N Children W Q U H Dad Education R K C B Family S Z V X Haiti Health W C X Z Housing B W S F Loans Mom V W D W OLAT

The 1199SEIU Child Care Funds (CCF) help eligible 1199SEIU parents – mostly working mothers – balance their work and family responsibilities by providing child care, programs and services for children from infancy through age 17. Each year the CCF serves over 12,000 children and youth. Parents are able to access affordable childcare and after-school programs, cultural arts programs, holiday and summer camps, and SAT, college and workforce preparation courses. These programs are made available during the workweek, weekends, school holiday weeks and during the summer. Because the demand for services far outweigh what the Funds are able to offer, every program has a waiting list. The Funds also prepare youths for specialized careers, such as pre-nursing, through its Youth Mentoring and WorkForce 2000 programs. No other union and employer partnership in the country offers such a comprehensive package of childcare benefits. To determine eligibility and learn more about CCF, log on to www.1199nbf.org and go to Child Care & Youth Programs.

WE CARE FOR HAITI

Haiti’s Future Begins With Its Children A report from the field. RICHARD ALLEYNE PHOTOS

By Richard Alleyne, Public Relations Manager, U.S. Fund for UNICEF t the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) the well-being of women and children is our guiding mission. UNICEF has been in Haiti since 1949 and, as is the case in other countries, UNICEF remains on the ground before, during and after any emergency, working to implement a country plan that has the best interests of children in mind. The devastation that struck Haiti on Jan. 12 has caused a children’s emergency of alarming proportions. Nearly 40 percent of all Haitians are 15 years old or younger and every sector of a Haitian child’s life has been impacted by this disaster, including their education, level of nutrition, health, protection, and access to water and sanitation. Haiti’s recovery will have to begin with its children. Children are Haiti’s future and thanks to the generous support of 1199SEIU (in January 1199SEIU donated $1 million to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF), UNICEF is working hard to ensure all the children of Haiti enjoy a brighter future. I entered Haiti in a supply convoy through the Dominican Republic seven days after the earthquake. What I observed during the drive from the border to the logistics base in Clercine (just outside Port-au-Prince) resembled the terrain of any Caribbean island: sugarcane fields, small clapboard homes with galvanized roofs and grazing livestock. Except for the occasional collapsed home, and the constant busloads of Haitians headed to the border,

there was little evidence a natural disaster had occurred. That all changed as I entered the capital. In Port-au-Prince, blocks upon blocks of homes and businesses were destroyed, as if shelled by mortar rounds. Men and boys moved about the rubble collecting tin and hacking through twisted metal either to sell or use in the rebuilding of some future home. Makeshift, spontaneous camps were set up along the sides of streets and throngs of people clogged the entrances to the few money transfer offices that were still standing and operable. All around the capital and surrounding communities, people struggled with daily life. n the immediate aftermath and in the days that followed the earthquake, medical treatment, food and water were the priorities, but now, especially for the children, what is imperative is shelter and a constant supply of clean water and proper sanitation facilities to ensure against the spread of water-borne diseases like cholera and dysentery. There is no time to waste since the rainy season is already underway, and following that, the often severe hurricane season begins. While the Red Cross is leading the effort to provide adequate shelter for homeless Haitians ahead of the rainy season, UNICEF is the lead agency in providing water and sanitation. Some 25 percent of the affected population now has access to improved sanitation facilities (This is more than the pre-quake figure of 17 percent.). More needs to be done, and efforts to

speed up the delivery of essential sanitation equipment began several weeks ago with the aim of establishing, before the end of March, 12,950 latrines along with hand washing facilities for approximately 650,000 people. By the end of June, the goal is establishing 21,182 latrines along with hand washing facilities. s of Feb. 26, 102,000 hygiene kits have been distributed across the country, reaching 510,000 persons, almost 46 percent of the target population. These kits are packed in plastic buckets, and contain essential household supplies, including soap, detergent, toothbrushes, toothpaste and towels. The education sector was particularly hardhit by the crisis and did not function very well even before the quake, with only 50 percent of school-aged children attending classes. UNICEF firmly believes that all of Haiti’s children have the right to an education. During times of chaos and crisis, education provides children with a sense of safety and normality. UNICEF has started the distribution of 150 school tents, 482 school-in a-box kits and 762 recreation kits across the country. Additional identification of teachers and accelerated teacher training will accompany the distribution of the supplies. Each school-in-a-box kit can provide as many as 40 children with exercise books, pens, pencils, and wooden cubes for counting. UNICEF is procuring 720,000 backpacks with essential school supplies, as well as essential classroom supplies. The first batch of 200,000 is expected before the end of March.

March/April • Our Life And Times

The education sector was particularly hard-hit by the crisis and did not function very well even before the quake, with only 50 percent of school-aged children attending classes. RICHARD ALLEYNE PHOTOS

C F This is just a small sampling of the work we are doing on the ground. While it is possible to repair damaged and destroyed infrastructure over the coming years, addressing the psychosocial impact on children and re-building the capacity of caregivers and the government is a challenge that will likely last the decade. I remain confident, however, that with the continued support of organizations like 1199SEIU, made up of individuals who refuse to forget the plight of the Haitian people, we will more than meet the challenges ahead. For more information on the work that UNICEF and her partners are doing in Haiti, please visit: www.unicefusa.org. To assist in Haiti relief efforts log on to wecareforhaiti.org or call (877) 875-6561.

March/April â&#x20AC;˘ Our Life And Times

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Opposite page: A) Children at Grace International Mission compound in Port-au-Prince. This page : B) Nurse watches over injured boy at the Dario Contreras trauma center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. C) Children at Sacred Sisters orphanage and school in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Lilavois. D) Child with her family at makeshift settlement in Canape-Vert in Port-au-Prince. E) Mother and child wait for medical attention at a UNICEFsupported outdoor clinic on the grounds of the English Adventist Academy in Carrefour, epicenter of the quake. F) Girl at Sacred Sisters orphanage.

HEALTH

Zaida Ramos, a home health aide with the Cooperative Agency in New York City, with her son Bryan Negron, 4, who was diagnosed with asthma at six months old.

Our Children’s Environment Kids’ health issues are changing with increasing toxins in the water, air and soil.

In the South Bronx, the asthma rate is 33 percent higher than the national average.

ccording to statistics from the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, environmentally related illnesses such asthma and allergies are the prevalent diseases of childhood. Over 2.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released into the nation’s water, air and soil each year. By 2007 it was reported that 66 percent of children lived in counties in which one or more pollutants were above allowable levels. Many children are exposed to toxins used on a daily basis in homes, schools and other settings. There is a direct correlation between these substances and childhood diseases, with the children of racial and ethnic minorities at the greatest risk for exposure to the pollutants that cause these illnesses. Shaneen Green, who works in materials management at Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital, has a daughter 15, and two sons, 11 and 7. Both her sons are asthmatic. Green lives in Harlem and says she’s seen a definite increase in pollution, traffic, and the use of toxic pesticides in the neighborhoods where she’s lived. “In Upper Manhattan, we have a lot of delivery trucks with a lot of fumes,” she says. “In certain areas of Manhattan you can’t idle your truck or you can’t go down certain streets. But up here it’s okay.”

aida Ramos is a home health aide with the Cooperative Agency in New York City. She lives in the South Bronx. Her four-year-old son was diagnosed with asthma at six-and-a-half months old. Ramos keeps a close eye on her son, watches what he eats and drinks. She does her best to keep him far away from things like smoke, dust, fumes, soot and other

allergens that can trigger an attack, but it’s not easy to do where she lives. “This is the number one place for asthma. We used to have a lot of factories. There are trucks idling,” she says. “And here in the projects it isn’t so clean. I don’t judge, but that’s just how it is. And when you have asthma, you need to be in a clean environment.” Indeed, in the South Bronx, the asthma rate is 33 percent higher than the national average. It also has the highest rate of child and adult asthma hospitalizations and deaths in the nation. The disease costs New York State nearly $502 million in annual Medicaid payments. “When I lived in the Bronx they’d spray insect repellent all over. They’d try to do it at night when people weren’t around or out, but it was still in the air. It would be all over the cars when you came out in the morning,” Green says. “I’d close my windows and put a wet towel down so the kids wouldn’t get attacks.” utside of New York, patterns are similar. In Baltimore, children are more likely to suffer from asthma than children from regions in suburban Maryland and in Boston, the highest rates of asthma have been reported in the five neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan and the South End. Green, who is a delegate, says parents have to keep the pressure on local representatives to make their neighborhoods cleaner for kids and families as well as take advantage of educational programs at local healthcare centers. “Asthma is a disease that has to be taken seriously,” says Green. “People die from it. People think it’s not really serious. That it’s just a condition. But it’s actually like watching somebody take their last breath sometimes.”

March/April • Our Life And Times

Mercy Northern New York CNA Liz Davis and family members in Davis’s Adams Center home.

Around the Union

Count Us In Who are we? Every 10 years the U.S. government asks that questions to help federal, state and local officials make decisions that affect every person in the nation – citizens and non-citizens. The U.S. Constitution requires that everyone living in the United States be counted. In March, Census forms should have been delivered to every residence in the United States and its territories. Residents were to answer the 10 short questions and then mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope provided. If you don’t mail the form back, you may receive a visit from a census taker who will ask you the questions from the form. There is no reason not to answer. On the contrary, the information the census collects determines the number of House of Representative members allocated to each state. It also helps to determine how more than $400 billion of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like: healthcare institutions, job training, schools, senior centers, emergency services, bridges, tunnels and other public-works projects.

MIKE OKONEWSKI PHOTO

“I’m always concerned that we get all the funding that’s due us,” says Liz Davis, a CNA at Mercy Northern New York nursing home in Watertown – 72 miles northeast of Syracuse and 31 miles south of Canada. Davis lives in Adams Center, which like Watertown is in Jefferson County. “I’m especially concerned about the Medicaid reimbursement rates,” she says. “We can’t have our institutions closing or moving to other states.” Davis, the mother of three grown sons, also has six grandchildren. “I recognize that the success of our children depends a lot on our ability to keep them in school,” Davis says. “That means we have to have enough funding for our classrooms and after-school programs.” Census figures help to determine funding for programs like Head Start, the State

In Maryland, during the current 90-day legislative session, Governor Martin O’Malley and the General Assembly are struggling to close a $2 billion budget gap and pass a balanced budget, as mandated by state law, by April 12. 1199SEIU members are fighting to keep funding in the budget for hospitals, and to keep the financially strapped Prince George’s hospital system funded during a transfer of assets.

March/April • Our Life And Times

The census has significant implications for the education of the nation’s schoolchildren. The Bureau provides the U.S. Department of Education with data on school enrollment and educational attainment. Census population figures are used to draw school district boundaries and determine funding allocations for many education programs. Programs and funding for unemployed workers, seniors, people with disabilities and immigrants also are partly determined by Census numbers. Immigrants and people of color also have a huge stake in making sure the government has accurate numbers to help ensure the enforcement of civil rights legislation and voting rights.

“Further cuts will trigger more than 12,000 additional layoffs, sharp reductions in care and outright closures.”

STATE BUDGET FIGHTS: Preserving Quality Care and Our Institutions In New York State, Gov. David Paterson proposed some $1 billion dollars in cuts to New York State’s health care budget that could eliminate some 22,000 jobs statewide. Hospitals, nursing homes and home care agencies face the permanent loss of 12,300 jobs. The draconian measure is a threat to patient care in communities across New York State and severely jeopardizes quality patient care. Members were asked to prepare for mobilization against the cuts. The Healthcare Education Project, a joint initiative of 1199SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) also rolled out a series of television ads calling on New Yorkers to tell their legislators, “No more health care cuts. Enough is enough.”

Children’s Insurance Program, the school breakfast program, food stamps and WIC, among others.

George Gresham 1199SEIU President

1199SEIU father and child at Albany budget rally last November. On Lobby Day March 11, members rallied and met with legislators to ensure that critical health care needs in Maryland are funded. The governor’s budget proposes $123 million in Medicaid cuts in the next year to help close the budget gap. While the governor’s budget doesn’t directly cut nursing homes, no additional funds are allocated.

The work of the Prince George’s Hospital Authority ends in May, at which time the Authority is charged with transferring assets to a new operator. At the same time, state and county funds that have been supplementing the system will end. The termination of funds that have been keeping the hospitals open will cripple a new operator’s ability to effectively move the hospital system forward. 1199SEIU is also advocating for measures that will raise revenues for important services. A “millionaire’s tax” is set to expire this year, which could result in the loss of approximately $100 million for the state budget. We also support a combined reporting bill that would compel Maryland businesses that operate in several states to report all of its profits to the state for taxation regardless of where they are deposited. This legislation could generate $109-$170 million dollars in the next year. 1199SEIU is also working toward raising alcohol taxes to generate revenue.

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The Right to a Home Massachusetts Member Political Organizer Patricia Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor-Grant and her children Amelia, Chad and Jahvonny are looking for a home. Page 7.

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