Social Responsibility and Us
ArtsCorps is a nonprofit youth organization that practices social responsibility. It needs our strength and support.
We can refuse to believe that the underlying problems of children in schools, along with society at large, are actually based on social and economic hazards. Children of all income families are being pushed to excel in grades but go home to an empty or violent home with no one else to talk to. What good are high grades or great paying jobs when there is no one to share them with? What is the purpose of these if we have no joy? Where is the motivation to study when nurture and compassion have been replaced by demands and adult greediness? Have we made the competitive industrialization of society more important than the young human?
The basic needs of the human being, if neglected, can lead to much higher costs to society’s pockets.
If we do not nurture our youth with compassion, then we are sending them signals of shackles. There are not that many programs that could boast of providing after-school programs of interest to the youth or a place where they feel welcomed, where they have someone to talk to or share their dreams with. Places of joy are not easy to find. We should rejoice when we do find them. We should share in the joy that some children can get respite from the cares and demands of the world, from the bad or good grades, from the boredom, from the neglect, and from the loneliness.
An established, highly effective youth program, ArtsCorps, has been filling a need in society. Now, ArtsCorps needs our voices heard. ArtsCorps should matter to us, as educated, productive, and busy people who know that investing in the youth now will pay off, rather than be a burden, in the future. They can be healthy, well balanced, and have great relationships. And become entrepreneurs.
Please, support ArtsCorps in continuing its valuable programs.
Eba Yao-Hilario
Mother of Arts Corps student
Reading:
Disenfranchisement refers to a feeling of separation from a mainstream society in which the individual does not have an emotional connection with any group in particular or the larger social fabric in general. Vulnerable groups may be invisible to society and forgotten in health and social planning. Disenfranchisement, marginalization, and disempowerment suggest that vulnerable groups do not have the social supports necessary to effectively manage an emotionally and physically healthy lifestyle.
Social and economic factors predispose people to vulnerability. Poverty and social isolation are particularly associated with risk and vulnerability, and being poor affects the health and well-being of individuals of all ages. Vulnerability results from individual and family efforts to do what is necessary to manage.
Poverty can lead to homelessness.
Homeless children make up almost 39% of the total homeless population, with 42% of these children under the age of 5. Most are preschooler who lives in overcrowded apartments or shelters. Many homeless children suffer from depression, anxiety, and learning disabilities. (Maurer, 2005)
As many as half a million teenagers leave home each year. Most are runaways, but others are “throwaways.” Homeless teenagers have significant psychological issues and a high rate of drug abuse. Homeless youths tend to come from dysfunctional and single-parent homes, and many report that their parents are substance abusers. There is often a history of family violence and physical and sexual abuse. Homeless youths typically live in neighborhoods among drug users and prostitutes, and they often resort to such activities as prostitution and selling drugs to survive. Because of this lifestyle, they frequently have serious and complex health problems.
From Community Based Nursing, McEwen, Pullis (third edition) p. 356-357
