Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa's Children

Leaders of the Tuscaloosa community will gather Wednesday at the Bryant Conference Center to discuss what they believe is the most important asset in any community--the area's children.

Doing What Matters for Tuscaloosa's Children will feature speakers and presenters in various fields related to children and the problems facing families particularly in West Alabama. While Tuscaloosa itself is more prosperous than the rest of surrounding West Alabama, poverty, education levels, and other target areas have been identified as the focus of the conference.

Carolyn Dahl, dean of the University's College of Continuing studies, will be giving the closing address at the conference. Dahl believes that the greatest obstacle in the way of children is getting the funding for the educational system so it can turn them into productive adults.

"I think there have always been the same threats to kids," Dahl said. "Poverty, ignorance, drugs, and other things. What’s different now is the consequences seem more dangerous and parents, less accountable."

The speakers also will include Marquita Davis, commissioner for the Alabama Department of Children's Affairs, Linda Tilly, executive director of VOICES for Alabama's children, Milton Jackson, field director of the Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, and Stephen Black, director of Impact Alabama, among others.

Black, the director of the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility at UA and grandson of US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, founded Impact Alabama in 2004 as a way to develop and implement substantive service-learning projects in coordination with universities and colleges throughout the state.

Black said the biggest problem facing Alabama's children today is the tax structure and the way the state distributes the money it collects from taxes.

"It's not that hard to fix," Black said. "We just have to get the message into the legislature and hope they listen."

Impact Alabama consists of three parts, all designed to help families.

Focus First uses college students to provide low-cost vision screenings to children. According to Black, up to twenty-nine percent of young children have vision problems that could prevent them from being literate upon entering public schools. Often, these children are not screened and the problems and the neglect allows the problems to worsen. Focus First allows children to have the best chance at becoming literate when they first enter public schools.

Save First helps poor families who qualify of the Earned Income Tax Credit by preparing free tax returns. Since there are no regulations on becoming at tax preparer in Alabama, many unscrupulous institutions defraud families and the government by submitting incorrect information and charging exorbitant rates.

Speak First targets low-income schools in Birmingham and finds students interested in college and debate and trains them in debate from their eighth grade year. These students attend schools that would not otherwise be able to afford debate teams. UA and UAB both support full four-year scholarships for the students participating in Speak First.

"I would call this justice, as opposed to charity," Black said. "This service model has the potential to make a huge difference in the state. Getting college students involved opens up whole new avenues of service."

Black will be speaking at 1:00 p.m. at Wednesday's conference.