1. Starting early ignites a lifelong love of learning

STEM teaches kids so much about the world. It opens their minds and they start asking questions about why things are being done. STEM teaches them things they are interested in like how their favorite video game works! There is so much to learn and explore!

2. STEM builds the skills kids need for the future

Did you know that there are already 600,000 unfilled positions in the tech sector? About 65% of children will be working in jobs that don’t exist yet and that gap will only grow. A STEM education ensures that the children today will have all the tools they need to create a better future!

3. Learning on their own terms

One of the biggest advantages of STEM is that kids learn to solve problems. They are driven by their interests which allows them to learn to problem solve without them ever feeling like they are in school. By putting the kids in the driving seat of their learning, they think critically about their own ways to solve problems they face.

4. Tech will save us

STEM is at the heart of empowering kids. There is so much to be invented and explored and what better way than to start children early in STEM? Like we said before, STEM is only growing and will continue to grow. Not only will there be plenty of high starting pay jobs, but they will also have a lifelong time of learning.

Human trafficking victims have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states. There is no standard profile of a child trafficking victim. Several risk factors make certain children more susceptible. Researchers found that human traffickers often target children with a history of sexual abuse, low self-esteem, and maltreatment. Children who have recently migrated or relocated are at a larger risk. It’s important to remember that even if this isn’t happening, it does not mean someone is not being trafficked. There are no two cases that are precisely alike. 

High-Risk Factors for Human Trafficking

• History of physical or sexual abuse
• Mental health issues or disorders
• Academically off-track
• Poor self-esteem
• Has run away from home more than once
• Family rejection related to identifying as LGBTQ
• Lives in a shelter or group home
• Uses drugs or is involved with romantic partners who do
• Family members who have bought sex or been trafficked
• Parents who abuse drugs
• Lives in an area with a large influx of cash-rich workers or tourists
• History of arrests for juvenile status offenses, such as truancy or underage possession of alcohol
• Current or past involvement in the child welfare system
• History of running from out-of-home care
• Lack of social support
• Poverty
• Learning disabilities or developmental delay
• High number of adverse childhood experiences
• Family dysfunction or instability
• Current runaway or homeless status
• Involved with or targeted by gangs

The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally. As defined by U.S. law, victims of human trafficking are divided into three populations: 

• Children under the age of 18 induced into commercial sex
• Adults (age 18 or over) induced into commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion
• Children and adults induced to perform labor or services through force, fraud, or coercion

There is no single profile for trafficking victims. Trafficking occurs to adults and minors in rural, suburban, or urban communities across the country. Victims of human trafficking have diverse socio-economic backgrounds, varied levels of education, and may or may not be documented. While human trafficking spans all demographics, there are some circumstances or that lead to a higher susceptibility to victimization and human trafficking. 

Homeless Youth & Human Trafficking

Runaway and homeless youth are vulnerable to trafficking. A study in Chicago found that 56 percent of prostituted women were initially runaway youth and similar numbers have been identified for male populations. Runaway and homeless youth lack a strong support system. Runaway youth are often approached by traffickers at transportation hubs, shelters, or other public spaces. These traffickers pretend to be a boyfriend or significant other, using fake affection and manipulation to reel the victims in. 

Individuals who have experienced violence and trauma in the past are more at risk of future exploitation. The psychological impact of trauma is often long-lasting and difficult to overcome. 

What You Can Do About Human Trafficking

The Houston Foundation Inc. will partner with organizations currently fighting the war against Human Trafficking in Philadelphia to help change the tide. Our Resource Center will require financial support to bring these victims home. The Center will provide the necessary services and support victims so desperately need. Your financial support is essential to this endeavor. Would you consider partnering with us in this endeavor? Because People Like Us Do Things Like This Because We Care.

STEM education is more critical than ever. We are only at the beginning of the digital age. This has made science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education more important than ever. Early STEM education can promote ongoing academic success. Children who learn STEM concepts throughout their education are better prepared to meet increasingly technology-focused professional requirements.

STEM concepts help children develop new ways of thinking, encouraging curiosity and analysis. Establishing these at an early age when young minds are most workable, establishes lifelong thinking skills. Early age is typically infancy through third grade. 

STEM also helps children with other fields of study. Research has shown a link exists between science instruction and improvement in literacy, language learning, and executive functioning. Students who engage with STEM subjects gain skills that better prepare them for technology-focused roles. When teaching young children STEM education, it is not dependent on digital technology. For example, block play, gardening, and puzzles are examples of STEM education. Even visits to museums can be considered STEM education. 

Parents who are aware of the benefits of a STEM curriculum are more likely to be supportive of STEM education. They are also more likely to encourage activities at home that develop STEM concepts. The belief that STEM is for older students has contributed to younger grades not being funded as much as higher grade levels. People need to start introducing STEM to kids at a young age. 

A study by researchers at the University of California Irvine found that early math skills were the most consistently predictive measure of future academic success among kindergarten to fifth-grade students.

Research supported by the National Science Foundation concludes that young children benefit from learning STEM subjects, which include Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, because these disciplines play a fundamental role in setting the foundations for future learning.

STEM and Language Development

STEM education and activities are thought to play a key role in the acquisition of language skills. For example, when kids read books about technology or science, it can spark curiosity in them. And what they’ve read may prompt children to plan and carry out an investigation to test a hypothesis, which is a crucial aspect of a scientific investigation.

Children would then be encouraged to discuss their hypotheses and results with each other. This then develops literacy and comprehension skills.

STEM Encourages Independent and Collaborative Learning

As the report highlights, STEM education allows children to develop their communication and problem-solving skills. When kids are actively encouraged to talk and write about their ideas and observations, this helps their problem-solving skills tremendously. This enables young children to develop concepts through investigative and explorative means.

Young children benefit from a STEM education because they are typically naturally curious and want to explore and make sense of the things around them. Young children who are non-native. English speakers can also benefit from a STEM education because they can participate in scientific explorations that do not demand an extensive vocabulary.

STEM in Practice

This report recommends that children should be introduced to these subjects before kindergarten. Teachers should then dedicate enough time to give students quality STEM learning until the third grade, at least. Teachers should establish and promote STEM ways of thinking. Also, there should be opportunities to read, write, and discuss those subjects in detail. Teaching kids STEM early, allows them to make connections between their everyday life and STEM disciplines. It also gives the children transferable skills to other subjects.

Learning Through Self Discovery

There are a few things parents can do to ensure their children are being exposed to STEM at home. They can do this by encouraging independent thinking by making connections between their experiences at school and home.

An easy and efficient way to do this is to simply ask a child what they learned in their science class that day or week. This will help them to consolidate that learning experience as they explain and discuss the topic. If you want to take it one step further, parents can encourage their children to undertake a mini project relating to the topic at home. This encourages independent thinking. This shows the kid that STEM is not only learned at school and may spark their curiosity even more.

Make sure your children are introduced to the benefits of STEM education at school and at home!  

Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, harboring, obtaining, or providing a person for compelled labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or coercion. The traffickers’ goal of human trafficking is to exploit and enslave. 

The most commonly identified forms of human trafficking are sexual exploitation and forced labor. More than half of the victims are female. Many other forms of exploitation are often under-reported, which include domestic servitude, forced marriage, organ removal, and the exploitation of children in begging, the sex trade, and warfare.

The causes of human trafficking are interlinked and complex. They include economic, social, and political factors. Poverty alone does not always create vulnerability to trafficking. When poverty is combined with other factors, such as corruption, civil unrest, a weak government, lack of access to education or jobs, family disruption or dysfunction, lack of human rights, or economic disruptions, it can lead to a higher risk for being trafficked. 

Human trafficking is one of the biggest international crime industries in the world. Forced labor generated $150 billion in illegal profits every year according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Two-thirds of that money came from commercial sexual exploitation. The rest is from forced economic exploitations. This includes domestic work, agriculture, child labor, and related activities.

Human trafficking is a domestic and global crime. Victims are trafficked within their own country, to neighboring countries. Victims of trafficking can be of any age and any gender. Women and children are often used for sexual exploitation, and men are more likely to be used for forced labor. About one in five victims of human trafficking are children, globally. Children are also exploited for forced begging, child pornography, and child labor. Their smaller hands are also used in tasks like sewing. 

The U.S. government has a policy to help efforts in addressing human trafficking. The policy surrounds the three P’s: prevent trafficking, protect victims and prosecute traffickers. The number of convictions for human trafficking is increasing. Unfortunately, awareness is not growing. There are many instances where victims may not cooperate with the criminal justice system because they have been threatened by a trafficker. 

Human trafficking in numbers

• 51% of identified victims of trafficking are women, 28% children and 21% men
• 72% people exploited in the sex industry are women
• 63% of identified traffickers were men and 37% women
• 43% of victims are trafficked domestically within national borders

(Estimates by The United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

How do people get entangled in Human Trafficking? 

People who are trying to escape poverty or discrimination are most likely trapped by traffickers. Vulnerable people are often forced to take large risks to try and escape poverty or persecution, accepting precarious job offers and making dangerous decisions. They often borrow money from their traffickers in advance. They become trapped and reliant on their traffickers. Their documents are often taken away and they are forced to work until their debt is paid off. 

What you can do: 

The best response to human trafficking is to prevent people from being trafficked in the first place. Prosperity at home extremely reduces the false enticements of the trafficking trade. Which is what the Houston Foundation Inc. plans to do with your help. If you witness suspected human trafficking or other forms of exploitation, speak up.  The Houston Foundation Inc. is a resource that can help you take action if you believe there are human trafficking victims in your community. Human trafficking may be a crime against humanity, but as a human you can be the light. The Houston Foundation Inc. Resource Center intends to provide a lifeline to critical services, the Houston Foundation Inc. Resource Center is created to uplift and support the lives of people of color in North Philadelphia.  Every facet of the Resource Center is designed to empower the residents to make positive, life-changing choices for themselves and ultimately for the betterment of the entire community.

STEM subjects are so broad and cover a vast range of studies. Here are a few areas where your STEM education can take you.

As a math tutor, I have lots of experience helping students who are struggling to increase their math confidence. I’ve found that these students decide early on that “math just isn’t my thing”, but nothing could be further from the truth. The real struggle, I think, has much more to do with a lack of math confidence when it comes to problem-solving.

When you think about a math problem, there are so many places mistakes can be made. Not only do you have to know all the steps, but you have to know the correct order of those steps, as well as how to execute each one without making any mistakes. A lot is riding on it, so students understandably get frustrated and quickly lose confidence if things aren’t going their way.

How can you avoid the frustration and maintain self-confidence? Below are some of the techniques I use.

Want more help?  Click here >> Math Help

1. TRY THE QUESTION YOURSELF.  I always like it when the students try a problem first, and then ask me how to do it as a last resort. When they attempt it alone, more often than not, they know what to do – they just need an expert or a tutor to be with them to assure them they’re doing it the right way. Receiving instant expert feedback is good for diagnosing where the issue is in their understanding of the concept, and it also provides positive reinforcement. Everyone likes being told they’re doing a good job, right? It is also important that the feedback be descriptive. The more descriptive it is, the quicker the students will come to see exactly what made them successful. This builds math confidence.
2. WALK THROUGH IT STEP-BY-STEP.  Typically, before doing any of the actual homework problems, I will give students a couple of examples similar to the ones they’ve brought in. We walk through them together step-by-step, and as we break it down, I ask them, “So what do you want to do here?” and “Why do you want to do that?” By having them explain their thought process, they start to see where the holes in their understanding are. As the holes get filled, their math confidence improves. This leads me to…
3. TEACH SOMEONE ELSE.  This is my favorite way to build math confidence. Explaining helps immensely with understanding. If students are missing certain foundation elements, that will hinder their future learning and prevent them from mastering any new material that comes up in school. If your student is struggling, sit down with them and ask them to explain some problems to you as if you were learning the material for the first time. When they are forced to break a problem down into its simplest terms, it reinforces those foundation concepts that are so important.
4. LEARN SHORTCUTS.  Another effective approach is teaching shortcuts. Kids come in all the time complaining about solving problems that are not inherently difficult, but are made so because they have a rigid approach to problem-solving – an inability to see the problem from a different perspective. They know only one route to the solution. Math is very flexible though, and when students learn there are multiple ways to solve a problem, it becomes much more enjoyable. If one method doesn’t work, they can always try another.
5. LEARN THE APPLICATIONS.  Something many teachers fail to do for their students is teaching them how to apply what they are learning to the “real world.” I dread being asked, “When am I ever going to use this in my life?” (even though I know I asked it many times myself). As I said earlier, math is very flexible. If you look hard enough, you can find it anywhere. As students advance in their mathematics education, they will undoubtedly find that most of the material they learn in school is not used by the general population. BUT…the whole reason we learn math in school is to improve our ability to solve problems. We solve problems every day, but mathematics is just a formal, algorithmic way of doing it. Math is so much more interesting when you realize how much of your life is determined by underlying equations and formulas.
6. PRACTICE.  Last but not least, practice. Students don’t like it, but this is the single best way to increase math confidence. Students can listen to lectures all day long, but there’s really no way to test their knowledge aside from applying it to actual problems. To be good at math, just like anything, you have to practice every day. Spending an extra 20 minutes each day doing practice problems – or supplementing the school lectures with videos on sites like Khan Academy – add up to almost two and a half hours per week. Students will feel more prepared for tests and quizzes, and feeling prepared is vital to increasing confidence. The extra practice will pay dividends over time in the form of better grades, better test scores, and more scholarship money.

As far as confidence goes, there is no substitute for feeling prepared and being self-reliant. However, if your child is struggling in math (or any subject), consider finding a tutor who can give a boost to their self-esteem.