WDI Commentaries

Facilitating Language Development

ahilliard — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:59:42 GMT

The ability for a nation to create the workforce needed to compete in the global economy begins with infants and toddlers. Literacy and communication skills begin before a baby speaks her first word. Babies are pre-wired to communicate and learn. They begin to communicate through crying, facial expressions and movement. Fancy curriculumor flash cards are not needed for the development of infant and toddler communication skills. What is needed are responsive adults.

Learning occurs through the relationship that the infant and toddler has with significant adults in their lives including parents and care givers. By responding promptly to infants’ and ...

Labor and the Community: Joe Mangino, Labor Hero

rgoodenough — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:17:10 GMT

Joe Mangino was born in 1918 in Schenectady, NY. to Italian immigrants. His dad helped build the church Joe was baptized in. At the daunting height of 5’5” he was the star forward on the Nott Terrace High School basketball team of 1938. He started his career after a stint in the Navy during WWII.

Joe led his first labor strike at the age of twelve at the Mohawk Golf Club in Schenectady. He and his fellow caddies wanted to make a few pennies more per day and the golf course members wouldn’t give them a raise. He led a ...

Transformation, Crisis, and Opportunity

rgoodenough — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:42:08 GMT

It takes more than stamina to go through a crisis and come out stronger. We know the slogan: “What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.” A shock can become a stimulus to action. Minor loss becomes a crisis for one person. Disaster is an opportunity for another. It is inspiring to watch a friend turn her life around. Change often starts when we look in the mirror. The first step is to tell ourselves the truth. We acknowledge what is now rather than pretend all is fine; that we are what we want to be. Next we need to ...

Let Freedom Ring

rgoodenough — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:12:36 GMT

“Let freedom ring…”

Martin Luther King

In his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King gave voice to a fundamental belief we learned as children. Freedom is fundamental to everything our society holds dear. He challenged us to see that value applied across the land: “from the hills of New Hampshire… to Stone Mountain in Georgia… Lookout Mountain in Tennessee… from every hill and molehill in Mississippi…, from every mountainside let freedom ring.”

King inspired us to end segregation.

I have been reflecting on American values as I read the news. I know of two intense situations where the ...

New York State of Mind

rgoodenough — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:35:13 GMT

“But I’m taking a greyhound on the Hudson River line. I’m in a New York state of mind.” Billy Joel song.

I ride Amtrak. As seasons change, I watch the river freeze, then thaw; birds nest, then fly south; ships move cargo and fuel; trucks navigate rural roads; towns wake up and cities fall asleep; cars cross the bridges and children play.

New Yorkers know where they belong, upstate or down. I was born in the city and now live in Saratoga. The Staten Island of my youth, however, was more rural than most American cities. It was like an ...

When I Retire

rgoodenough — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:20:16 GMT

I am weeks away from my 65th birthday, have more passion for work than I had twenty years ago and am creating a vision of a new life. There is a voice in my head saying 65 is when you leave work, go fishing, play golf and travel; eat breakfast with friends while younger people drive to work. You sit on a bench by the sea and do what you want. Medicare kicks in at 65 but I have to wait another year for social security. Each milestone calls out. They point in one direction while I follow Robert Frost’s ...

College Debt: The New Indentured Servitude?

rgoodenough — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:27:11 GMT

June is high school graduation time. I am troubled by the story of a young woman who graduated from NYU with $97,000 in debt ("Another Debt Crisis is Brewing" The New York Times).

She now has a BA and may work 20 years to pay off her debt. Did she make an informed decision? The illusion that a brand name school has greater value than a public university enticed her into bondage. The university facilitated her debt, collected tuition, partnered with banks to get her in over her head. I thought America had outlawed indentured servitude. Her ...

Bread and Roses

rgoodenough — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:25:36 GMT

Our souls cry out for more than money. We find poetry and music, dance and art in all neighborhoods, in concert halls and on street corners.

WDI has made cultural programming a core part of our service. Workers need job security, so we offer skills training yet work alone is not enough. Our spirits must be lifted, set free. Freedom brings dignity, a sense of community and pride. We are not cogs in a machine living to produce profits. Culture gives us strength and joy. Culture takes many forms: personal or communal; ethnic, musical, words, dance, sculpture, painting, photography or ...

A new New Deal

rgoodenough — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:50:23 GMT

“Only the hand that erases can write the true thing”

Meister Eckhart

My head hurts when I realize how life has changed since I left high school. In June of 1963, gas sold for 29 cents a gallon. American-made cars filled the roads. President Kennedy was alive. Segregation kept African-Americans from voting. I knew Vietnam was somewhere in Asia.

War taught me where and now we outsource manufacturing jobs to a country I first fought and then learned to love. We fill foreign cars with $3 gasoline. Barack Obama is President. We use cell phones and bury our youth ...

Listen and Learn

rgoodenough — Mon, 17 May 2010 09:03:49 GMT

What do you hear? Do you listen? What is the difference? The distinction is subtle and profound. We hear noise and listen to music. We hear background sounds and listen to what people say. These concepts are crucial to WDI with our intention to become a stronger organization, serve organized labor, build better lives for working families, foster a dialogue between business, government, unions, environmentalists and social advocates. The operative words here are serve and dialogue.

In simple terms, a waiter can not serve unless he is clear what the customer wants. In a brief conversation he makes sure we ...

Workforce Investment

rgoodenough — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:10:00 GMT

In earlier commentaries I wrote that each of us must take responsibility for what we can do rather than waiting for the federal government and invisible market forces to send help.

No one doubts we have an economic and employment crisis in America but it is about more than unemployment. Wall Street’s betrayal of investors and the resultant loss of jobs are obvious. Their theft of opportunities, profiteering through bailouts and confiscation of resources through bonuses is an embarrassment to all and a shame. I hope that they did not know better, having made money from illusions for so long ...

Pride in Building

rgoodenough — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:24:55 GMT

I made a jewelry box in seventh grade. I still have it, taking pride in the first object I built. I remember cutting the wood, nailing the sides, attaching the hinges and staining the finished piece. My skill with tools is not great but I have built a shed, clubhouse for my kids, and over the years I’ve made minor repairs. Like many working class children I became better at books, finding a path beyond the trades through education, earning a living with “my mind rather than my back.” We were proud we could use tools but developed a superior ...

We Are All Immigrants

rgoodenough — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:34:46 GMT

Somos el futuro! We are the future!

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in New York State. Each year the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Caucus within the NYS Legislature celebrates this fact and strengthens its role in public policy. At this year’s conference the Labor Council for Latin-American Advancement honored me "for outstanding leadership and commitment to the labor movement & the community." With humility and gratitude, I took this as an opportunity to reflect on immigration.

Why honor an Irishman? In a world filled ethnic strife, divisions based on race, religion and heritage, there are always those who stand on ...

Green Means More than Money

rgoodenough — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:23:43 GMT

WDI has a trusteeship responsibility for funds New York State appropriated for us to provide services. We expect all players to use public resources to make our state an innovator and implementer of green policies and programs that lead to families supporting green jobs.

“Show me the money”, from the movie Jerry Maguire, captures one perspective on success. Money, however, does not guarantee happiness or effectiveness.

I thought about this at a forum WDI sponsored with NYS Apollo Alliance and the Government Law Center at Albany Law School. We heard reports from the Copenhagen meeting on climate change. Many spoke ...

Teachers Wall of Fame

rgoodenough — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:57:11 GMT

Who would you nominate? We all have at least one candidate. Most of us know more than one. Our most important teacher might even be one of our parents or even both of them. Someone did it right. They might not even know the gift they gave us but they encouraged us to become who we are. How do we thank them?

I nominate Jane Ceretta, Principal, in the 1950s, of Staten Island’s Public School 11. She wasn’t my classroom teacher but she set standards for all her teachers and students. Like most students I was afraid of her. Years ...