Growing up in North America: Child well-being in Canada, the United States, and México

The premise of the Children in North America Project lies in the kind of world we live in today, an increasingly interdependent, complex, and connected world. It is a small world where school children living in a desert state or a prairie province know all about a tsunami because of images of wreckage from a giant wave half a world away. As the globe shrinks, so too does North America. The continent that is shared by three nations, each with its own proud history, is becoming more economically, socially, and culturally integrated- through trade, investment, communications, human migration, education, travel, and cultural exchange. Children in the three nations are increasingly being exposed to similar consumer goods, media messages, and social trends. Moreover, for some children, increased economic ties imply drastic changes to their immediate surroundings and prospects - whether it is a child living in an American family without work because the local employer moved its operations to Mexico or a child living without a father in a Mexican town because many working-age men have left to seek jobs in the United States or Canada. The sheer scale of migration from Mexico to the United States and, to a lesser extent, to Canada is changing the face of the region and the lives of countless children. The Mexican-born population in the United States more than doubled between 1990 and 2000, going to over 9 million people, according to U.S. Census data. Remittances from Mexicans working in the United States to families back home amounted to over 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2004 (as estimated by the Central Bank of Mexico), roughly 1.5 percent of the country's GDP. Added together, the sums that migrants send back home surpass Mexico's revenues from tourism, foreign aid, and foreign direct investment. The Children in North America Project is exploring these new realities. It is building a new knowledge base about children across the continent. That knowledge base includes measures of child well-being and the local, national, and tri-national contexts or environments in which families live. These data tell the story of a diverse population of children characterized by profound differences in their well-being and security both within countries and across the region. Through this project, we hope to build a better understanding of how our children are faring and the opportunities and challenges that they face looking to the future. Our goal is to inspire and mobilize action to make the lives of all children in North America better, to ensure that no child is left behind

Growing up in North America: The economic well-being of children in Canada, the United States, and Mexico

Globalization is changing the landscape of childhood. As part of such change, North America is also becoming more economically, socially, and culturally integrated. It is against this backdrop of economic, social, and cultural transformation that the Children in North America Project is examining the well-being of the 120 million children across the continent. This paper examines the economic security of children across North America, looking at a range of measures, including family income, access to basic goods such as housing and health care, and the scope of public resources available to improve the economic security of families with children. Our findings confirm that there are tremendous disparities in the economic well-being of children across North America, both between and within the three countries. Even as the national economies recovered from economic crises in the early and mid-1990s and levels of child poverty started to fall, families at the top of the income ladder continued to pull away from the rest and incomes at the bottom stagnated or fell as was the case in Mexico. While the majority of children growing up in the United States and Canada enjoy a level of economic security not available to millions of Mexican children, the pattern of income inequality was common in each country

Precarization, Genderization and Neotaylorist Work: How Global Value Chain Restructuring Affects Banking Sector Workers in Brazil

The transnationalization of financial markets impacted on the fragmentation and recomposition of value chains which induced comprehensive processes of outsourcing and the commodification of bank services. This paper explores how this translates into the sectoral and internal reorganization of Brazilian banks and how work organization and social relations are affected. The case of (bank-owned as well as outsourced) call center not only reflects changes in the importance and form of service relations but also shapes a neotayorist reorganization of the labor process and the respective modes of control. As a result, a complex process of precarization and segmentation of the work force can be observed which impacts on new lines of inequality related to categories like gender, class and race. The analysis is based on a theoretical approach which refers to Michael Burawoy’s concept of the “politics of production” and categories of Pierre Bourdieu’s social theory like symbolic violence. This allows an analysis of power relations which also includes the dimension of identities. Thus a more fine-grained insight can be gained on how transnational restructuring affects redistribution on a macro, meso and micro level

The Needs and Opportunities for Agricultural Research from the Perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean

Document summarizing the research challenges faced by the Latin America and Caribbean Region prepared on behalf of the Regional Forum for Agricultural Research in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is based on the full action plan for that region, which is also included in the record. The shorter document was prepared for the first meeting of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research held during CGIAR International Centers Week, October-November 1996.The paper described research priorities, and the status of national research, taking Mexico as an example. It discussed ways of increasing the effectiveness and impact of agricultural research in Latin America through more effective partnerships between regional, subregional, and national actors, as well as through their participation in global agricultural research. These two documents were circulated as inputs to GFAR discussions leading to the Declaration and Action Plan for Global Partnerships in Agricultural Research

Medical oncology patients' preferences with regard to health care: development of a patient-driven questionnaire

BACKGROUND: To improve quality of care for cancer patients, it is important to have an insight on the patient's view on health care and on their specific wishes, needs and preferences, without restriction and without influence of researchers and health care providers. The aim of this study was to develop a questionnaire assessing medical oncology patients' preferences for health care based on their own input. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Items were generated using 10 focus group interviews with 51 cancer patients. A preliminary questionnaire was handed out to 681 patients of seven Dutch departments of medical oncology. Explorative factor analysis was carried out on the 386 returned questionnaires (response 57%). RESULTS: Focus group interviews resulted in a preliminary questionnaire containing 136 items. Explorative factor analysis resulted in a definitive questionnaire containing 123 items (21 scales and eight single items). Patients rated expertise, safety, performance and attitude of physicians and nurses as the most important issues in cancer care. CONCLUSION: This questionnaire may be used to assess preferences of cancer patients and to come to a tailored approach of health care that meets patients' wishes and needs

27th Annual Report of the Woman\u27s Board of Foreign Missions

The Woman’s Board of Foreign Missions (WBFM) of the RCA was organized in 1875 in Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan. Thirteen women, in response to a recommendation of the 1874 General Synod, met to commit themselves to the proposition that women in all parts of the world had a right to a Christian life. Through prayer and monetary gifts, the WBFM supported the schools established by the RCA for women and children at the various mission stations. The organization continued until 1946 when it was absorbed into the Board of Foreign Missions of the RCA. The collection includes annual reports.https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/foreign_annual_report/1016/thumbnail.jp

71st Annual Report of the Board of World Missions

The Board of Foreign Missions (later, World Missions) was organized by the General Synod in 1832. The board was under the direction of the RCA but was also under the authority of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. David Abeel led the first mission of the RCA to the island of Borneo in the Dutch East Indies in 1836. Missions also sprouted in four primary target areas: Japan, India, China, and Arabia. In 1857, the board broke away from its ties with the American Board of Missions and established independent missions. Under its current name, the board is still active. This collection consists of annual reports (1857-1968)https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report/1045/thumbnail.jp

92nd Annual Report of the Board of World Missions

The Board of Foreign Missions (later, World Missions) was organized by the General Synod in 1832. The board was under the direction of the RCA but was also under the authority of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. David Abeel led the first mission of the RCA to the island of Borneo in the Dutch East Indies in 1836. Missions also sprouted in four primary target areas: Japan, India, China, and Arabia. In 1857, the board broke away from its ties with the American Board of Missions and established independent missions. Under its current name, the board is still active. This collection consists of annual reports (1857-1968)https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report/1071/thumbnail.jp

86th Annual Report of the Board of World Missions

The Board of Foreign Missions (later, World Missions) was organized by the General Synod in 1832. The board was under the direction of the RCA but was also under the authority of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. David Abeel led the first mission of the RCA to the island of Borneo in the Dutch East Indies in 1836. Missions also sprouted in four primary target areas: Japan, India, China, and Arabia. In 1857, the board broke away from its ties with the American Board of Missions and established independent missions. Under its current name, the board is still active. This collection consists of annual reports (1857-1968)https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/world_annual_report/1065/thumbnail.jp