Exploring the Necessity of After-School Programs

SPEAKER 06 : 0:00

Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here’s Angie.

SPEAKER 03 : 0:08

Hello, friend. Angie Austin here with The Good News. The Good News, we have an interview coming up talking about the importance of after-school programs, why they’re necessary, etc. And boy, they can really help in communities where kids need to stay out of trouble and offer them a really great place to go and play and study and meet friends and have mentors. So, big fan of that since I was kind of a latchkey kid myself. All right, let’s start off, though, with some daily habits that will enrich your life. Daily habits that will enrich your life. I’m trying to get into some habits, by the way, and, you know, doing things repeatedly turns it into a habit. All right, let’s start. This is from Mark and Angel. You know I love their website. Are you willing to spend a little of every day like most people won’t so you can spend a better part of your life like most people can’t? So think about that question for a moment. Let it sink in. We talk to our kids about this all the time. Are you willing to spend a little time every day like most people won’t? You’re doing things that aren’t pleasant, so you can spend a better part of your life doing things that most people can’t because they won’t make the sacrifices to get to the really good part where you can relax and vacation and do all those things. I mean, if I think about my life now compared to my life growing up, living in Section 8 low-income housing, my mom living paycheck to paycheck, my dad not, you know, he was completely out of the picture for the majority of my childhood after the age of 12 for the majority, you know, for about 30 years, I’d say it was out. And then, you know, my brothers having all their issues with, you know, dropping out of school and drugs and mental illness with the exception of one who did not choose that path. But, yeah, and now, you know, I can travel freely. I mean, you know, I mean, you probably hear me talk about it. I mean, I went from us living paycheck to paycheck and working seven days a week all through high school and college to, you know, I’ve traveled maybe four times a month. I mean, this month I’m hardly home. So that just is that that’s where I now like to spend my money. I don’t buy expensive bags. I don’t buy expensive jewelry. I spend my money on my kids, their sports, their education. Oh, and I guess home, you know, like a nice home. But that’s an investment really, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. All right. So in terms of, you know, reaching your goals, doing things sometimes that aren’t so pleasant make sense. your life easier later. Failure occurs with all the little daily failures that come together and cause you to fail. Like you keep failing to check your to-do list. You keep failing to make the phone calls you need to. You keep failing to listen to your customers if you’re a business owner. You keep failing to do the job that you need to do to make your boss happy. You keep failing to innovate. You keep failing to do the little things that need to be done. And then one day you wake up and you’ve failed. It’s all the little things on a daily basis, your habits, not just one big event, but your habits. I told my friend once, she’s like, how do you, work you know like i’ve worked multiple jobs um when i was in tv news and i might go to different cities like i might anchor in san diego and then do wet weekend weather in la and my friends like how have you been able to do this at such a young age you know to be on air in los angeles at the time um and i said well each day is like a little stepping stone to my goal and each day my just include little things that I need to get done but I said some things might get to put off be put off like my dry cleaning or I might not be able to have a pet or I might not have time to have a boyfriend or I might uh you know not have time to go grocery shopping that week and I might have to just you know run by and get some healthy takeout you know what I mean like sometimes things have to be put on the back burner but according to this life um this Article by Mark and Angel, your life is your business and your habits make or break you one day at a time. Even the seemingly insignificant daily habits you engage in can produce ripples or consequences for better results. or for worse so have you been managing your habits I was much better when I was younger I’ll admit and I’m trying to get better again you know just things like little things like keeping up on your dishes making sure you know you can focus better when you keep your room clean like my closet used to be just perfect and now it’s like there’s an explosion in there and I can’t focus on that speaking of focus are you focusing on the positive that’s one of the habits that helps you reach your goals Use visual reminders to help you stay on track. I use my calendar. I use my alarm on my phone and I label my alarms to stay on track. A lot of people use the famous to-do list. So practice journaling. That’s something I’ve fallen out of the practice of doing as well. And I’ve got a whole stack of them right here that I had from my 20s that really kept me on track. Journaling for me is like my way of kind of like doing my prayer time to journaling. Oh, here’s a great one. This Jim Stovall stuff falls into this one. Observe or study the work of mentors, regardless of what you’re trying to achieve. You can’t do it completely alone. It can be hard to learn actionable skills from books, and sometimes the Internet makes it difficult to separate truth from fiction. You need someone who has been where you want to go or they’re currently where you want to go, and you need them to show you the way. You need a mentor. Even Jim has accountability partners that he talks to once or twice a month. And then this is another thing that he does that helps him stay on track with his goals. Give thanks before bed. I think he does it when he wakes up in the morning. He does the golden list, the 10 things he’s thankful for. And Mark and Angel say, give thanks before bed. Overlooking everything that’s wonderful is a tragedy and a very debilitating one. When you get lost in worried thoughts about a life situation you think you should have, you end up missing the beauty of everything you do have. And you’ll never be happy if you aren’t consciously thankful for the good things in your life. Well, isn’t that the truth? A journey of renewing trust in yourself. Renewing trust in yourself is one of the most significant hidden benefits of practicing daily habits. When Angel and I, this is Mark talking, what Angel and I lacked before we learned to implement these kinds of daily habits was the trust that we were actually capable of achieving our goals, of achieving positive results in our lives. So I think that just that setting up these habits, doing things repeatedly, that you don’t have to make a decision every day to do the right thing because doing the right thing becomes a habit. It sounds like I’m lecturing you and telling you what to do. No, I need to do these habits again. I don’t have – I’m not good at habits. I kind of like – fly by the seat of my pants through life and I don’t have like a schedule and I used to have to have a schedule because I worked so much that that set up my schedule so anyway now that my life is a lot looser and I can fly by the seat of my pants I’m learning that I still need to keep up those routines those rituals those things that keep me on the successful track in life and not just kind of spiral or lazy but lazy lazy boy my way into laziness by sitting in the lazy boy of life I hope that all makes sense. I’m trying to help myself as much as I’m trying to help you. You know what I mean? Like I know I need some help with these habits. That’s for sure. All right. One thing I mentioned that was important to me was staying busy after school. Now, I worked full time, but a lot of these kids that need these after school programs work. are not old enough to work. And if you’re just joining us, this is Angie Austin with the Good News. And today we’re talking about kids and the need for after-school programs because a new study finds tens of millions of U.S. kids are without the after-school programs that many families really need. Joining us today… Our two people well-versed in this topic, who will talk more about the recent study, Jody Grant, Executive Director of After School Alliance, and Heather Nestle, President of New York Life Foundation, which supports after school programs. Welcome to both of you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So let’s just start, you know, with an overview of what did your new study find?

SPEAKER 05 : 8:09

So the After School Alliance, thanks to our partnership with the New York Life Foundation, surveyed over 30,000 parents across America. to get their thoughts on after school. And what we found was that overwhelmingly, parent satisfaction with these programs is through the roof because they keep kids safe, they inspire a life line. But what we’ve also found is that far too many are being left behind. So, as the parents we spoke to, three out of every four kids does not have access to a program even though their parent wants one. But what we’re finding from our parents is that for middle-income parents and low-income parents who desperately want these programs for their kids, the biggest barriers are affordability, accessibility, it might be a transportation issue or the program in their community The programs have huge wait lists, and parents overwhelmingly support public investment at the local, state, and national level to use taxpayer dollars to help their kids attend these programs, not just to keep them safe and learning, but because they know it is going to help them succeed in life.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:18

How about progress on creating more programs?

SPEAKER 05 : 9:22

So unfortunately, what we’re seeing is that because costs have gone up and the public investments have not kept pace with inflation, that more middle-income families are struggling. The good news is that we are seeing more and more states, including Colorado and Oregon, where they’re putting state dollars into after-school programs. And I think that’s a huge opportunity, both local governments and states, as well as just community players at the local level, to really help reach more of our kids in these programs.

SPEAKER 03 : 9:55

And what needs to really occur to fill that gap and make these after-school programs available to more students?

SPEAKER 05 : 10:02

So the good news is parents want this and the public wants it. We polled voters right after the election. 90% of voters, doesn’t matter, Republican, Independent, Democratic, they say after school programs are an absolute necessity in their community and they want to see increase public investment in our communities to provide after-school programs. So now we need to make that happen. We need our policymakers to recognize that these investments save money short-term and long-term by helping our kids, our families, our Main Street businesses, and we need to do more.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:39

And let’s talk a little bit about the New York Life Foundation and the support of the after-school programs, and why does it focus on programs for middle school students in particular?

SPEAKER 04 : 10:50

You know, posted $60 million in supporting after-school, and it’s really because it ties to our mission. You know, we’re here to provide financial and security and peace of mind, and after-school does that. You know, as Jody mentioned, parents desperately need these programs. Eighty-two percent of them said that it helps them to keep their job or to work more hours, and 88 percent said that it actually helps to boost their productivity at work because they don’t have to stress over where their kids are and what they’re doing. And this really aids local economies when more people can work. and when kids, frankly, are safe and staying out of trouble. Our focus on middle school is really about helping to get middle schoolers to high school on time and on grade level because research shows that ninth grade is a pivotal year for students. If they can get through ninth grade on grade level, they’re four times more likely to graduate high school on time and go on to post-secondary success. That means they’re also going to have financial security across their lifetime and, again, help strengthen the economies of all of their local communities.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:47

That totally makes sense. That’s a good stat about ninth grade. I didn’t know that. That’s pretty interesting. But it makes sense. If they feel comfortable and do well in their first year of high school, they’re more likely to stay. And the safety, you know, ease of mind for the parents knowing their kids are safe, I’m sure, is like, I mean, come on, if the kids are safe, they’re going to do so much better in school as well. All right. So anything else you want to add? And I also want to get a website for more info for listeners.

SPEAKER 05 : 12:14

That was a great point because our students that are in after school are more likely to come to school and we have a problem with absenteeism, stay in school and graduate. And your listeners can get more information at afterschoolalliance.org. We have national information, statewide information, and if they sign up for alerts, they can use their voices to help us create more after school opportunities.

SPEAKER 03 : 12:38

Heather, do you want to add anything? I think it’s cool. Jodi, obviously, is with After School Alliance, but how cool that you have a job with New York Life Foundation, which, interesting little side note, I worked for you guys right after college, and it was actually a great job. Then I went into TV news, but it paid a lot better than TV news, let’s put it that way. I had lots of connections in my town to meet people who did need insurance, but what a cool job to be able to really just help people, you know? I mean, that’s so cool.

SPEAKER 04 : 13:10

It’s true. And, you know, I mean, it’s what we try to do throughout the company, you know, with our products and services, but the extension to the foundation is really getting to local communities and providing the things that we know people need. But I was just going to add, you know, to piggyback on what Jodi said, you know, after-school programs not only encourage attendance, they boost academic performance. And they encourage fun. You know, it’s just a place where kids can explore different kinds of things and learn while decreasing their screen time, which is also something else parents really, really crave. So there’s just so much good to come out of these programs. And I think it’s remarkable that across all political and geographic spectrums, people are willing to put their money toward this. They’re willing to put their tax dollars there.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:50

Well, thank you to both of you. And thanks for all you’re doing for the kids. Thank you.

SPEAKER 04 : 13:54

Thanks for your time.

SPEAKER 03 : 13:56

You bet.

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SPEAKER 03 : 15:04

Hello there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. The good news is we have another wonderful author joining us today. The book is Cherish or Perish, Strengthen Your Intellect, Save the World, written by Prabha Khan. Welcome, Prabha. Thanks for having me, Mishra. All right. So I am fascinated because you remind me a little bit of my father. He was always looking to greater his mind and always reading new books and talking about new ideas. And I just really enjoyed a lot. I didn’t always agree with everything that he had to say, but I so admire that in his mid 80s, he was passionate. uh you know working out every day he did tai chi every day he played chess every day and so i love that his mind he was always uh trying to expand it and that’s the feeling i get from your book so give us an overview of cherish or perish strengthen your intellect save the world

SPEAKER 02 : 15:56

Yeah, first of all, it’s nice to hear about your dad, and I’m honored that you see this book, The Thoughts Resemble Your Dad’s Views. But the book, Cherish or Perish, primarily talks about the importance of human intellect. The way you use your intellect, it can take you to human perfection. If you don’t use your intellect, it can lead you to ultimate devastation. That’s the core message of the book.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:26

And I love when I’m, you know, when I was researching your book that you talk about fulfillment, you know, and really reaching your full potential. And it’s far beyond just intelligence or knowledge that your intellect is more in depth. It is. disciplined, you know, takes work on your part. It’s just not just kind of like floating through life, not making any effort at all to work on your intellect. So talk about some of the things that you recommend in your book in terms of increasing our intellect.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:58

First of all, when we discuss about intellect, we need to know what our mind is. Generally, there is a misconception or people interchange the word mind instead of intellect. So if we understand what the mind is, then we’ll be in a better position to understand what is an intellect and how to strengthen and develop the intellect.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:22

Now, when you talk about our intellect and strengthening it, what are the benefits? Talk about some of the things that result. Well, maybe we should talk about how to strengthen your intellect first and then the benefits. So how do we strengthen our intellect?

SPEAKER 02 : 17:37

Okay. If you want to strengthen your muscle, where do you start it in the first place? Oh, working out. Working out. So you have to use your existing muscles, correct? Correct. So just as for you to strengthen your muscles, you start with your existing muscle and do the workouts. Likewise, every human being has a fragment of intellect. So they will have to start using the intellect, the existing intellect first. And how to use the existing intellect is first, question everything. Don’t take anything for granted. So that’s the first step. So anything is presented to you, you will have to question that. Apply that with reason and logic within your personality. That’s one way. The next way is to have a relatively disciplined and regulated life, you know, because unregulated life breathes, strengthens your mind. If you have a strong mind, if your mind is uncontrollable mind, then the intellect will not have the capacity to control a devastating mind. So when you live a relatively disciplined life, there is a good chance the mind follows the instructions of the intellect. The next thing is when you take up any profession, when you take up any studies, these days the studies are generally towards utilitarian oriented. You do a specific study only to make a living, make money, you know? Yes. So you need to take education in a liberal way, liberal way in the sense for that particular field of study, and you study in depth, not just to graduate, get a job, make money, make a living. Even animals do that. Even animals just make a living. They make an effort to make food and have a family. So if we are just doing that, we reduce ourselves to the level of animals. But human beings, we have an intellect. So, by studying the subject liberally, there is a good chance your intellect can be strengthened. There are other ways as well. There are a couple of other ways, but if you have that kind of time, we can discuss.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:06

Yeah, so obviously studying things you have a passion for, not just going through life. And if you just live a life that doesn’t have any purpose, your mind is taken over, not your intellect, that your intellect pushes you to strive for more. Like if you want more, then you’re constantly working each day to improve your intellect. And that also improves your relationships and your knowledge. So, yeah, some other ways to increase your intellect. That’s definitely interesting to me.

SPEAKER 02 : 20:38

Yeah. So when you when you take up education, I said liberal education. But how do you approach the liberal education is in the first place, you gain knowledge, gain knowledge in the sense you just absorb information in whatever subjects or field of study that you take up. You gain information. But when you gain the information, this information is always with some doubts. It’s not straight away you understand everything. So any knowledge that you gain, it begins with knowledge full of doubts. So the next step that you do is you apply your intellect, existing intellect, and reflect on what you studied. So the second step is reflection. First is study. The next step is reflection. Reflection meaning putting the knowledge… to test of reason and logic. So when you apply that knowledge and put under the test of reason and logic, you will have doubtless knowledge. That is the second step. First, knowledge with doubt. After you employ your intellect, you will have doubtless knowledge. The third step is contemplate on the doubtless knowledge that you have gained. When you contemplate, there is always a gap between what you know and what you are. In terms of value systems that we study, you can be eloquent in various value systems, but the personal life that you live could be far away from what you preach. Isn’t it? In many cases.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:11

Now, in terms of outside distractions in the world, obviously a lot of these things, especially that, well, all of us, but young people have distracting them. Those things are keeping them from strengthening their intellect, because if they’re watching TikTok videos for two hours, That’s not really strengthening their intellect very much.

SPEAKER 02 : 22:31

So that’s another thing you can do some kind of a digital curfew to yourself. When you go to bed, your phone should be in the next room. That’s one kind of thing. But coming back to the discussion about contemplation, when you do contemplation, contemplation is reflecting on that doubtless knowledge again and again. So that will help. To bridge the gap between your knowledge and wisdom. Bridge the gap between what you know and what you are. When you study something, when you know something, you want to become that. So by contemplation, you will gain more wisdom, thereby your intellect gets strengthened. That’s another way. And the final way to strengthen the intellect is to do a little bit of introspection before you go to sleep.

SPEAKER 03 : 23:21

introspection is interesting. My friend, he does something real simple called the golden list. And he goes through the 10 things he’s thankful for, which generally involves things that he has maybe come into contact with that day. Like if we do an interview, like I might be on his golden list. So it does have something to do with this day and has some introspection involved. Now, if we do all these things and we strengthen our intellect, we make an attempt to really make our life have purpose and to make a difference and to Increase our knowledge. How does this increase our feeling of well-being and our relationships, and how does it improve our life?

SPEAKER 02 : 24:01

In terms of the reason this book helps on developing and strengthening your intellect is every human being wants to be a little more happier than what he or she is today. Isn’t it? Everybody wants to be a little more happy.

SPEAKER 03 : 24:18

I like that. I like that everyone wants to be a little bit more happy than they are today. That’s such a simple, true statement.

SPEAKER 02 : 24:26

Yeah. So for that to happen, we will have to do a little bit of anatomical study of what happiness is, you know. So It starts, as I said, the mind is the seat of your desires and emotions. So you will have to analyze one desire. So one desire amounts to a stream of thought flow towards one object or being. Do you agree with that? A steady stream of thought flow towards an object or being. Correct?

SPEAKER 03 : 25:00

Yes.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:01

If you want to define a desire. So When someone is happy, what exactly happens is when they acquire that object or desire, the thought currents associated with this particular desire gets nullified or satiated, or those thought currents disappear. When those thought currents disappear, you feel a sense of happiness, correct? Can you relate to this?

SPEAKER 03 : 25:31

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER 02 : 25:32

so this is with regard to one desire so now we talked about the mind the mind is seat of all your desires so mind as its nature it wants more and more and more in life it’s like fire so when you have a stronger intellect the intellect has the capacity to moderate control and regulate the mind in other words intellect will supervise the mind, it decides how much desires its personality can entertain. So that’s where the strength of the intellect is very important for the mind to be under control. So your desires are under check. And the intellect also has the capacity to fulfill those desires systematically.

SPEAKER 03 : 26:25

Okay.

SPEAKER 02 : 26:27

Yeah. So that’s where if it is not controlled, that’s where people go through stress. When the intellect is not strong enough, when too many desires get accumulated in the personality, and all those desires want it to be fulfilled, right? If you entertain a desire, why do you entertain a desire? You want the desire to be fulfilled, isn’t it? So when you entertain a multitude of desires beyond your capacity, and when all those desires want fructification at the same instant, You can imagine the state of the mind. That’s the time the person goes through stress.

SPEAKER 03 : 27:08

Okay, that increases stress.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:10

That increases the stress, and the only way is to have a stronger intellect. It’s not that we are advocating not to have desires. As a human being, you can have all the desires in the world, but you must have the capacity to fulfill them.

SPEAKER 03 : 27:28

Yes, yes. And I really appreciate you joining me. We’re running out of time. You know, as a Christian, I think all of these things really mold with, you know, my beliefs as well, because I am constantly trying to be, you know, a better person. But this is a little bit even more than, you know, more edging on how my dad lived, where each day was really to increase his intellect. I really like, you know, a lot of your ideas and, you know, how you’re helping people to live a better life, really.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:59

Definitely, definitely, absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER 03 : 28:02

Well, Prabha, thank you so much. And if people want to get in touch with you and they want to find your book, Cherish or Perish, Strengthen Your Intellect, Save the World, what’s the best website?

SPEAKER 02 : 28:11

The website is Vedantic.org, Vedantic.org, and they can also find it on Amazon. But in case your listeners want to have a copy of the book, I’m more than happy to send them free of cost if they can just shoot me an email. It’s live at Vedantic.org. And I’ll be happy to send a free copy of the book to their mail.

SPEAKER 03 : 28:39

Well, thank you so much. Again, the book is Cherish or Perish, Strengthen Your Intellect, Save the World. Prabha, thank you so much.

SPEAKER 06 : 28:47

Thank you. You’re welcome. Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.