Poverty In America: Its Effect On High School Pass rate In Syracuse

Wayne O'Connor with some of the students at Hillside Center

By Paul Shalala in Syracuse, New York

The city of Syracuse in northern New York state has one of the poorest communities in the whole of the United States of America.

According to latest statistics from the US Census Bureau and the Onondaga County, Syracuse grapples with poverty which is mainly concentrated in the south of the city where African-Americans and Hispanics live.

This poverty has had a lot of impact especially in the number of criminal activities and gang related violence in the area.

Just in the past three weeks, three people have been shot dead and several injured, forcing the county officials and the City’s Police Department to hold a press conference to assure residents of their safety.

Poverty has also not spared the education sector.

According to the US Census Bureau’s 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Profiles, Syracuse has a high school pass rate of 80.1% which is lower than the national pass rate currently standing at 86.3%.

The civil society has joined county and state education departments in fighting the drop in the pass rate.

According to Wayne O’Connor, the Executive Director of the privately run Hillside College and Career Center, poverty has had a great impact on the lower pass rate among high school students in the city.

“Each year we enrol 1,000 high school students who we mentor and teach in various subjects in order for them to pass the exams. These are pupils who suffer poverty and have behavioural attitudes. They are brought here by their parents or they may come by themselves,” said Mr O’Connor.

He adds that apart from helping the students pass the examinations, his non profit which has been giving the service to students for over nine years, also helps the students get jobs and make rights career choices.

Several volunteer teachers and mentors operate from the center and help the students, mainly from poor families, prepare for exams.

The Hillside College and Career Center has an annual budget of $350 million and it works with students and parents to ensure that the students adequately prepare for the exams.

“Among the students who pass through our center, 98% progress to colleges and universities. We also offer scholarships to deserving students who come from poverty stricken homes.”

Mr O’Connor told a group of Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows that pupils usually come to the center in the afternoon after their regular classes in their respective schools and get coached by the youth advocates.

He said at the center, the students are given food so that they can concentrate on their studies and have a free mind.

“Our calendar year starts in September and ends in June. We also offer sports so that the students are kept busy physically,” said Mr O’Connor.

As part of the institution’s plan to motivate the learners, twice a year it organises events where parents come to celebrate the success of their children who are crowned as School Ambassadors based on their achievements.

According to Hillside College and Career Center records, 75% of the students are African-Americans, 12% Hispanics and the remainder is Caucasians.

The center plans to increase the enrolment to 2,000 in the coming years to help increase the pass rate in the city.

Some of the center's former students have even been engaged as mentors for the current students.

Part of the students at the center are sponsored by the Central New York Community Foundation through scholarships.

The foundation, which currently has assets worth $172 million, spends huge sums of money in literacy programs to help reduce the low pass rate in Syracuse.

"Half of the students in Syracuse do not graduate to college and this maybe because of poverty. So as the foundation, we give grants to non profits for literacy, we also fund institutions like Hillside to ensure that our students graduate and grab future opportunities," said Central New York Community Foundation Director of Research and Community Initiatives Frank Ridzi.

Speaking when he addressed Syracuse-based 2016 Mandela Washington fellows visited his office, Mr Ridzi said 14.1% of the foundation's annual grants goes for scholarships for poor students through programs like Say Yes To Education.

On other initiative the foundation has funded over the years to help poor black students is the Saturday Academy which brings together African-American students on Saturdays to be mentored by teachers and improve their literacy.

A civil society organisation called 100 Men of Syracuse won the $100,000 grant to execute the project which so far is proving beneficial to the learners.   

Environment-Friendly Farming And Use Of GMOs By U.S. Farmers

By Paul Shalala in Homer, New York

Cattle at McMahon's Zacres farm in Homer, New York

As the debate over the usage of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) rages on in Africa, farmers in the United States think GMOs are good and have no effect whatsoever.

In the small village of Homer in Cortland County, northern New York state, is the family-owned farm called McMahon's Zacres owned by brothers Michael and Peter McMahon.

The duo bought the 2,200 acres farm from their father in 1986 and since then, they have run it as a dairy farm and invested over US$10 million.

During a recent visit to the farm by this blogger, the owners revealed that the farm has at any given time 700 fully grown cows and 700 calves.

Being a dairy farm, all bulls are sold off and calves are only milked for 32 months before being sold off as beef.

Due to lack of workers across the United States who can at a farm, Zacres employs five Mexican immigrants who milk the cows three times a day using some of the latest high tech dairy equipment.

A Mexican immigrant milking cattle

One of the Mexicans found on duty was able to milk 150 cattle within an hour.

"Americans don't want to be dirty. We cannot find anyone willing to do this job, that is why we employ these Mexicans because they are hardworking," said Peter McMahon, a co-owner of the farm. 

The workers are also responsible for sweeping the bans three times a day after every milking session.

The cattle is fed by maize grown at the farm and only a few nutrients are bought to supplement the feed. 

According to Peter, the farm uses genetically modified organisms in cultivating maize which is used as feed for the milk producing cattle.

Peter McMahon

“We grow our own corn (maize) here to feed all the cattle. We use GMOs in all our fields and this goes well with our crops because they do not kill any organisms. We will continue using them, we will not stop because they change to carbon dioxide after 30 days,” said Peter.

When asked if the GMOs were harmful to the environment, Peter said its actually non-GMOs which affect the environment and kill wild animals.

“A long time ago we used pesticides to protect our corn. One such pesticide was toxic. Birds would collect and swallow it. They would fly a few meters in the sky and later drop dead. But the GMOs are friendly to the environment because they melt and disappear."

He adds that at the time they used to apply pesticides, worms used to die in large numbers but now they are plenty in the fields.

One of the maize fields at the farm

The farm has also adopted environmentally friendly practices due to the high number of residue that comes from the cattle.

The 1, 400 cattle at the farm produce enormous amount of dung on a daily basis and mishandling it can cause environmental problems.

Workers at the farm collect the dung and store it in a storage family before its dried and scattered in the fields.

According to company records, the farm produces eight million gallons of manure annually and if discharged in nearby rivers and dams, it could pollute both the water and the environment.

“We work with an environmental consultant who regularly comes to taste our soil for levels of manure. We also store the manure and dispose it off in environmentally friendly areas,” said Peter.

He also said that every three months, workers pour lime across the farm to neutralise the manure once it is disposed off.

The company has also adopted a policy of not planting maize near rivers and dams to avoid chemicals flowing from the fields to the water bodies.

The farm is affiliated to environmental bodies

This farm is a major producer of Greek Yoghurt in New York state and employs a fulltime nutritionist who looks after the cattle's feed.

Its environmental programmes have even been approved by the Cortland County Agricultural Environmental Management which promotes soil and water conservation.

At the state level, McMahon’s Zacres is a member of the New York State Cattle Health Assurance Program which promotes animal health, food safety and environmental stewardship.

The farm works hand in hand with Cornell University whose extension officers monitor the farm’s activities and ensure standards are followed and animals are kept in good condition.

The university, which is located in the neighbouring city of Uthica, is the only major learning facility in new York state which specialises in agriculture.

And in neighbouring Onondaga County, farmers and county agencies are working together to protect the picturesque Skeneateles Lake from pollution.

Skeneateles Lake

The lake is the only source of water for Syracuse, the third largest city in New York state.

Over 50 farms surround the lake which is estimated to hold about 400 million gallons of water.

On a daily basis, the Syracuse Department of Water Affairs pumps 40 million of gallons to the city which is over 100 kilometers away.

“On a daily basis we treat this water. We use chlorine and UV system to purify it. We pump 40 million gallons of water daily to Syracuse and it takes six hours for it to reach the city,” said Mike Lynn, Skeneateles Water Plant Manager.

The lake has been supplying water to Syracuse for over a century.

Skeneateles area has 50 percent of its land covered by forests while 40 percent is farmland.

Authorities in the area are now partnering with farmers to ensure they do not pollute the lake which is also a tourist spot for people who enjoy water sports and fishing.

“In the past years, we have spent over US$40 million to preserve the water and protect it from pollution. We work with 42 farmers and ensure they comply with environmental guidelines,” said Rich Abbott from the Syracuse Water Department who has worked with farmers in the area for 30 years.

Mike Lynn

Mr Abbott said county inspectors tour all farms to ensure there is no discharge of effluent in the lake and make sure all farmers follow laid down regulations.

He also said farmers in the area strictly practice crop rotation to ensure chemicals do not spoil the soil.

“To protect the lake from farming activities, all farmers have planted trees between the fields and the lake as a buffer zone.”

The Skeneateles Watershed Agricultural Program and the Syracuse Water Department work together to safeguard the lake from polluters.

According to the Syracuse Water Department, Skeneateles lake is fed by over 150 rivers and tributaries.

The lake is one of the 11 so-called Finger Lakes which flow from southern New York state and stretch northwards closer to the Canadian border.

They are called Finger Lakes because they look like fingers on the map. 

The Jury System And Democracy Inside The American Court

By Paul Shalala in Cortland, New York

Judge Rumsey takes a selfie in court with Fola of Nigeria

Picture this: a Supreme Court Judge taking a selfie with a visitor inside the courtroom, the judge laughing and smiling inside the courtroom while giving a lecture.

Did you hear it right? Yes i said inside the Supreme Court.

I guess you are already saying 'What went wrong? Are you sure it was a judge?'

Well, that is not all: the Judge later joins you for dinner and interacts with everyone as beers, food and drinks are served.

Is that in Zambia? No sir!! Not at all.

If its in Zambia, that judge would be on the front page of daily newspapers the following day.

It can never happen in our conservative country because we have decided to maintain the decades old English style of a judiciary even after London has moved on and reformed its judiciary.

Remember the recent case were Zambia's former Chief Justice Ernest Sakala was publicly condemned for shaking hands with former President Frederick Chiluba at a funeral service?

Any way, the scenario above actually happened in my own eyes.

It happened inside the Supreme Court in Cortland City, New York state.

By the way, judges in the United States of America are as free as any other member of society.

Take for example, Justice Phillip Rumsey of the Supreme Court in Cortland County, he is a simple and down to earth man who at first impression does not look like a judge.

He is so common that he mingles with everyone without a problem.

Judge Rumsey addressing the Mandela Fellows

Probably its because of the mode of his ascendance to the office.

He is an elected official.

Judges in Counties are publicly elected and they are very popular in the communities were they work from.

Cortland County has been electing its judges since 1846.

On Friday, Judge Rumsey hosted the 25 Mandela Washington Fellows who are studying Public Management at Syracuse University in the neighbouring Onondaga County.

The judge opened his courtroom to the fellows so they could understand how the American judicial system works at county level.

He explained that the history of the court system in Cortland Country stretches back to 1691, way before the US got its independence from England in 1776.

"After our independence, we adopted many English laws....... But the jury is a unique feature in our legal system...... It is important and has a long history," said Judge Rumsey.

The jury is a group of people who are selected to analyse a court case and decide whether an accused person is guilty or not.

As opposed to the Zambian system were a judge or judges hear a case and find a person guilty or not, in America the jury does the job.

"The jury system is a unique process. It is a hallmark of our society. It has helped us avoid having violence and protests in society."

Judge Rumsey says the jury helps because it is composed of people from the community who know the people accused or the institutions and can give an objective decision on a particular case.

He says once the jury decides whether the accused is guilty or not, they are not obliged to explain why they arrived at the verdict.

When asked whether members of the jury can be in danger of reprisals if they arrived at a guilty verdict for a member of society, Judge Rumsey said jurors are generally safe.

"We advise the jurors not to disclose how they arrived at the verdict though they are free to do so. But usually they do not. But if we learn that a juror maybe in danger, we can then ask law enforcement to protect them," said Judge Rumsey.

South African fellow Luyolo Mpithi taking a selfie in court

He also said the jurors are expected to base their decision on information given in court and not research on social media.

Judge Rumsey was first elected as Supreme Court justice in in 1993 and was re-elected for a second 14 year term in 2007.

However, judges at the state appellate level are appointed by the Governor while those of the US Supreme Court are appointed by the US President.

Judges are not the only ones who are elected to work in public offices in the US.

Sheriffs, who enforce court orders and civil law in a county, also go through public elections despite being uniformed officers.

Now this is people power and democracy at its best: electing judges and Sheriffs.