Happy Thanksgiving to all.
As the daylight hours have become shorter, the cool breezes blow a little longer and the colors of fall share their grace with each one of us, we at the ARKGroup are thankful for you as we pause to reflect on the many blessings and gifts that you have shared this past year.
We are thankful and truly appreciate those common threads shared with our pilgrim Fathers, Mothers and all of those who have stepped onto this wide and beautiful land from faraway places. During this time of Thanksgiving, may we share this gift of thankfulness with our children and students. We have so much to appreciate and we show this spirit to our children and students most openly in this season. We encourage you parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbors, to rejoice in your moments with your youngsters as you share your caring spirits of thankfulness with them. Our children are the future of the world, and the world we show our children is the world they will show their children.
I am thankful for you and your "moments of grace" that will live on in those "little spirits" in your lives.

We encourage you to share our website (www.thearkgroup.org) with your friends and colleagues. The ARKGroup's website can assist you in obtaining any information you need (both faith- based and secular) about the Adults Relating to Kids' programs and processes for teachers and schools, parents and others who would be intentional in the lives of children. Visit our site today!
Bill
William R. Duffy
National Executive Director
281-537- 1301

An ideal superperson is not one who finds solace in a reality that exists only in the inner cerebral world or in a land of entertainment and fantasy, but one who triumphs over the problems of everyday life.
Reflections from the play Cyrano de Bergerac

We encourage you to commit to renewal and growth with education and networking facilitated by the ARKProgram DVDs: ARK for Teachers, ARK for Parents (Faith and Secular-based), ARK Facilitator Training, The ARK Group Process and an Introduction to ARK hosted by Pat Summerall. Order today at www.thearkgroup.org. The ARK Program has excellent lessons, DVD's, manuals, workbooks, texts and advertising materials. They will equip you to provide life-changing ARK programs including breakthrough parenting and teaching "skills courses." With your help, we can make ARKRelationships the norm for the 21st century family, church, school and community.

UPDATE ON OUR FAITH-BASED PROGRAMS

For our friends and followers, we have had outstanding, record-breaking participation through October with over 250 churches in the Dallas and Houston areas participating in our ARK for Parents Faith-based church programs. The Facilitator training, (which prepares churches to provide this outstanding program either to the entire congregation or to smaller groups, such as Sunday School classes) can be scheduled to fit the schedule of those who commit to serve as facilitators. Thanks to wonderful gifts by kind benefactors, we are able to provide ARK for Parents Programs to manychurches who require scholarship assistance. The program includes facilitator training, lessons on DVDs, books, and a host of supporting materials and services. We invite you to makesure that your church takes advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Contact us today by e-mail, letter or by telephone in Dallas at 817-268-2100 or Houston at 281-537-1301 to reserve these programs for your church and to enable your church family to become the parents and intentional adults in the lives of children who will change the world through your care.

Irma Bombeck says, "There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, " 'Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams.' Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look at it and say, 'Yep, they're still there.' " In order to make dreams come true, we have to take them out of the box and be intentional about their implementation. As Stella Terrill Mann says, "Whatever God's dream about man may be, it seems certain that it cannot come true unless man cooperates."

As we continue to read daily, the nation and the world is in a downward cycle financially. A persistently high dropout rate across the country gives us pause to worry the impact it will have on our country's strengths and overall wellness. According to one study, only half of the high school students in the nation's largest cities are graduating in four years with a figure as low as 25% in Detroit.

The longer trend American dropout rate may be especially disturbing today with a looming recession and the potential for higher unemployment. Cutting the number of dropouts in half would generate $45 billion annually in new tax revenue, according to America's Promise, assuming those graduates apply their education in creating new jobs and opportunities.

Ms. Kondracke of America's Promise calls the dropouts "our next class of nonperfoming assets." She says that each year dropouts represent $320 billion in lost lifetime earnings potential.
Jay Smith, Director of the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University, says the difference in lifetime salary for a dropout and a high school graduate is $300,000.

"In a global economy, the single most important issue facing our country is an educated workforce, " says Houston Mayor Bill White. "Somebody who lacks a high school education will have lifetime earnings that are only about 60% of those of somebody with that education."
The social impacts of our participation in a community that has allowed kids to not graduate are also disturbing. Dropouts are disproportionately represented in our criminal justice system, including about 75% of state prison inmates.
The ARKGroup has experienced some good news over this past year with kids staying in school. As part of the Houston Reach Out program to dropouts, 100 of the 5500 students who were recruited to return to school in last year's neighborhood walk, participated in the benefits of the ARK for Teacher's network programs at Furr High School.
The good news is that not a single one of those 100 kids dropped out of school for the year and many achieved significant results on their TAKS tests. One student commented," the personal interest and care given to me by those teachers convinced me to give school another try. And their care for me during the year enabled me to believe in myself and to make the effort to stay in school. I have done it thanks to those teachers belief in me. "

As I reflect on these stories and real life experiences, I am thankful for those teachers, parents and others who care enough to give themselves to our young people. One study shows that if only one adult at a school shows care and concern for a kid, it reduces that child's chances of dropping out of school by 97%. Life is most important because of the impact that it has on other lives.

My friend, psychologist Robert Brooks (Harvard Medical School) points out that perhaps our most valued possession is the knowledge that others out there in our communities "know my name, know me, and their care anchors my ability to learn at any age, but especially for kids."
Following a year of graduate school, I found myself not only with a beautiful young wife and daughter, but as a soldier preparing for a tour in Viet Nam. As a green recruit, I was a number among thousands in a training preparation where my individuality was at best merely as a member of a herd heading for uncertainty. I was journeying through physical and mental experiences foreign to my former life and my body for being ordered, pushed, threatened, directed and made ready for a mission decided by the unknown. These were busy minutes each day, but as I recall those days, I appreciate the challenges and the beauty of having a wife who loved and worried for me and a young child who I believed would want me there for her as she grew up. I was anxious, fatigued and uncertain by my experiences in those days.

Fast-forward three and a half decades. In October, 2004, I retired after 35 years with ExxonMobil, a great organization and a wonderful group of people who supported me to Do the right things, Do my best and Treat people with care. As I have looked for common threads in my life's journey--for a "connection of the dots" (as discussed by Dr. Brooks in his October 21st, Newsletter), I have begun to "connect the dots' and to come to a real appreciation of those "relationships of care" that have registered such a significant impact on my life.

In my wonderful relationship with my wife with whom I have shared 40+ years, those early Army experiences, my career at ExxonMobil, and in my life today with The ARKGroup, quality relationships have provided the tapestry upon which the most significant aspects of my life have been painted.

One of the things I have discovered that has brought me through those hard, sad, exciting, perilous, rotten and rewarding times of the past, are those people who I greatly admired. My nurturing and caring wife who separated my behavior from me and cared for me despite my faults and gave me counsel and guidance, a drill sergeant who pushed me through the mud, but who always knew my name and just my number. I felt he cared about me not for some big mission planned by others, but because he wanted me to survive and he got in the mud with me to make sure I didn't give up or make a serious mistake. He nurtured an environment of hope and believe in me to get it done. He engaged me in action and dialogue. He was enthusiastic and had, although weird, a sense of humor.
Similarly, as I reflect back on those many individuals who were the leaders of the organizations I worked in and managed at ExxonMobil, it was those managers and friends who knew not only my name, but the names of everyone they worked with that created the sense of family, commitment, relationships and trust that provided the foundations for opportunities and learning. Those leaders were true teachers who were accessible and whom I knew cared about me and the positive relationships that allowed me and others to grow.

My good friend and colleague, Glenn Wilkerson has developed a fantastic program with the ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) programs and processes. One of the essential elements of this program, which continues to be proven in research project after research project, including this year's results from the University of North Texas, is the absolute necessity in everyone's lives to know that someone cares for you unconditionally. One of Glenn's favorite expressions "People don't care what you know until they know that you care."

"Connecting those dots" again, I believe that we need to be intentionable in helping kids to understand that we care about them. That care is exhibited when we are passionate about their ideas, when we listen with true interest as they speak. and when we "get down in the mud" with them and do everything we can to bolster their hopes and dreams.

What I am suggesting--in this "dot to dot" reflection on "common threads"--is that we become intentional about exercising those opportunities to create environments and conditions of genuine care for our children and students. It can emanate from acts as simple as knowing a young person's name and greeting that child with his name with a smile--and the simple act of assuring kids that you are accessible to them to talk and to share.

We are so privileged to take part in the nurture and teaching of our children and students. As the leaves begin to turn and we look forward in anticipation to this holiday season, please consider end-of-the-year donations to ARKProgramming that can be a means of giving adults tools for relating to their kids and showing that they care. Give as generously as you can. You will make a lasting different in the lives of deserving children.<br>

Glenn, Bill, Jan, and our entire staff greatly appreciate your contributions in helping us to make caring relationships the norm for kids.

Washington D.C. Schools Chancellor, Michelle Rhee says: "People say that kids are disadvantaged because they come from poor homes or whatever. But, the bottom line is that, if kids have teachers with extraordinary high expectations of them, if they work hard and do right things, they can absolutely achieve at the highest levels." Her students went from the 13th percentile on standardized national tests to the 90th percentile within two years time. Her program focuses on teachers and parents who make sure the kids know they have adults that care about them and believe they can succeed and expect much from them while investing their full attention and care in their education.

Brownsville School District Superintendent Hector Gonzales explains his teacher creed: "Success is not an accident. We don't allow students to fail. We believe every child can learn."
It is against statistical odds that Brownsville students are succeeding. Every year new students arrive from non- English speaking countries and can't read or write fluently in English or Spanish. Yet, 80 percent of Brownsville students become proficient in English by the end of the third grade. The kids in Brownsville public schools have adults who believe in them and regularly hear; " one day you will be standing in my position with other kids, including your own. You will be taking over for me."

ARKParenting and ARK for Teachers programs helps small groups networks of support to practice and grow their toolsets for parenting and teaching youngsters. ARK programs help teachers,mothers and fathers establish firm and consistent expectations while anchoring their children and students in love, warmth, support and encouragement.

To find out about facilitating an ARK Program in your area, give us a CALL!
DID YOU REALIZE THAT THE "ARK FOR DIVORCED PARENTS" COURSE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE THROUGH THE ARK WEBSITE?

Check out our website!

ARK is always aware of organizations which want to incorporate the ARK experience in their programs but who need financial assistance to do so. Even public schools frequently don't have the resources that will allow them to offer their students the life-changing benefits of ARK. DID YOU KNOW THAT ...your gift of $100. will introduce ARK to a school, United Way supported agency, neighborhood center or church. ... your donation of $1,000. will provide ARK programming for an entire school. ...your contribution of $10,000. will allow the ARKgroup to equip 10 schools within a school district to begin the ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents programs.

GoodSearch - a way to support ARK while using the Internet. You can contribute to the ARKGroup so that we might invest in your favorite community services, church, juvenile justice program or school--just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo!

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