Building on a successful groundbreaking pilot project with the Zimbabwe Teachers Association (ZIMTA), the AFT is launching a multiyear, multicountry project to give African teachers resources and support to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign offers technical assistance and funding to help African teachers unions develop training materials and programs.

Over the past year, the AFT and ZIMTA have created materials and conducted workshops in Zimbabwe for a specialized workplace-based training program to bring accurate information about AIDS to every school in Zimbabwe.

In addition to ZIMTA, teacher unions in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have agreed to collaborate with the AFT to develop and implement programs in HIV/AIDS education and prevention, counseling and referral, and care for teachers and their families affected by AIDS.

The impact of the AIDS crisis on Africa's education systems is monumental. In South Africa, 420,000 children have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and an average of 1,000 teachers a year die from the disease. In Zimbabwe, more than 30 percent of the country's teachers are infected with the AIDS virus. Without effective prevention programs, AIDS deaths among teachers throughout Africa are expected to climb dramatically over the next 10 years.

The AFT has a long tradition of international involvement, notes AFT executive vice president Nat LaCour, and "this campaign represents our desire to offer hope and help to teachers in need."

A commemorative black, green and red pin in the shape of an AIDS ribbon is being sold to raise funds for the campaign. All proceeds will be used for efforts under way in Africa to combat HIV/AIDS. Grants from government, foundations, corporations and the AFT will cover overhead and administrative costs.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign pin is available for $10 (make checks payable to the AFT Educational Foundation) from AFTEF, 555 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20001. These contributions are tax deductible. More information about the campaign is posted on the AFT Web site at www.aft.org/africa_aids.

Young adults have raised their opinion of government, civic involvement and political action in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. However, most of their feelings have yet to translate into action, according to a new poll commissioned by the nonprofit Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE).

The survey of 1,500 Americans ages 15-25 reveals that fewer are actually volunteering, and a greater number now shrug off career opportunities in public service and politics--even though the group expresses greater trust in government and a willingness to participate in community activities after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"It is heartening to see young adults feeling more positively about government and showing that they're more open to thinking about our civic institutions," says William A. Galston, the director of CIRCLE, an initiative formed last year and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to explore civic engagement among young people. "But the survey underscores that young people are still disengaged in the post-Sept. 11 environment."

The poll shows that more than a third of young people say they "never volunteer"--an increase of 10 percent over the past four years. More than half say they won't join a political party or run for elective office. This, despite the fact that 67 percent of respondents say they are at least somewhat more likely to participate in politics and voting since Sept. 11.

With a little work and a willingness to take risks, educators can harness these attitude shifts, says Lee Cutler, a high school English teacher in Nanuet, N.Y., who is part of a team of district teachers who have developed a strong civic involvement program for middle school students. The district's "mock assembly" unit challenges students to identify, prioritize and deliberate some of the hottest issues that state legislators face. For example, students this year argued the fate of the nearby Indian Point nuclear plant, labeled a terrorist target by groups that want to shut it down and an economic mainstay by those that prefer to keep the plant running.

Students prepared for the mock assembly with face-to-face meetings with state representatives. And the unit will culminate with a visit to Albany, where the students will observe, and be recognized by, lawmakers.

A key to successful civic school projects is the willingness by educators and administrators to take risks, says Cutler, a member of the New York State United Teachers Board. "The task of the teacher is not to guide the students to the least offensive issue," explains Cutler, whose students have deliberated such thorny issues as condom distribution in schools and abortion rights.

The Boston Teachers Union has found another way to assist teacher members and their students through its new Partnering with Parents program, designed to help parents help their kids with school readiness and literacy.

More and more kindergarten and first-grade teachers have been "bemoaning the fact that kids are arriving at school with no readiness skills," explains BTU president Ed Doherty. "They don't know colors or letters, and they should have some of these skills before they're 4 or 5 years old. If we can help parents to help kids develop skills, we're doing a service to the kids and to our own members."

The program was started with $25,000 in seed money from the members themselves and is working with Families First--a nonprofit agency that's in the business of parent education--to run the workshops on parenting and school preparation topics. So far, three parent workshops have been presented at BTU offices, and more are being planned for area school sites. The program also is developing a brochure aimed at parents of students in preschool, kindergarten and first grade that will "give them helpful hints on preparing kids for school and helping them succeed [and will emphasize] the importance of reading to children, of talking with children, and teaching such social behaviors as sharing and taking turns," says Doherty.

Although the program is still in the beginning stages, the BTU already is looking for corporate sponsors to make its seed money work even harder and longer. For more information, contact Ed Doherty at 617/288-2000.

It started in 1987 after an AFT member in upstate New York saw a news report that prompted him to want to do something for his community's neediest citizens. Fourteen years later the "first Friday in February" project can boast having raised more than $225,000 in cash donations.

"We wanted to bring the school community together on behalf of the needy in our community," explains Stephen Ash, a retired member of the Kenmore (N.Y) Teachers Association, who worked on the first Friday in February project at the urging of another retired teacher and AFT member, Jerry Starr.

"I got the idea [for the project] after I was complaining about how cold my hands got without gloves," says Starr. Then he saw a news report about all the homeless being turned away from overcrowded shelters and realized his concern was relatively minor. Starr's response was to organize a sleepout where teachers and students spend the night sleeping in cardboard boxes on a school lawn.

About 15 students and adults participated in the first sleepout in 1988. The money raised--about $1,500--was donated to four community agencies in the Buffalo, N.Y., area. Since then, more than $225,000 has been raised through sleepouts by students and educators in the Kenmore-Tonawanda and Clarence school districts. As many as 250 kids have participated in the Clarence sleepout.

Now organized by a group of school employees and retirees who call themselves Educators Totally Committed, the group chose the first Friday in February for its activity because typically donations to agencies serving the needy drop off sharply after the holiday season. Donations have ranged from money and clothing to food and furniture. "I know that our commitment impacts the communities in which we work, and our efforts have made a difference," says Ash.

For students, the sleepout is an opportunity to participate in a community service project and to learn what it's like to sleep outside in a cardboard box on a cold winter night. "The sleepout engages students from grades K-12 in a program of social awareness," Ash says.

Other school districts also have supported the project. Students and staff in the North Tonawanda district sponsored an evening at a local bowling alley where participants paid $8 each and also donated canned goods. Educators, parents, students and others have also held penny drives, pizza parties, car washes and spaghetti dinners to raise money for the project.

The long-range goal is to encourage school systems, as well as colleges and universities, in New York and elsewhere to come together on the first Friday in February to help needy individuals and families in their communities, Ash says.

For information on setting up a first Friday in February project in your community, contact Ash at 1-800/403-7754, access code 00.

Educators in Cleveland received a giant bear hug in January when the Cleveland Teachers Union joined with the school district and others to sponsor a "Salute to Teachers." More than 700 educators, parents, community members and young people paid tribute to teachers and paraprofessionals during a festive ceremony featuring performances by students from the city's public schools.

Elected officials and local television personalities were on hand to reminisce about the teachers who had an impact on their lives. And the Cleveland City Council and the Ohio Senate adopted resolutions praising the city's teachers.

"People just don't have the respect they had for teachers when we were young," teacher Stephanie Henderson said. "Thank you for making all teachers in Cleveland feel appreciated."

The AFT-affiliated New York State United Teachers is urging Gov. George Pataki to sign a bill that would require lifesaving defibrillators on school grounds and at school events--and to fund the initiative once it becomes law.

The legislation sailed through the Senate, where it passed unanimously, and was under consideration in the Assembly as American Teacher went to press. Joining NYSUT in support of the bill are the American Heart Association and a grassroots lobbying effort spearheaded by parents who have lost children to sudden cardiac arrest during school sporting events. One of these activists, teacher and NYSUT member Rachel Moyer, was featured in the March issue of American Teacher.

Despite the groundswell of support for the legislation, it was unclear at press time whether the defibrillator bill would make it into law. The New York State School Boards Association has opposed the bill, calling it a costly, unfunded mandate on schools.

"We agree with the School Boards Association--the state should pay for the defibrillators," says NYSUT executive vice president and AFT vice president Alan B. Lubin. "But if the choice is between spending money and saving kids' lives, that choice is a 'no-brainer.' ... Our kids' safety shouldn't have a price tag."