11/21 Letters: ‘Hope for the future’ with Wake County-YMCA joint school project

Regarding “Wake leaders hope new school will help redefine community” (Nov. 17): Hats off to Wake County Schools and the YMCA of the Triangle for working together to create a new school to serve families in Southeast Raleigh. My adult son was a Y kid – before- and after-school care, summer camp, etc. The Y taught him how to swim, but more importantly, it taught him character and values. Today he is a fine young man with a successful career and a loving wife and infant daughter.

I think Wake County Schools and the YMCA of the Triangle should turn their effort into a model to be replicated across the nation. This is our answer for struggling kids – not charter schools, which have a spotty record of success. Ys throughout the United States have a strong track record of working successfully with kids, especially those who are low income and live in single-parent households. I am grateful for this article; it gives me hope for the future.

Initiative needed

Regarding “National initiative needed to deal with economic divide, Ray Dalio says” (Nov. 18): Ray Dalio is calling for a national commission to explore the growing economic divide in the United States This is timely as our government seems bent on enacting massive tax and health insurance reforms that will likely only exacerbate this disparity. Dalio linked the “economic divide” to premature death, poor access to health care and lower savings, and when you consider that the portion of U.S. citizens who are in the bottom 40 percent of the economy are also those who are at the greatest risk of poor health because of a variety of factors, this link is only more troubling.

As a student and public health researcher, my perspective is that if Republican tax plans in either form are enacted, adding an estimated 13 million Americans to our uninsured population and actively placing the priorities of the wealthiest in our society ahead of the needs to the majority, this divide can only widen, potentially with massive impacts on the health of our nation. Yes, there should be a national commission to explore economic disparities in the United States, but how can we hope that will happen when our country is working to move in the opposite direction, and fast?

This story was originally published November 20, 2017 at 9:48 AM with the headline "11/21 Letters: ‘Hope for the future’ with Wake County-YMCA joint school project."