"One Child at a Time...A Parent Handbook and Resource Directory for African-American Families With Children Who Learn Differently," published by the National Association for the Education of African-American Children, helps parents assist their children in reaching their fullest potential by exercising their legal rights to access public services. Call 614-237-6021 or e-mail info@aacld.org for a free copy.

As the country celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 through October 15, many Latinos are taking stock of their community's progress. Connect for Kids director Cecilia Garcia finds the same message coming from the educational front lines and from academia: home access to computers and the Internet matter for Latino children.

Latino youth are more likely to be incarcerated, receive longer sentences for similar offenses, and are more often transferred to the adult criminal justice system than white youth, according to a report released last week by Building Blocks for Youth. Connect for Kids' intern Althea Izawa-Hayden reviews the findings.

Two recent Connect for Kids articles that address racism and tolerance have generated many comments and questions from our readers. We'd like to share them and offer you the opportunity to respond and become a part of our online community.

Just as it does in the world of the schoolyard, race plays a persistent, damaging and poorly-understood role in the world of child welfare and foster care. Connect for Kids' Susan Phillips says that we need to look for ways to change this dynamic.

High school student Farheen Haider has taken her painful experiences as the target of ethnic bullying, and used them to teach her fellow students about respecting difference and standing up to intimidation. Holly St. Lifer profiles this Pakistani-born teenager.

Children often see their world through a lens shaped by our media-saturated culture. That's why Connect for Kids' Cecilia Garcia got involved with public television in the early 1970's, when Latinos were virtually invisible on TV. And it's why she found the new Smithsonian Exhibition, Young Americanos: Photographic Visions of Our Community, so inspiring.

In 1957, Dorothy Counts was one of four black students to enter previously all-white schools in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1971, Charlotte became the first city in the country to use court-ordered busing to fully desegregrate its schools. Andrea Cooper reports that students who lived through the first wave of busing now have school-aged children of their own, and wonder when this struggle will end.

For school-aged children and families who want to understand more about how one community reflected the historic changes in the national racial climate between 1940 and the 1990s, the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County has created a multi-media portrait of a place in the grip of history.

The only national Latino organization that focuses exclusively on children, NLCI focuses on the healthy and complete development of Latino children. Be sure to visit the resource page.