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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Gust View: Talons Deserves Praise, Support

By Daniel S. Abram

    Last week I reviewed two local newspaper articles about Talking Talons Youth Leadership, the organization that I served for the past 11 years, 10 of those as its executive director.
    Although I found the journalism to be good in both accounts, I was disheartened by the content provided by the organization's current principals. The headlines, one from this publication, "Talking Talons loses birds," set the tone. (A different publication) describes a "beleaguered" Talking Talons that is setting out on an organizational restructure, and reeling from the removal of financial support from the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps. The Telegraph touches upon the restructuring, then focuses mainly on the downsizing of Talking Talons' live, injured, captive animal collection.
    I feel that the East Mountains community, which has been immensely supportive of Talking Talons throughout my time there (my heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you), deserves the positive story, characterized by the organization's strengths, triumphs and potential for the future. When I discovered Talking Talons in November of 1996, it was a sleepy, homespun good idea. The notion of connecting injured birds with children who are craving nonconventional, fun and inspiring learning opportunities just couldn't go wrong. But the hard work to come was to formalize that experience into a working and measurable educational model.
    Talking Talons has done just that. Through years of hard work we have developed a written, standardized curriculum that is attractive to schoolteachers for its ability to meet New Mexico Life Science and Language Arts Standards and Benchmarks. But that curriculum is so much more. Dr. Carmen Sorge, a Ph.D. educational psychologist and Talking Talon's professional program evaluator, has demonstrated, through an advanced evaluation model, that students who receive the Talking Talons program are much more likely than those who don't to show a variety of social graces and leadership skills that are essential for tomorrow's stewards. These include more interest in school and science, a better sense of self-esteem and self-worth, the ability to make good morality-based decisions, and a better attitudes toward the environment and the humane treatment of animals.
    These findings have gained national recognition. In 2003, they were acknowledged by the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention by their Exemplary Program Award, one bestowed on only 10 organizations in the country that year. This year, the Talking Talons model and outcomes will be published in the international journal Society and Animals. Further, the anecdotal information (what the participating kids actually say) about the effectiveness of the child-animal connection Talking Talons provides is also quite extraordinary.
    Although I am now moving on to new opportunities to work with our children, our wildlife and our natural environment, I ask Talking Talons students, parents, teachers, and supporters to focus less on restructuring and internal problems, and more on the organization's remaining three greatest strengths as I see them.
    First, Talking Talons has a strong educational curriculum that is well-known, well-loved and well-evaluated. It really works, and its benefits to our youths are measurable and immeasurable. Second, Talking Talons still has the backing of its program director, Laurie Wearne, with whom I've worked for 10 years and who has my complete confidence— Laurie is a top-notch educator, animal caretaker and professional. Finally, Talking Talons retains someone very important to me, my father, Stephen Abram, who remains on its board of directors and has been the largest individual contributor in the organization's history. Thanks, Dad! We couldn't have done it without you.
    And one last, but not least, strength: YOU! Please get involved. There are more than 7,000 nonprofit organizations in New Mexico alone, all doing wonderful and necessary work, and all of which depend on some level of volunteer support. Please consider volunteering or contributing financially to Talking Talons or to the many other organizations that seek to serve our children and protect our native animals and wild spaces.