The Verona Early Grade Reading Achievement Program is striving for 80 percent of its K-2 students at Verona Elementary School in Battle Creek to read at or above grade level. Coaching for teachers, leveled book sets in the classroom, a summer reading component, and trained community volunteers that come in weekly to tutor are all part of the mix to help children excel in reading. 

Water Street Glassworks is casting a blazing fire under Benton Harbor youth. Nearly three dozen teens attend FIRED UP! afterschool glass class where they design holiday ornaments, glasswork items, and other “beyond-their-years” works. The program’s curriculum was conceived to boost youthful spirits and reinforce confidence.

Neighborhood Service Organization’s Youth Initiatives Project engages at-risk youth in creating their own campaigns around causes they believe in. This reinforces leadership skills and teaches young people to advocate for themselves around the policies that affect their lives. In the process, they give kids in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in Detroit a sense of ownership over their futures.

Sojourner Truth Girls Academy, sponsored by the Urban League of Battle Creek, offers girls experiences in math and science and exposure to female role models in the fields of engineering and computer technology. The program sparks interest in science and math topics through enriching activities like creating balloon rocket launchers, making flavored lip gloss, and designing and building simple airplanes. 

YOUTH VOICE, a project of the Harriet Tubman Center, is a network for young people to make community change. The current YOUTH VOICE statewide campaign is to reduce out-of-school suspensions by advocating for the zero tolerance policy to be modified and for more school resources so students have additional support as an alternative to suspensions. It’s all about youth creating change, so the 16-year old president of YOUTH VOICE has joined our dialogue. 

An important aspect of Food Warriors, a program of Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, is to de-stigmatize the relationship between African Americans and agriculture, which is often viewed through a lens of oppression. As the program teaches young people about healthy food and gardening, it’s also helping to reframe agriculture as a tool of self-determination. 

Small but mighty, Education Trust - Midwest, headquartered in Royal Oak, is pushing to close the achievement gap and raise learning levels for all Michigan students. With a focus on what’s best for students, the organization is making headway in reforming teacher policies that will boost educator effectiveness.