From middle school to high school, innovative programs are giving kids the resources they need for the future.
Originally broadcast in September 2006
Of the many challenges facing Ohioans today, none is more important to the state's future than the health, safety and education of its 3 million children. The Emmy Award-winning "Making the Grade: Helping Our Kids Achieve" examines just a few of the many exciting programs, ideas and initiatives that are focused on helping kids achieve throughout their school years so they can make the grade.
The challenges include poverty, parental unemployment, domestic abuse, limited access to mental health services for children and a shortage of enriching environments for young people while their parents are working.
Yet, as evidenced by glimpses of nine successful programs, Ohioans are rising to the occasion to help their kids achieve. Educators, social service professionals, juvenile justice experts, medical staffs and family support agencies have become extremely resourceful - combining innovation, intense devotion to children's causes and just plain grit to give Ohio's children the resources they will need for the future.