For Good

Dewey’s Pizza, which brands itself as a “neighborhood pizza place,” lives up to its name with DewMore—the restaurant’s nonprofit that's aimed at giving back to organizations within the community. 

“Dewey’s wouldn’t be a company without all the people from our local communities coming in, so we try to give back to them as best we can,” says Kevin Dern, DewMore’s initiative coordinator. 

Dern, who is 27 years old and a lifelong Cincinnatian, began his work with Dewey’s as a server at the restaurant’s Oakley location. He then transitioned into the role of coordinating events and making sure DewMore’s efforts were reaching full potential. 

The most popular events Dern leads are DewMore’s Pizza Schools. 

“We’ll open the store early on a Sunday morning,” Dern says. “And people will sit down like it’s a normal dining experience at Dewey’s, but then the server comes up and takes them back into the kitchen, and our kitchen staff will train them how to roll out the dough, toss the dough and make their own pizzas.” 

The nonprofit’s most recent success came as a result of a pizza school at the Kenwood location in which the program broke a DewMore record by raising $3,000 for the Ohio Valley chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 

The pizza schools are led entirely by Dewey’s employees. They're not getting paid, but instead volunteer to come in early. Dern says many of the servers and cooks share the vision of wanting to give back, which makes the pizza schools a fun experience for all involved. 

“Cooks teach the kids how to throw flour at the window—and the kids love coming in to the back—some of them get really into it,” Dern says. “The cooks even teach them how to use the paddles to put their pizzas into the oven, and adults get really into it too. They want to cut their own pizzas, and slice them for others—it’s a fun, unique experience that you can’t really get at many other restaurants.”

According to Dern, the events not only allow community members to come together for a family-friendly, behind-the-scenes experience at Dewey’s Pizza, but it also allows them to enjoy the company of their neighbors—including those from the nonprofit in which the pizza school is benefitting—as they sit back, chat and enjoy each other’s pizza creations. 

“Dewey’s has always wanted this to be a fabric of the company,” Dern says. “We’re willing and flexible to get out there and do whatever we can to help the community.” 

Supporters of the Cincinnati Ballet can keep young people throughout the region hopping, and leaping, by doing some dancing of their own at Club B, a dance-filled fundraiser at the Cincinnati Masonic Center.

The Ballet offers more than its traditional classic and contemporary seasons. The studio downtown and its satellite in Blue Ash host dance classes and demonstrations. Club B benefits the ballet’s “extracurricular activities,” including scholarships and classroom residencies, most of which are offered free of charge to talented students who need extra support. More than 135,000 people of all ages take advantage of the complete repetoire of educational programs annually.

Leyla Shokooe, box office and marketing assistant for the Cincinnati Ballet, says Club B is “more relaxed than our winter Nutcracker Gala, which is pretty formal.”

Dancing, cocktails and VIP treatment are guaranteed, she says. “[Club B] provides a way to interact with the Ballet that illustrates the humanity behind it.”

For more information on ticket pricing and what Club B offers, visit the Cincinnati Ballet’s website.

By Sean Peters

Fifty years ago, a group of parents who were passionate about Maria Montessori’s philosophy of education developed the first Montessori preschool in the area. 

And following the preschool’s inauguration, the group formed the Cincinnati Montessori Society, a nonprofit whose focus is to promote Montessori education while serving as a resource to countless schools, teachers, parents and students in the community.

“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘Follow the child,’” says Heather Gerker, vice president of CMS. “We meet the child where they are developmentally.” 

Montessori classrooms, which are both child-centered and composed of mixed age groups, are set up so that children can learn through a multisensory approach that allows them to figure things out at their own speed—and the philosophy works, Gerker says. 

At CMS’s Annual Spring Conference and celebration of 50 years of success, neuroscientist Dee Coulter delivered the keynote address. 

“This work that Maria Montessori did over 100 years ago is now being proven through neurological work happening now,” Gerker says. “[Coulter’s address] was really affirming and validating to the teachers there.” 

Not only were teachers excited to go back to work on Monday after hearing Coulter’s presentation, Gerker says, but they also had the opportunity to participate in breakout sessions that were aimed at providing strategies and insight that lead to better education.

Topics ranged from promoting mindfulness through music to strategizing ways of better assisting children with ADD and autism. 

Gerker says she’s particularly passionate about the resources that CMS provides because they’re based on a philosophy that’s now scientifically proven, and she’s seen it work in the lives of her own children. 

“It gives them a solid sense of self, that they’re so independent and happy, which I think is the ultimate goal,” Gerker says. “I just want to make sure it’s available to all children.” 

Do Good: 

• Become a member of CMS.

• Check out the resources offered by CMS.

• Connect with CMS on Facebook.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

Jori Cotton, who grew up in North Avondale, says she wrote poetry to express her feelings and struggles throughout high school. When she went to college at The Ohio State University, however, she took a step back from her poetry. She attended open mic nights, she says, but performing wasn’t for her. 

“I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t for me to get up there,” Cotton says. “I was just taking the art in.” 

After graduating college, Cotton returned to Cincinnati, and one of the first places she says she went was to another poetry open mic session. And in October of 2006, she finally performed. 

“I’ve just been addicted ever since,” says Cotton, who now leads Voices of Freedom—a spoken word program at Elementz. 

The non-profit Elementz, which is located downtown in OTR, provides a safe place and a creative outlet for young people who want to turn the negative influences or surroundings in their lives into positives. 

“I like to give a voice to what you may call the underdog,” Cotton says. “I like to expose the truth—things that have happened historically—I like to let people know about how to reach their higher self and to believe in themselves and take time to work through emotions. We’ve all been through things, but we have to work through them.” 

Cotton’s group of 10, which is composed of participants who are primarily between the ages of 16 and 24, meets for two hours once per week. 

“One of the things about spoken word is getting the juices flowing about our story, so we take time to talk,” Cotton says. “We talk about the disparities in education; we’ve talked about gun violence, rape victims, some of the good things and not so good things that have taken place in Cincinnati. We talk about domestic violence, just real issues—relationships, self esteem—we talk about pretty much everything.” 

Once everyone’s had time to talk, they put their words onto paper and then share their work in a judgment-free environment, which Cotton says is important to her because it allows everyone to feel empowered. It’s usually the shyest ones who end up sharing some of the most powerful ideas, she says.

“It just gives them hope that the environment they’re in right now isn’t the best, but it can get better,” Cotton says. “Spoken word helps you feel confident when you get up there and you’re sharing your pieces, and that confidence will spill over into other areas of life.”

Do Good: 

• Support Elementz by making a donation.

• Learn about the various programs offered at Elementz, and show up during a session to see if the program is the right fit for you. The first visit is free, and if you enjoy yourself, become a member. 

• If you're a teen, celebrate National Poetry Month by submitting one of your pieces to the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County's Random Acts of Poetry contest. Attend one of Jori Cotton's spoken word workshops at the library.

• Support Elementz by attending their monthly showcase, which takes place on the third Thursday of each month.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

For the past 38 years, People Working Cooperatively has worked to keep homeowners safely and securely in their homes. Now the nonprofit thinks it has come up with a business model that extends beyond its mission by reaching entire communities, as opposed to just PWC-served homeowners.

CADMUS, in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, recently released results from its 2009 study that evaluated PWC’s performance. And results revealed economic, academic and health-related benefits for a wide range of individuals. 

Energy conservation, for example, is one of PWC’s focus areas, so when the organization receives a call that a homeowner can’t afford their fuel bill, the nonprofit sends a professional who is equipped with the knowledge of energy conservation into the home to assess the situation and lead volunteers in arranging for a more ideal situation.  

The study revealed energy savings of about $248 dollars per year per client, which in turn, saves taxpayers money. 

According to Jock Pitts, PWC's president, the organization’s energy conservation efforts have reduced the amount of subsidy needed to cover low-income homeowners’ fuel bills. So everybody saves.

“Social service is a great thing—everybody would love to provide benefits to people because it’s charitable and it’s in their heart to do that,” Pitts says. “When times are tough, making an investment in someone that is both charitable but cost-effective. Finding that nexus between what’s cost-effective and also helpful to people.”  

In addition to energy conservation, PWC provides critical home repairs, in addition to accommodations that increase residents’ mobility so they can afford to stay in their homes rather than move to subsidized housing or a nursing/extended care facility. 

Study results indicated that PWC-served homes had a housing value that was 6.5 to 10.5 percent higher than similar homes that were not serviced, and homes surrounding PWC-serviced homes went up 1 to 3 percent in value. 

“If PWC doesn’t make this intervention, these homes deteriorate, and people leave the home because they’re forced to, and those are the homes that you hear about or you see in other cities, much more commonly than in Cincinnati, that are abandoned—and who pays for that?” Pitts says. “So you’ve got the homeowner off at some place with subsidized living, then you’ve got an empty cell of a home that’s bringing property values down across the neighborhood. So PWC’s intervention saves the home, gets the people to be able to stay there longer and safer, and then increases the values of the homes in the neighborhood.” 

Not only does PWC bring about economic and environmental benefits, but elderly individuals are healthier, as falls are reduced because of the installation of bathroom rails, for example. And individuals are able to get in and out of their homes to get to the doctor because of increased mobility options, Pitts says. 

Children are also doing better in schools because they do not have to move frequently from their homes, find new friends and change school districts as often. The study indicates that children in PWC-served homes did 15 percent better in reading and 17 percent better in math than children living in homes that did not receive PWC services. 

“It’s an unintended benefit, but still, isn’t it great that it occurs?” Pitts says. “We were able to pull this together and come up with a business model that is touching upon some really important issues our country doesn’t know how to handle right now, and they all benefit, so I’d love for this model to be able to spread.” 

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Poet and teacher Pauletta Hansel leads a group of 13 women toward spiritual and personal growth in her weekly Practice of Poetry class at Grailville, a retreat center that takes up more than 300 acres of farmland in Loveland. 

The women meet in a 19th-century Victorian home where they learn, write, listen and share their work with one another.
 
In one of her most recent classes, Hansel says the group of writers looked at the “events, people and places that live on in our memory in a way that we always come back to them as personal touchstones.” 

The women work together to see what they can “make come alive” in each other’s work, Hansel says. Just this past week, they had the opportunity to share their work on a larger scale through their partnership with The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for the 15th annual Poetry in the Garden Series. 

Seven of the 13 women from Practice of Poetry read their work in front of the audience of 58. Though most have read their poems in front of others before, Hansel says the event provided many of them with their first real opportunity to share in a more public way.   

“One woman read a poem that she had brought recently to craft class, and that was about a moment when both her parents were still alive, and she walked in and saw them in a very quiet, intimate moment at the kitchen table,” Hansel says. “It was about how moving that was for her to see her parents sitting quietly holding hands and taking that moment to—you know, [with] illness and their children’s worry swirling around them—to just be quiet and just be in love.” 

It’s these powerful and important life moments that Hansel’s poets and other community members have the opportunity to share during the Poetry in the Garden Series, which features contest winners in addition to local and regional poets who appreciate the art of poetry. 

“They’ve worked incredibly hard to promote and create a group of readers that is really diverse,” Hansel says. “There are some academically connected poets, but most in the group are community poets. They are people who are working in other walks of life who are using poetry as a way to communicate.”

The series also provides audience members with the chance to read their work at an open mic session that follows each set of readings. 

Hansel says participation in the Poetry in the Garden Series was incredibly meaningful to her group of poets because many of them are inspired by listening to what they hear. 

“Just coming and having the opportunity to use writing as a way to pay attention to their own inner lives and listen to themselves and be listened to by other women is the most important thing.”

Do Good: 

• Learn more about Grailville's programs, and register to participate. A new Practice of Poetry series will begin this summer with registration opportunities coming soon.

• Attend readings or share your own work at the Poetry in the Garden Series, which takes place at 7 p.m. each Tuesday in April.

• Like Grailville and The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County on Facebook to keep up with each organization's latest news and events.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has worked for nearly 20 years to bring accessible theater to its audience members. 

And though William Shakespeare’s works are almost 450 years old, CSC finds a way to make his themes relevant in the lives of about 22,000 students every year. 

“If we just sit here and say you have to come here and buy a ticket to our show, we wouldn’t be achieving our mission,” says Jeanna Vella, CSC’s director of education and communications. “We feel it’s really important to go out into the community and bring theater to them, and that really starts in the schools and creating lifelong audience members.”

The company travels up to two hours away to present Shakespeare’s works in schools throughout the Tri-State, in addition to performing discounted matinees for groups who do choose to visit the theater. 

CSC’s educational outreach extends beyond performances though, as the company hosts acting classes and summer camps as well. 

“I love telling parents when they call me when their kid’s in sixth grade, and I say, ‘Well if you’re going to do camp, I’m just warning you—you’re in it for six years now,’” Vella says. “We have a lot of kids who just fall in love and do it all through junior high and high school.” 

During classes and camp, resident company members coach participants on everything from movement to voice as students prepare to act out plays and particular scenes from the Bard’s works.   

According to Vella, the benefits stretch further than improved acting skills, as students note that their public speaking abilities improve, in addition to teambuilding skills and the ability to make friends. 

“It’s not just, 'Can you do a sonnet better?' It’s, 'Can you operate better as a speaker, as a friend and just build your confidence level?'” Vella says. 

Part of that confidence comes from finding one’s niche and connecting with people who have the same interests. Vella, who grew up in the Cincinnati area, says she can relate. 

“I went to Lakota, and I know the theater program’s so big there, so it’s sometimes hard to break in if you’re not a great talent,” she says. “It’s just nice for some of these kids to find a place where they can really participate and feel like they’re part of something.” 

The Everybody Rides Metro Foundation, which is the first program of its kind, provides affordable transportation to about 30,000 low-income individuals each year. 

Metro subsidizes rides at $1 and has partnered with about 70 different social service agencies to cover the remaining 75 cents of fares for riders in need of medical or work-related transportation. 

“Many of our riders feel like this is the only way they can try and succeed—it’s somebody giving them a lift when they need it the most,” says Joe Curry, executive director of ERM. “The greatest outcome of this is that you’re getting people toward self-sufficiency. It’s something that stays with them forever—it helps them out until they earn money and start budgeting once they have a job; and self esteem is a large part of that overall package.” 

According to Curry, many of ERM’s riders are paroled into the Talbert House and have anywhere from $0 to $20 to their name after coming out of prison. Once they’ve been rehabilitated and have participated in job counseling, they may need to interview at up to 20 different businesses before they find work. 

“Once they land a job, the worst thing that can happen is not to show up during the first week of employment, so we give them additional money, if needed, to subsidize their rides during the first few weeks,” Curry says. “It’s to help them out temporarily so they can establish a budget—it’s not a lifetime pass.” 

In addition to helping riders get to job interviews and places of employment, ERM provides rides to medical-related destinations so individuals can receive preventive care. 

“Society of St. Vincent De Paul runs a free pharmacy on Bank Street in the West End, and if you can’t afford your meds, they’ll give you a 30-day supply for free so long as it’s not a narcotic, but you have to get to the location,” Curry says. “If you’re diabetic or are undergoing cancer treatment, meds are absolutely essential, but if you can’t get to a place where you can get your meds, you may get sicker. You may be one of those people who take that $1,500 ambulance ride, and that’s one of the things we’re trying to prevent.” 

Beginning in January 2014, 40,000 more individuals in the Cincinnati area will be eligible for Medicaid, and according to Curry, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of those people will need public transportation to get to a healthcare provider or pharmacy.

“Those are the people we’re worried about," Curry says. "If public transit isn’t available to them because of the cost, how are they going to get treated? More than 30 percent of our population lives in federally defined poverty—that tells you we really need to do something and think outside the box about how to solve some of these public transit issues.”

Do Good: 

• Donate to the Everybody Rides Metro Foundation.

• Like Cincinnati Metro on Facebook. 

• Follow the Cincinnati Metro on Twitter.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Ben Eilerman says he realized his love of architecture during his adolescent years at Covington Catholic High School. 

As a professional in the field at Hub+Weber, he has the opportunity to engage in educational outreach with other students who have that same appreciation for art at the same age he did.

Hub+Weber’s latest venture, which not only engaged students in artmaking but also gave them real-world experience, involved Holmes High School’s graffiti club and visual communications class. 

Located in Covington since the firm’s founding nearly 40 years ago, Hub+Weber relocated for the first time last year. Though it maintained its roots in the area, the firm moved from its old home on Greenup Street to the city’s former train station on Pike Street. 

“Behind it are the old passenger stairs up to an elevated rail line, and that area is largely abandoned,” Eilerman says. “[It had] that kind of urban decaying aesthetic to it that we were drawn to, and we wanted to use that space and address it from our standpoint, and then also to start to make the city aware of it.” 

So Hub+Weber reached out to the Center for Great Neighborhoods, who put the firm in touch with Donny Roundtree, the visual communications teacher at Holmes. 

“We talked to him and saw that this was a great opportunity to bring his students down and do a real-life project and build it into something bigger, as far as his curriculum goes,” Eilerman says. 

So the two joined forces to provide students with the opportunity to create an eight-foot by 16-foot graffiti art mural. 

“The students explored different techniques so each of the panels read as an individual panel, and as it draws into the center, it starts to be defined more as a singular mural,” Eilerman says. “It has the background of the Covington skyline across the back, and then it has two trains coming out of the center from a tunnel with the word ‘Pike’ in the middle.” 

Eilerman says the area surrounding Pike has undergone a renaissance over the past few years, so the firm wanted to find a way to contribute by livening up the area while also reaching out to a local school district. 

The mural is currently on display inside the building, and a week ago, the students showed off their work at a gallery opening hosted by Hub+Weber. They received feedback from local designers who gave advice about what it means to “take the arts into a profession,” Eilerman says. 

This month, the mural will inhabit its permanent home—below the underpass where it will be visible from the sidewalk and street for all to see. 

“They spent about six months or so on this,” Eilerman says. “We really acted as a client—they brought the sketches and they talked about what their vision was, and we talked about what ours was, and they had to mesh that. They had to provide a proposal for their work—and I think it was a big benefit to the students.” 

Do Good: 

• Support the arts in your local school district. 

• Support Holmes High School's Nordheim Gallery.

• Like Hub+Weber on Facebook. 

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

Since 2006, the Life Learning Center in Covington has been working to help at-risk individuals find hope, own past mistakes and learn how to successfully move forward so they can achieve their goals. 

Participants who are committed to bettering their lives work through a 16-week educational program where they attend classes centered on topics from stress management to financial management. They also work one-on-one with a life coach who helps them set and define goals, and work through some of the issues that may be holding them back. 

Once participants have completed the Foundations for a Better Life and Pillars of Growth components of the program, they move on to Working for a Better Life, where they learn how to craft effective résumés, apply for employment and engage in mock interviews so they feel more prepared for future job placement.

Erich Switzer, director of awareness and fundraising at the Center, says there are many individuals who are either afraid of or discouraged by the process of job searching and that the NKYLLC helps them move past those fears. 

“I saw the need of the folks we serve—people just really struggling, and seeing HR as the enemy—almost that they’re not people or that they’re out to get them or that they come up with reasons to not hire people,” Switzer says. “So we have people from other companies—HR representatives—come in and do mock interviews with them, do an HR panel, and this is where we start breaking down some of the barriers. They’re real people, they do want to hire you, but you’ve got to be able to answer the questions, and you’ve got to have the skill sets to be employed.” 

Forty percent of the individuals the NKYLLC has served have criminal backgrounds, and one of the barriers they face is figuring out how to talk about their employment gaps. The nonprofit addresses the issue by teaching classes on effective oral communication. 

“Why people are stuck for so long is they really can’t change the way they’re communicating about what’s taken place, so when they sit down and talk to an employer—I’ve seen it when we’ve done mock interviews—it’s just a purposeless sort of rambling,” Switzer says. 

“So we help them tighten that up and move forward. You’re already in front of the employer, so they have some level of interest in potentially hiring you, so you don’t want to spend too much time on a potential negative. You want to get to the positive where you can sell yourself and talk about your skills.” 

The NKYLLC helps individuals come to understand the positive assets they have to offer through StrengthsFinders and a variety of inspirational activities. And since the nonprofit’s inception, more than 800 participants have found jobs. 

“If there’s one word that sums up the Center, it’s about providing hope for people who likely don’t have any," says Switzer. "We try to start building them back up with positive affirmations rather than the stuff they’ve been listening to.” 

Do Good: 

• Donate to the Life Learning Center. 

• Volunteer if you are an individual who would like to help lead classes or if you are a business who would be interested in participating in mock interviews or panels. 

• Like the Life Learning Center's Facebook page and share the page with your friends, especially if you know of someone who could benefit from the center's services. 

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

Entertaining audiences and making children laugh is not the only goal of Madcap Puppets. It aims to educate, share cultural experiences from around the world and engage children in artmaking while fostering growth and an appreciation of the various genres of art that merge together through puppeteering.  

The primary ways troupes interact with children are through their performances of “fractured fairytales,” which reach audiences in about 500 elementary schools per year, says John Lewandowski, Madcap’s artistic executive director. 

“It connects well to literature, the study of geography and regions and countries because they do come from all over the world,” Lewandowski says. “This is something that we have as a human culture. We have this fairy tale interest in our literature, and that’s in every culture—just like puppets. It's in every culture, in every country.” 

One piece the troupe performs extends beyond the reach of elementary schools. It takes the stage across the country as puppeteers pair up with symphony orchestras to present “The Firebird,” which tells the story of a magical bird that brings both good and evil to its captor. The story is based on a Russian fairy tale.

“We perform it during youth concerts that have been organized to try and develop younger audiences,” Lewandowski says. “This is a major problem with large orchestras—that their audiences are 75 and 80 [years old] and getting smaller and smaller—and they use us to try to pull in family audiences.”

According to Lewandowski, it’s vital that children are exposed to and have the opportunity to engage with musical, visual and performing arts because the benefits to other areas of their development as a result of doing so are too great to be ignored. 

“It builds those key elements in their growth and formation, self-confidence, teamwork, the ability to express themselves and to think in a divergent, problem solving way,” Lewandowski says. “These are all essential elements in growing up, and these are what the arts bring.” 

Do Good: 

• Book a show.

• Contact Madcap Puppets to volunteer and help the organization set up its new facility in Westwood.

• Donate to Madcap and help the organization in its efforts to build an education center and 200-seat theater in its new facility.

By Brittany York 

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia. 

When it comes to preparing students to become future leaders and contributors to society, schools have a huge responsibility. And while their work is often recognized from within, it’s not often enough that it's honored on a community-wide basis.
 
The Northern Kentucky Education Council and the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce seek to remedy that, however, with their 2013 Excellence in Education Celebration—though it’s not just the work of students and educators that they plan to recognize.
 
“We started thinking about the awards dinner and others in the community who are also driving action in the excellence in education besides our educators, and realizing it goes beyond the scope of the school day,” says Polly Page, NKYEC’s executive director. “It’s the responsibility of our entire community to make this happen for our children.”
 
According to Page, students, teachers, administrators, school board members, mentors and businesses within the community all play a role in the education of younger generations, and it’s important to come together to let those individuals and organizations know that their work does not go unnoticed.
 
Students will be recognized in various categories for academic performance and leadership skills. And this year, there’s a new award that recognizes one’s ability to overcome obstacles and succeed in school, despite barriers that may have occurred along the way.
 
“Those stories were really very heartwarming, and folks don’t really think about Northern Kentucky having students with a lot of trials and tribulations,” Page says. “But these were really pretty poignant about what the students have experienced in their lifetimes.”
 
With educators, businesses and community members, it’s all about what they’re doing “to go beyond the requirements” at their positions, Page says.
 
“There are many companies in Northern Kentucky that have a solid partnership and are really thinking about ways they can make a difference in the classroom,” says Page. “Employees are working in the classroom and teaching side by side with instructors and working with students.” 
 
Kentucky was ranked 10th in the nation in Quality Counts this year, which Page says is huge because the state was more than 30 positions behind that ranking in past years. But it’s all about moving forward and making sure “students and young adults are prepared for college.”
 
“We want to take it up and meet national standards,” Page says. “It’s a time for everybody to just hit the pause button and take some time to celebrate what’s going on in our community—who is driving action?” 

Do Good: 

• Register to attend the 2013 Excellence in Education Celebration, which takes place March 28.

• Volunteer as a mentor or literacy coach in the One to One program.

• Encourage your business to partner with its local school district in the B.E.S.T (Business Education Success Teams) program.

By Brittany York

Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.