The Achievement Network is a nonprofit organization formed in 2005 that addresses two key needs expressed by educators: more support for developing instructional plans aligned to standards and a better understanding of why students struggle with specific material. ANet recently formed a Michigan Network, comprised of 15 Detroit schools, to provide coaching and tools to help educators overcome these challenges. 

Allen Neighborhood Center’s Youth Service Corps is a job and life skills training program engaging 20-30 youth, ages 11-17, with healthy food availability projects in neighborhoods on the eastside of Lansing. Youth build and install garden boxes for neighbors, plant and maintain a community garden, and make and sell healthy snacks at a local park. 

For over two decades, the Literacy Center of West Michigan has been dedicated into improving reading skills and helping those learning English as a second language. Their work positively impacts schools, families and the community by expanding opportunities and increasing the quality of life by those they serve. 

The Alternatives For Girls' Shelter & Transition to Independent Living Program goes far beyond a meal and a roof for homeless girls and young women in metro Detroit. In a caring and nurturing setting, the program offers counseling and educational services to help reunite girls with family or to ready them for self-reliance. 

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Regional Alliance is dedicated to creating a better system of care for disconnected youth in southeast Michigan. Made up of four agencies -- Alternative for Girls, Common Ground, Ruth Ellis Center, and Starfish Family Services -- the alliance wants to share data, improve outcomes for homeless youth, and increase public awareness about youth homelessness and the challenges faced by disconnected youth. 

Preventative health measures around asthma and other illnesses can’t happen without solid research into what works and what doesn’t. The Air Filter and Air Conditioner Intervention Study in Detroit is searching for ways to improve children’s asthma experiences and respiratory health by keeping indoor air cleaner. This study is a project of Community Action Against Asthma and Detroit Community Academic Urban Research Center, a community-based research partnership conducting research and interventions to promote health equity in the city.

Family Support Partners is an Advocacy for Kids’ initiative developed to empower Kalamazoo County families who are raising children facing mood, behavioral, or emotional issues. The program’s participants form solid bonds with their unique peer mentors, because every Family Support Partner has a child with the same issues.  

Honoring Our Youth (HOY) is a program of Steepletown Neighborhood Services that helps out-of-school Grand Rapids youth, ages 14-21, conquer employment and education obstacles. Often labeled as “dropouts” or “nobodies” by others, the youth are provided GED, employment, and mentoring services at HOY to get back on track and restore their belief in their own potential.