A President's Recipe for Success: Prioritizing Education

The theme for this year's Kidspeak was chosen in acknowledgement and support of President Obama's priority for education as he chose to release his fiscal year 2012 budget on February 14, 2011 at Parkville Middle School and Center for Technology, a large urban middle school in Baltimore, MD. 

Despite the dangerous road conditions and heavy snowfall on February 21, 2011, approximately 12 youth from the Skillman Foundation's Good Neighborhoods within the city of Detroit and other targeted areas supported by the Comunity Foundation of Southeast Michigan, spent a day at Detroit City Hall educating local and state policymakers and other community leaders as to how they can work together to improve educational outcomes for young people who reside in and around the city of Detroit.  Educational barriers identified by the young people included access to transportation to get to school, the need for additional  schools designed to serve teen parents, free or low cost credit recovery programs, access to school counseling programs, teacher quality and student-teacher relationships.

Michigan's Children proudly presented this event in partnership with the University of Michigan School of Social Work's Youth and Community Program, the Detroit Parent Network, the Skillman Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.

View Jack Kresnak's Children First Story

View coverageof the event by Our Life in the D

View photos from the event