Youth Opportunity | United Way of Greater Lorain County

In the city of Oberlin, community and educational organizations came together in order to develop solutions to ensure that our children are entering kindergarten prepared and ready to learn. From this collaboration came OberlinKids, designed to impact children in this critical time of development. The collaborative looks to identify each child’s and family’s needs and put them on a track to be prepared for kindergarten.

We support the parents and families of children ages 0-5 and give them the resources necessary to support their child’s development. The goal is to give each child birth to kindergarten who live in Oberlin the opportunity to be successful in school and in life, to support our children and families, and make our community stronger.

Rising Titans is made up of 21 partners and 4 advocates whose mission aligns with improving the health and education of Lorain’s littlest learners. Together we collaborate, using Rising Titans as one platform, to meet the needs of Lorain’s early childhood education to support families with children ages 0-5. The ultimate goal is to have every Lorain child prepared for Kindergarten from birth while strengthening the whole family and community.

The Collaborative forms initiatives from our four pillars – Empowering Families, Engaging Families, Healthy Beginnings and Aligning Systems. We work together to create data measures under each one of the pillars, which drives the work around our Kindergarten Readiness mission.

Research has shown that children ready to learn in kindergarten are more successful throughout their schooling and after high-school graduation. But what does it mean to be “kindergarten ready?” And how can families and the community ensure children have access to early childhood programs that will prepare them kindergarten?

That is where Ready Set Go… to Kindergarten (RSG) comes in. RSG is a community collaboration of early childhood education providers, community resource agencies and the Elyria City School District working hard to ensure all of Elyria’s children have access to quality early education programs.

231 Go! exists to create the community framework, alignment and strategy that helps the Lorain community to ensure that all intermediate and middle-school students (5th – 8th grades) that reside in the 231 Census Tract and surrounding neighborhoods are provided the developmental assets to achieve a positive self-concept, increase levels of social responsibility and improve academic outcomes in a manner that will measurably improve the odds that all youth will be academically successful, ready for work, college and life.

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS:

El Centro
Lorain City Schools
Raise Up
Lorain County Community College
Lorain County Public Health
MHARS Board of Lorain County

The goal of Southside Pride is to ensure all intermediate and middle school students (5th-8th grade) in South Elyria improve health knowledge, develop communication and life skills and avoid specific risky behaviors (such as smoking, drinking, and violence) leading to safe schools and positive social environments improving both educational and social outcomes.