Workers in an Indiana factory are helping children and families, through an informal, employee-led organization started 16 years ago by the factory nurse. Leanna Skarnulis describes their efforts.

At one of the largest high schools in Indiana, a school superintendent has issued a direct challenge to black male students: Make academic achievement a priority, and start closing the achievement gap. Kathleen Schuckel reports on how students and the community have responded.

PlayJourneys promotes growth and healing for children, adults and families by providing excellence in play therapy and mental health services in a child- and adult-friendly environment. PlayJourneys is dedicated to promoting growth and excellence in the field of play therapy by providing educational workshops and supervision in play therapy.

The Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) is a leading source of information and tools for nonprofit Indiana youth organizations. We also reach educators, policymakers, government officials, and others who can impact the lives of Hoosier children and promote healthy youth development in Indiana communities.

IYI's programs and services are organized into three areas: useful information, practical tools, and the promotion of positive youth development.

Based on the averaged freshman graduation rate, a new measure the U.S. Dept. of Education is using to assess more accurately and comprehensively how many students are graduating from high school, 11 states drastically overestimate the number of students who graduate from their high schools. The biggest offenders include North Carolina, New Mexico, Mississippi, Indiana and South Dakota, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education summary. New Jersey, North Dakota and Wisconsin graduated the highest percentages of their high school students on time, while Washington, DC, South Carolina and Georgia had the lowest graduation rates.

Overall, Indiana has had a dramatic increase in the number of people in poverty during the past few years. Kids have been particularly hard-hit: poverty rate for children in Indiana jumped sharply from 10.5 percent in 2002 to 18.5 percent in 2004, greater than the national average of 17.8 percent. And the number of families struggling to pay for basic needs like as food, housing and child care is even higher than the poverty rate indicates. The Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues and the Indiana Institute for Working Families have issued a new report on jobs, wages, incomes, and poverty in the state—with information that advocates and concerned adults in other states may find useful.

A survey of detention directors and community mental health providers found a wide disparity in their perspectives on whether and what mental health services were being provided to youth with mental health problems detained in Indiana detention facilities.

Over the past two years, many states tried to balance their budgets by increasing sales and excise taxes, which disproportionately burden low-income working families. At the same time, advocates struggled to improve state Earned Income Tax Credit policies to give these families tax relief. 2005 may offer opportunities to create effective state EITCs, according to this State EITC study. The report summarizes advocacy efforts in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island and Utah, and offers strategies for all states.