Take a moment to think of the place you call home–your community. What do you love about your community? What do you wish you could change about your community? What is the one issue that has weighed on your mind for years–the one challenge you’ve always wanted to address in your community? Have you been waiting for an opportunity to bring your community together and tackle this issue once and for all? Start here.

This issue guide provides a brief overview on the importance of early childhood development, outlining three approaches to investing in infants and toddlers in Alabama. “Research tells us that the structure of babies’ brains is built in the first three years. Differences in early childhood experiences contribute greatly to the growing gaps in children’s learning and achievement.”

This issue guide provides a brief overview of the bullying issue and outlines three approaches to addressing the issue. Although bullying is often thought of as only a school-related problem, in reality it affects us all. Bullies can be students, parents, teachers, administrators, work colleagues, or others in the community. Today, most states have legislation requiring schools to address bullying, yet it remains prevalent in our schools, workplaces, and communities.

This issue guide provides a brief overview of the dropout issue and outlines three approaches to addressing this public issue. Every 26 seconds a student drops out of school. The dropout crisis is one of the greatest threats to the United States. The students that leave our education systems without a diploma create an economic, social and generational crisis for the entire nation. Every state and its students are impacted by dropouts, who create deficits in the educational wealth and financial stability of the population.