In Lakota Nation, people are asking: Who does a language belong to?

The United States has rising childhood obesity and schools deal with kids who are picky. Through innovative school gardens and kid taste testing food, entrepreneurs across the nation are getting children to eat vegetables at school and love it.

Often social programs at schools fail because they are not implemented fully or over a long enough period. One school in Philadelphia attributes their success in decreasing violence to having a long-term principal, a stable teaching force, and formal training in anti-violence programs.

A nonprofit organization, the Internationals Network for Public Schools, delivers a first-class education to the children of illegal immigrants, helping to break the cycle of poverty and provide them a path to advance in life.

Students in a small town in Michigan are outperforming their peers statewide. Over half of the students are American Indian and many come from low-income families. Because the town's reservation can't be taxed, the school receives additional federal funding. And teachers have put it to good use - by hiring more staff, decreasing class sizes, and frequently evaluating students' progress. One fourth grader offered her own theory: "Well, everyone's accepted here for who they are, no matter if they're Irish, Native, African American or just French."

Journalist Marcella Bombardieri calls community college "one of America's largest and most important anti-poverty programs." The president of Amarillo College in Texas is testing just how far community colleges can go to fight systemic issues - day care, social workers, and emergency funds for students' daily expenses are part of his plan. Other administrators are looking on at the dramatic experiment with mixed views and takeaways.

Across New Hampshire, youth are leading the fight against substance abuse. Programs like Dover’s Youth-to-Youth, Stand Up Sachems, Youth Leadership Through Adventure, and the Making it Happen Coalition, are all youth-led, adult-supported initiatives that are empowering young adults to create and disseminate substance abuse awareness and prevention campaigns. Fundamental to each of these efforts effective communication and creating a sense of community as key to prevention.

In a rapidly gentrifying Mexico City neighborhood, two artists refurbished an icon and set up an altar for Santa Mari La Juaricua, a saint to protect residents from eviction. The saint raises awareness and acts as a reminder about housing issues and the icon has been taken up by the residents and has been used in processions and protests.

New Kituwah Academy Elementary provides immersive language education for members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, helping to keep the band’s language and culture alive. Students speak exclusively in Cherokee until third grade and then use both English and Cherokee throughout the school day to build proficiency in both languages.

Flare Initiative provides literacy education for students enrolled in Islamic schools, with lessons on the English alphabet, proper sentence construction, and effective communication skills offered in the evenings to avoid disrupting students’ Qur’anic studies. Participants say the program has given them newfound confidence to pursue future careers that require English language proficiency.

Nebraska’s Journey to Inclusion program focused on providing educators with training and resources to help schools keep more students with disabilities in general classrooms rather than separating them in specialized classrooms. Since implementing changes, the state has seen proficiency rates and graduation rates rise among students with disabilities.