A Message from the Executive Director

Those of you who have supported Kids on Campus for the past twelve years have demonstrated your commitment to improving the lives of our underserved and at-risk children and families in Athens County. A recent article in the Columbus Dispatch reported that more and more children in rural Ohio are growing up poor. We see these children in our summer and afterschool programs, and while I would like to report that the need for our services is decreasing, in fact the opposite is true.

The good news is that Kids on Campus continued to expand its programming to serve more than 700 children last year – about 400 in our afterschool programs and 325 in our summer program. During the 2006-2007 academic year, KoC partnered with the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services and the Athens City School District to secure funding that enabled us to serve an additional 40 children at our afterschool programs at West and Chauncey elementaries. This funding allowed children attending the other three district elementaries to be bused from their local school to an existing afterschool site. While having a site at each school would be ideal, families who previously had no access to afterschool services appreciated the option.

As you will read throughout this report, Kids on Campus played a significant role in improving children’s academic performance, but the program provided other benefits, too. Every afternoon, the children in the afterschool programs had a nutritious snack, and during the summer they received a healthy breakfast, lunch and snack. There were daily opportunities for recreation/physical activities, as well. As we hear almost daily, childhood obesity is a serious childhood issue, and with public schools reducing physical education programs, the opportunities provided by KoC are important.

Providing children with enriching opportunities that they would not likely experience otherwise was another benefit many participants appreciated. This year, the children had the opportunity to spend a day at the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, visit water parks, roller skate, visit Hocking College, enjoy a movie (with popcorn and a drink), watch performances by hip hop dancers and a world champion jump rope team, and welcome visitors from the Columbus Zoo.

I wish each of you had the opportunity to visit the program to see firsthand the difference Kids on Campus makes in the lives of our area’s children. This is possible only because of the support from you and our other donors, partners and friends. Although poverty rates for children are increasing in rural Ohio, through the work of a dedicated staff and those of you who believe in the Kids on Campus mission, we continue to help prepare children who are most at risk for success in school and in life.

Leslie Moss,

Executive Director