About TRUE

Reversing the Slide

Saginaw County is a great place. A place full of history and opportunity. A place of diversity and change. And a place filled with America’s greatest hope for a bright future: the children of our communities.

But Saginaw also faces the challenges that confront many places nowadays. It faces the challenges of violence, poverty, and apathy. And facing them requires courage and cooperation. It requires people who care enough to stand up and “reverse the slide” . . . before it’s too late.

We humbly believe that we have part of the answer—part of what is needed to reverse the slide of our communities. Through reaching our youngest citizens, teaching them about good character, and helping them to live virtuous lives, we believe that our initiative—the TRUE. Initiative—can make a difference.

Taking the Initiative

The TRUE Initiative is a partnership between the Saginaw Intermediate School District, Saginaw Valley State University, Creating Character—a local, for-teachers-by-teachers curriculum developer—and a host of other local educators, schools, and community service organizations.

In July of 2006, the TRUE Initiative met with federal support and endorsement when it was selected as a Partnerships in Character Education Grant winner. This four-year, million-dollar-plus award will enable the TRUE Initiative to succeed at its vision to:

Teach children about good character and

Reinforce that teaching in various ways so children will

Understand the importance of good character and

Engage their lives in the best way possible

Meeting the Goals

Since the Initiative's start in 2006, Creating Character's Peddlesfoots curriculum has been distributed to service organizations such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, Women of Color, Saginaw's Rescue Mission, and more. This character education curriculum for early childhood is research-based, pilot-proven, and is provided at zero-cost to Initiative participants, with training and SVSU-led evaluation to facilitate proper implementation and success.

In 2008-2009, the Peddlesfoots first grade curriculum was utilized in dozens of Saginaw County schools, with parents of the hundreds of students involved entitled to free curriculum for use at-home. This year, 2009-2010, even more families will be impacted, as over fifty local preschool classrooms will participate in the Initiative.

To be successful in school and in life, children need to demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving skills, as well as good character and ethical reasoning. To this end, TRUE has also championed innovative pedagogical practices from Harvard's Project Zero Classroom to help reach its goal of building ethical and academic intelligence. As the project continues, the Initiative will further integrate with Saginaw ISD's vision for a "birth to college education/workforce preparation" system.