If you haven't heard it yet, tune it to Lindsey Smiths's series on how kids are faring in Muskegon Heights. Muskegon Heights is the first place in the state to turn all its public schools over to a charter company, Mosaica Education.

The answer? Preschool.

What I'm about to tell you is a business story; a business story about adorable four year olds. 

We've talked a lot about the early childhood development on this blog and in our stories, with a special emphasis on the importance of preschool for kids at-risk of school failure. Michigan ranks 24th in terms of how many of its four-year olds attend preschool. We're behind states like Georgia, Louisiana and Arkanasas. But that could start to change thanks, in part, to help from an unlikely group.

Thank you for engaging with State of Opportunity this year. We're taking a break to be with our families and hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday season.

Check out all of the amazing things we've learned this past year and the amazing people we've learned from.

See you soon.

-The State of Opportunity team

State of Opportunity started broadcasting this July, so we only have half a year of reporting under our belts.  But we’re going to use the end of the year as a chance to take a look back and try to create a vision for the next year nonetheless.

When we stared this project the idea was that there are some issues we’re just not talking about as a state; and they are poverty, children and how the deck may be stacked for or against a kid from the instant they begin to grow in their mothers bellies. These things will make or break Michigan’s collective future.  But we don’t talk about it because it can be challenging, or sad, or just awkward.

We have reported stories this year that do have some of those moments, but we’ve also reported your stories, told you things you might not have known, and connected you with people and places you knew little about.

If you haven’t yet traveled this road with us it’s o.k., jump right on board now.

Over our three years we’ll journey with kids from before they are born until they become adults.  But right now we’re focused on moms, babies, and preschoolers.

Here’s where our reporting has taken us so far:

• We’ve learned a ton about kids’ brains and how early matters big. Just how big? Jennifer Guerra reported differences in kids brains caused by a lack of opportunity can start showing up as early as 18 months-old ,and can impact success for a lifetime. And there are four more just as stunning truths where that came from.
• A supported pregnancy can really boost the odds for even the most at-risk kids and their parents.
• If we don’t take risks to maternal and infant health seriously the consequences are dire. Michigan’s infant mortality rate, meaning the number of children who die before they can reach age one, is shockingly high. Jen Guerra brought some of these stories to light in a way that was fascinating, touching, and troubling.
  

I met up with a group of military wives at an empty VFW post in Lansing. Kimberly Sucheck is a charismatic brassy blond former cop called "Madea" by her teenager after the outsize Tyler Perry character.

Sucheck is a military wife. Her husband has been in the Army National Guard for well over a decade. She brought four other women with husbands in the military together so I could ask them about what it's like to raise kids when your life is entwined with the military.

Each of their husbands have at least two deployments under their belts. Some of their husbands are getting ready for another deployment to Afghanistan, including Kerri Gallagher. She has four children who have been through deployments before, but she said it’s still hard and confusing.

This week our Michigan Radio colleague Kyle Norris will be starting a series on homelessness.  So, when I came across this post on the stellar Sociological Images blog I thought it was worth a mention.

It explores a study that finds our brains, not just our emotions, react to the homeless with "disgust." This happens in part because we see them as very different from ourselves. Then, with the help of our brains we build up our tolerance for seeing suffering among these people. We rarely feel empathy for them.

I'll be exploring issues of empathy and children in a few weeks with the help of one of our storytelling sources. This study  is an an interesting introduction.

I know you don't want to read this any more than I want to write it.

The point of State of Opportunity is to talk about how we can improve life for our most vulnerable children.  We talk about education, we talk about health, we talk about public policy. We have not yet talked much about violence. I wish we didn't have to. 

What happened in Newtown is incomprehensible. We are left only with grief. 

And yet we know that what happened in Newtown is not rare. Mass shootings, we hear about all the time. Children victimized by violence, we try not to think about. 

But the sad reality is children are murdered every day in America. Consider these statistics, compiled from reports by the CDC and the Congressional Research Service: 

Things are moving at lightening speed over in Lansing. I'm no lame duck expert, but this has got to be one of the busiest lame duck legislatures we've seen in a long time.

Sure, sure, we all know about the Right to Work bill, which Governor Rick Snyder just signed into law. But what else is happening in Lansing? Michigan Radio's Kate Wells has this handy dandy list of bills that are moving through the legislature as we speak.