With another school year now in the rearview mirror, it's a good time to take stock of the last year in Fort Wayne Community Schools, a report card of sorts, especially considering this recently published Indiana Youth Institute's 2026 Kids Count Data Book, a trusted database resource of child well-being across Indiana.

And who better to navigate the macro issues facing our school children than Fort Wayne?

Educator and superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools doctor Mark Daniel.

Mark, welcome to the 2608 it.

Thank you.

You know, there's probably nothing more critical and more you know, more that we invest in more than the well-being of our kids and our schools as a society, as a community, as a culture.

How would you how how would you rate the last year for Fort Wayne Community Schools?

Let's let's start with the big successes.

Where would you like to start with?

So this is the third year that we've had what we call students who are peacemakers.

That program continues to be embedded, started at Southside High School.

That's an incredible program.

Great program is now spread to the other four high schools we're looking at.

Also, how can we move it into middle schools?

But again, if we didn't have the safer referendum, we wouldn't have the dollars to do this.

But back to your point.

Dollars well spent.

Here's why.

As I look at the study you study, it is talking about what's happening in this region specifically, what about the mental health issues across our community?

I want to talk about that too.

Yeah, across our community.

Well, I think we've done tremendous work in that area.

Yes.

The peacemakers, which your your students are leading students in self-regulation, but also spreading the wonderful advice and the I'll just say the the attributes of Martin Luther King Jr, the six viable, nonviolent.

And for our viewers who may not be familiar with the peace keepers, it is a it is a program within the schools that you pioneered.

Right.

You piloted to reduce conflict and anger and aggression within the school population.

Which if I look in Fort Wayne as self, anything we can reduce again, violence, acts of aggression.

If we can start within our own community, i.e.

our school, how do we spread that into the community?

That's that's been amazing.

Now, if I look at the study, they're saying mental health continues to increase mental health needs.

So let's talk a little bit about that.

So with that we've also added again because of a federal grant, we have licensed therapists and every one of our schools elementary through high school.

Plus we have licensed therapists that are interning as they're trying to get their next degree or certification.

Now that is also been highly successful in my opinion.

We've seen a reduction of negative behavior, but we're always concerned.

You know, we're really a microcosm of your community.

The community.

Yes.

And as such, if you want to address mental health, then address it in your schools.

If you want to address violence, address it in your schools.

That then spreads to the greater community.

That's our thinking.

That's our theory.

And I'm seeing that happen.

So I'm very, very pleased.

You know, it's interesting, I think that, you know, many viewers might might, you know, hearken back to when they were in school or, you know, when they were parents of school age children and, and say, I don't remember mental health being such a, such a big, you know, component of what I was thinking about or dealing with is that, is that a more is that a recent phenomenon?

Is it always been there?

We just have new words for it.

I would say it's always been there, but it's somewhat been under the radar.

Those students would tend to leave exit.

Now, if I just look in Fort Wayne Community Schools, we're trying to address the problem, bring it to the surface and let's address it.

We know, too, though, that mental health professionals, we always were on a we're on a continuously downward trend of availability.

And that's part of that report.

How do we how do we move that up.

How do we have more health mental health professionals?

Again, I think we're part of the solution by providing this opportunity for mental health providers, licensed mental health providers.

But we never had that.

I'm a graduate of Northside 1979.

That didn't exist in that time.

Period, didn't exist.

But also, people don't realize the graduation rates of high schools at that time were in the upper 70s.

Now we expect upper 80s 90s.

Why?

Because kids could exit, drop out, get a job, probably at International Harvester or some manufacturing place, and they can make a livable wage that doesn't exist today.

What other successes have you seen?

So I think.

What are you proud of?

As I look at what we've done with what we call schools of success, powered by a 3D.

There have been tremendous gains in that, in the fact that we have more and more businesses and organizations such as yourself, universities, other non-profits, but also corporations that have come into our buildings.

This is primarily this is high school, but they've mentored our students, they've coached our students, and we're seeing that materialize.

The return on that investment, especially North Side's, been the pilot.

They went wall to wall four years ago.

They're seniors graduating today.

I was just at a breakfast for J.R 3D.

It's called inspired to hired.

Hearing the hearing our students speak.

There are other there another level of preparedness.

So very very proud of that.

And I would like to say it's because we've been very intentional.

We're intentional because we know that we have to prepare them.

We call it the Monday after high school, but we do that through experiences.

What are some of the challenges that you're still facing that you wish you could get a handle on?

So poverty is a challenge specifically in Fort Wayne community schools.

If I look at getting at the report, it shows that we're continuing to have a divide between, I'll just say, those of the upper economic level versus the lower socioeconomic level.

There are different problems associated with that.

Yeah.

Talk about how poverty comes into play during the school day.

So the schools.

If I look at poverty going back to the 3D phenomenon and what we're doing with schools of success, poverty, students don't have the resources to have internships.

Resources like what?

Well, how do I have a car?

How am I going to get to that particular business organization to have that internship experience?

So we've had to bring businesses inside our school.

We've actually encouraged it.

And so now we have 50 plus businesses that come in and six case challenges freshmen and sophomores.

But there's a challenge.

So the challenge is how do you work around that barrier.

And we found a solution.

I'm very, very proud of that.

But that continues to be a barrier.

Also as far as what about nutrition?

What about there?

Right.

Food insecurity.

Insecurity continues to be something that.

Is very real to our kids.

Yeah.

And I'm I'm very, you know, again, always I'm pretty much an optimist.

I'm very pleased that the community has said, hey, how do we increase blessings in the backpack?

Let's continue that, not just during the school year, but let's also take that during the summer.

But that is a very, very real thing.

So when you do have a little one or a student who comes to school every day and yes, they need that breakfast that we're offering, they need that lunch and we're we offer that, we provide that.

I would like to have it more nutritious, less processed food, and we're working on that.

But that that is a to me that's an issue.

We have.

The schools find themselves.

And you know, you have a long career in education.

Do schools find themselves now being more of a hub, you know, than just the the three Rs.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We really are providing services that the whole community has provided at one time because we've just gone through nutrition.

We can talk about health, we can talk about mental health.

You know, the report talked about something called the vulnerability index.

What is that exactly?

Well, what I see the vulnerability index being is a combination of several things.

When a student is vulnerable they don't have those resources.

So what does that lead to.

Well if you break down some of the mental health issues okay.

That's depression.

Is that depression more than two weeks.

How are you going to deal with that child.

Well we have the resources, thank goodness, because of federal grants.

But in couple of years that expire.

So we are that's a barrier.

Yeah.

But you also look at vulnerability in regards to what's also happening in regards to their nutrition.

Again, the food availability of food.

Absolutely.

That makes them vulnerable.

And I'm very concerned about that as well.

But again, what we've discovered is this we cannot do it solely by ourselves.

There's no public institution educational institution that can do it by themselves.

It's going to take truly opening our doors and allowing people to embrace us.

So again, more and more community partnerships.

That to me has been a shift for us.

We're no longer well, that's the high school very much, if you will, an isolated tower or a if a silo.

We've had to break down that thinking.

We need more and more volunteers in our buildings every day to help be models, mentors to also in regards even down to the second and third grade level, how do we help kids truly, truly reach the reading level?

Third grade reading level, which you know is pivotal.

And again, back to vulnerability.

If they're not reading by third grade, by the end of third grade, they are going to be very vulnerable in regards to success.

In the future.

They will not reach a level of economic independence.

We just finished a school year.

What are your teachers telling you?

It's hard work.

It is really, really hard work.

Our teachers, that's why we need more and more volunteers in our buildings, because our teachers can't do it by themselves.

They've been doing that and I'll give them all the praise in the world.

But it is hard work.

It's tiring work.

And quite frankly, sometimes, you know, do we have teacher efficacy?

Do they really believe they're making a difference?

I think we're moving in that direction as well.

Very proud of that.

Especially when you take a school like Lavon Scott, which I'm going to give you a stat that I use quite often right now, because we had roughly 50% of our African-American students passing.

I read that's that third grade I read test.

We had roughly 82% of our white students.

That's a huge gap today.

That was about four years.

Today, that gap is gone.

Our African-American students are now about 81%.

Our white students are about 89%.

That's gone from a 30% gap down to 8%.

That's phenomenal growth.

But if you would have asked our teachers four years ago, was that really was that going to happen?

Was that truly reality could be really move that needle?

I think our teachers are believing more and more that they are making a difference.

That's a morale booster.

At the same time, it is very hard work.

It's tiring.

And, you know, I wish we could pay them what they they should be paid.

You know, the the public has a vision of school.

I think it's cemented, you know, at a time when, when they went to school and it's, it's what has changed about education so much.

So absolutely everyone's been in a everyone's had a school experience.

Yes.

So we all come through that because of that experience.

We do have some oh well I have these expectations.

This is just what they would do that this and what have you.

It is much more complex than what we can possibly imagine.

So the layperson may see, well, if they would do this, that would be so simple.

Not as simple.

First of all, we're being asked to do so much more going back to the graduation rate and the graduation rate in the 70s compared to the expectation, as we need 95%, the expectation is you're going to have students ready for college.

That wasn't the case.

Right now it is the case, and we need to rise to that expectation.

But first of all, we need to believe that our students can do that.

And I think we're moving in that direction.

There's a big difference.

Also, our whole high school diploma has shifted in the state of Indiana.

I think we are probably leading the country in this in this trend, i.e.

you need students who have pathways in their background, pathways, meaning, hey, you're a human, you're very interested in health services.

Well, what does that mean?

Oh, we want you to have Project lead the way.

BioMed, we want you to take this.

We call it our principles class.

And then a concentrator a concentrator B you need that because you need it for graduation.

And it's like whoa.

We have really focused.

Yeah.

Now is that right or is that wrong?

We can have that discussion.

But I'll say intentionality is going to create, hopefully a student more prepared for the Monday after graduation versus, you know, sort of a laissez faire type attitude.

All right.

You must come back because there's so much to talk about.

Final question what would you like people to understand about today's student?

All right.

What I like to think about they are assets.

They are assets.

They're going to be the next workforce.

And as such, we want to make them the the best, well-rounded student as possible.

But we also have to make them ready for the money after graduation.

We need our community to help us do that.

All right.

We're all in.

Thank you.

All right.

Doctor, Mark Daniel is a Fort Wayne educator and the superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools.

Thank you so much for your time back.

All right.

Appreciate you.

Our next guest has one of the most.

Remarkable personal and professional.

Transformation stories in Fort Wayne.

After battling addiction and serving time in prison, she rebuilt her life and dedicated herself to helping others do the same.

Today, her nonprofit Project Me operates a recovery drop in center, leads street outreach efforts across Allen County, distributes life saving overdose prevention resources, and helps hundreds of people navigate recovery, housing, employment, and mental health challenges.

Let's welcome Project Me Founder and Executive Director, Asha Dis to the two six.

Oh.

Welcome.

Thank you so much for having me.

So glad to be here.

Thank you.

Take us back to when you were struggling with with addiction.

What was your life like?

It was just a constant battle.

I would say I would just liken it to being in survival mode, or just trying to do the best that I could each and every day, but without any of the coping skills or like tools that, you know, a person that has, like healthy mental health and kind of positive well-being has.

So I had my children when I was very young, and so I was a single mother for, you know, quite a long time, eight, 8 to 10 years.

And I would say during almost that entire time I was also struggling with substances.

And I think for me, I had struggled with some childhood trauma.

And so when substances were introduced in my life that that was or felt like a relief, you know.

So if you don't have like the healthy coping skills or know what that looks like, you just turn to the things that you know and substances or something that I feel helped me, you know, helped me in a way through.

Unlike many others, though, you faced the prison time.

Did your recovery happen in prison?

So I wouldn't say in prison.

I think me getting sentenced to prison was the catalyst.

I didn't or wasn't able to engage in any programing in prison because I only had about ten months left to serve.

And typically you have to have about 18 months or so in order to get into any classes or courses.

But I did use that time to set some goals and really think about what I wanted my life to look like, because being in prison was obviously not something that I wanted, or anything that I had ever anticipated was going to go on in my life.

And I lost my children when that happened.

While I was gone.

My father passed away, and ten months after I got home, my mother passed away.

And those things do something to you also, and just a reminder of how short life is.

And just all of those things combined really made me reflect on my life and figure out what I needed to do so that I never ended up back there again.

And what a transformation you made.

How did Project Me come about?

So Project Me came about, I would say, from a lot of different things.

So my recovery is very much self-guided.

And all I mean by that is when I got home from prison, you know, and I guess to take you back to when I was just as involved or involved in the system, I had been involved in the criminal legal system for 12 years without pause.

And very often when you're involved in the court system, they mandate you to do, you know, 12 step meetings, things like that.

So when I was choosing recovery, like my own recovery, when I was thinking through that, that wasn't something that felt necessarily like safe or a good fit for me, although I know it benefits a lot of people still today.

So I did things like go to therapy.

Learning has always been really empowering to me.

So I enrolled in college about three months, maybe not even three months after I got home and was taking classes, you know, and that expanded my positive peer network.

Learning is empowering.

But at some point you you went from your personal recovery to trying to help others.

Yeah, yeah.

So where did that jump come?

So that jump came from I was just kind of sharing my story on social media and gained not like a following like influencers today, but there were just people watching.

And so I would say when I got my first social services job, I noticed a turn where I was able to get that job having shared my history, which is something that people say, you know, if you have felonies, you're not going to be able to get a job.

And I was able to do that.

So I became aware that I guess I could be a positive influence or show people that through recovery, some things that are possible, like reunifying with your children.

And so Project Me came about as a Facebook page, initially as a place where people could reach out to me and where I could, like post self-guided recovery messaging that was positive.

And then that turned into me becoming certified as a peer recovery coach.

And I think when I went through my first peer recovery coach training, something just clicked and I was like, I don't know.

I just felt.

Like, this is what this is what I'm going to do.

Yeah, I. Just like and you actually start going out in the street and doing it right.

Yeah, yeah.

So that was a little bit afterwards during Covid, we started in lockdown distribution in a very wide spread way, and that was through like my own personal loss and just feeling like I needed to do something.

So we were one of the first registered naloxone distributors in Allen County outside of pharmacies.

And like.

The department and for those who were not familiar explaining what knocks on is.

So naloxone or Narcan, is a medication that reverses opioid overdose.

Yeah.

So how did you get to a center?

You have a drop in center now?

Yeah.

So as an expansion of like both our street outreach and our coaching programs, we just felt like we needed a physical space that could also serve as a safe space for people to come and get what they need and engage with a coach and just discuss recovery on their own terms.

Would that have been helpful to you back in the day when when you were struggling?

I think so.

The people that really resonated in my life were people who had their own lived experience because I could identify with them.

Yeah.

And, you know, just having that shared experience, I think created safe spaces for me.

So that's what we try to do for people.

And you operate under the the concept of harm reduction.

Explain what that is and how it works.

Yeah.

So harm reduction also applies to like day to.

Day stuff.

And of course of what we do of course like harm reduction applies to people who are actively using substances.

But it's just reducing the risk of harm or death for people.

So in the scope of what we do, that's Narcan like we just described.

So reversing overdoses, when those happen from people who may be using fentanyl or other opioid substances, we provide safe use supplies in a public health way that reduces the risk of people contracting HIV and have and then passing that along.

So it doesn't just benefit the people we serve with the community and as a whole.

And there's some people who are skeptical of this, this approach, right.

They feel like it's almost enabling.

No, what's what's the difference?

Where are they?

Where are they misguided in that thinking?

So the way.

That we kind of look at it is that it's just radical of people are going to make the choice to use is always I wish that weren't true, but I think as long as drugs exist, people are going to find ways to misuse them, cope with them, and we should be able to support people while they're actively using.

And how we support people that are actively using is by keeping them as safe and healthy as we can keep them, so maybe mitigating the consequences.

That way, if somebody does choose to recover and stop using substances, maybe they're just recovering from substance use disorder and not also HIV or hepatitis.

C and those kind of things, because that brings along a whole other right.

He can really escalate out there.

If we were to bring you back in a few years, you know, what would you hope that is different about this area and its approach to just addiction and recovery?

I think Fort Wayne is we have so many great resources, and I don't think that we're lacking in resources.

I think what we are lacking in is some of our community partners knowing what trauma informed care or really delivering like person centered services to people and really taking our egos out of it.

I think the answer to this crisis is for people to really feel seen and heard, and for their needs to be met in ways that they want their needs to be met, and not through anybody else's agenda or ego.

So I think if we all learn to work better together, connect people to the things that make sense for them to be connected to without our interference, and really uplift people as the experts of their own lives.

Yeah, I think that's at least a good start.

That sounds like a really good start.

Asha Dis is the founder and executive director of Project Me.

You can learn more at their website Project Me.