On-Line Resource Available for Parents in Hendricks County, Indiana

Parents in Hendricks County, Indiana, have a central source of information at their fingertips for researching local schools, parenting issues, libraries, parks, community organizations, and kid-friendly events in the area at the They're Our Kids website.

They're Our Kids began as the 2006 Leadership Hendricks County Education group project by Jan Currier, Eric Ivie, Gus Pearcy, and Richard Sutton. It was designed to promote parental involvement in children's education and development, as well as to bring all local information that parents might find useful into one central, easy-to-use website. Originally funded through a grant from the Hendricks County Community Foundation, it continues to operate as a not-for-profit organization by way of donations of time and money.

The website contains hundreds of links to websites, grouped into categories that include age-specific resources, local school corporations and their communities, ways to finance college, nutrition and fitness, libraries, special needs resources, and more. Parents considering moving to Hendricks County, those who are native to the area, and everyone in between will find useful information at They're Our Kids.

In each of the six school corporation sections, educational resources and recreational resources are listed. Educational resources include links to each school corporation's website, the site of each individual school in the corporation, the Indiana Department of Education's snapshot of each school, and any public libraries in the area. Recreational resources include links to parks, youth sports leagues, and community organizations in the area offering constructive activities for kids.

In 2010, They're Our Kids created a Facebook page that periodically posts information about local kid-friendly events and opportunities for parents to be involved in their children's development. It also encourages local parents and organizations to post information about kid-centric events and activities for others to be aware of.

They're Our Kids prides itself on being free, easy to use, completely devoid of advertisements and pop-ups, and a beneficial resource for all parents in the community. It is not affiliated with any particular school or school corporation. In fact, its green color scheme was specifically chosen because no public school in Hendricks County uses green as a school color. The website also continually encourages feedback from the community in providing new ideas, suggesting new links, reporting dead links, and offering thoughts on how to make this resource even more valuable and useful.