Choices outside of
guns
gangs
drugs
scars
shape everything after.
The Toledo Baker Project walks alongside high‑risk high schoolers in our city. We show them what the justice system actually looks like, introduce them to leaders in careers they didn’t know existed, and remind them they’ve got support — at school, at home, and after.
Active inScott HS · Waite HS
Status501(c)(3) pending
Year one3 high school groups · 2 tps schools
01Our mission
Compassionate. Firm. Present. The kind of grown-up too many kids in this city have never had at the table.
We advise Toledo’s highest-risk students with adults who don’t flinch — judges, union workers, social workers, business owners — and we put them in the rooms where real futures get decided. Courtrooms. Job sites. Kitchens. Garages. Anywhere a kid can see that the world is bigger than the block they grew up on.
Showing students there’s more beyond the world they were born into
Built around what the schools, families, and students themselves told us would actually move the needle. Not a curriculum. A standing invitation.
01
Justice System Tours
Guided visits to courtrooms, the county jail, and juvenile detention, narrated by judges, officers, attorneys, and reform leaders who answer every question, honestly.
02
Mentor Connections
Quarterly sessions match groups of high school kids with leaders across our community from all different walks of life. We offer guidance, encouragement, and opportunities to better the lives of our next generation.
03Who we serve
Currently inside Scott and Waite. Open to every Toledo high school next.
We start where the need is loudest. Scott and Waite were the first two schools to invite us in, and our first cohort of forty-two students came directly from their principals and teachers — kids already on someone’s radar, kids the system tends to lose.
We’ll go anywhere a school district will have us. If you’re a Toledo principal, counselor, or family advocate, we want to talk.
Now active in
Scott High School
Waite High School
Next: TPS district-wide
Real numbers from a small, loud start.
Students · Year 1
Across Scott and Waite, 2024–2025
judges
Local to the area
speakers
From welding to public defense
Schools today
TPS district-wide by 2027
Numbers verified by partner schools. Detailed annual report available on request.
05In their own words
The proof is the people.
01 / 06
Student
Waite High · toledo
“it made me feel happy knowing that ya’ll help people in court and try to do what’s in there best interest”
02 / 06
Student
Scott High · toledo
“Seeing the jail scared me and reinforced my feeling about never wanting to be there”
03 / 06
Student
Scott High · toledo
“It made me feel surprised at the jail to see that the officers were really cool people”
04 / 06
Student
waite High · toledo
“Hearing the discussions about employment stuck with me because I had no clue I had all these options”
05 / 06
Student
waite High · toledo
“Mental health and gun safety. By my house a lot of events happen and when there are a bunch of teenagers there are fights, and when there are fights there’s a chance a gun is being flashed like this summer break when the old west end festival happened”
06 / 06
Student
Scott High · toledo
“The program made me see that I want nothing to do with going to court or being in jail!”
06Three ways in
Pick a door. We’ll meet you there.
01
For working professionals
Get Involved
Think you have something to offer The Baker Project? Send us a message outlining how you can help! We are especially interested in hearing from people willing to employ high school kids and give them a chance.
School-year commitment · Background check provided · Quarterly mentor circles
02
For donors and families
Donate
Every dollar covers transportation to a tour, the meals provided during our presentation, and specific distribution requests from students to better their high school experience from tutoring, to sport equipment, etc.
Donors will be listed on our site at the following levels:
$100 — Your Name · $250 — Your Logo · $500 — Your Logo or Name and a Social Media Individual Post
07With thanks
Lunch on the house, when we needed it.
When our students needed lunch during justice-system tours, three Toledo spots said “on us.” Thank you.
09 / 15 / 2025
12 / 01 / 2025
04 / 29 / 2026
Want to host a meal?
The names above fed our students when it mattered. There’s room for yours. Tell us what you can host and we’ll handle the rest, headcount, timing, dietary notes, all of it.
09One ask
Be the grown-up the world forgot to be.
Forty-two kids in Toledo know what it’s like to have someone show up on a Tuesday. We’d like that number to be four hundred. Mentor, fund, or open a door — every one of them moves a student.