The state recently designated 10 school districts across Michigan as "Promise Zones" and only one is in Northern Michigan: Baldwin Community Schools.

The concept is based on the privately-funded Kalamazoo Promise which guarantees some college funding for local graduates. The new state designated zones would combine private and public funding to help high school graduates pay for college.

Baldwin now has the state's authority to move forward but there is a lot of work still to come. The school district needs a governing board, a detailed plan for the state and the main ingredient: money.

What the district does have is a new hope for its students.

"One of the things that a promise program does, is it takes the [glass] ceiling off," says Randy Howes, superintendent of Baldwin community schools.

9&10's Michael Kasiborski and photojournalist Greg Miller have more on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.