Our Mission
Using the power of puppetry, our mission is to educate children about social concerns
and differences, giving them skills to stay safe and healthy.
Kids on the Block, Inc. is an award-winning international educational program created
in 1977 by Barbara Aiello. It was originally created when "mainstreaming" children
became a law. It was designed to help introduce children with special needs into
school classrooms. The program uses child size puppets to carry out its mission.
The highly trained puppeteers use a form of puppetry called Bunraku. They are dressed
in black and become shadows behind the puppet. The puppets have distinctive personalities
and portray, through carefully scripted material, a world of real life situations.
As our puppets come to life, children identify with them and open up to them as
if they were trusted friends. Our hope is to prevent problems before they happen.
We want to empower children, teaching them the skills to stay safe and healthy.
Chattanooga's Kids on the Block is a licensed child abuse prevention agency in the
state of Tennessee.
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