A group of Orange County teachers is making a difference in the lives of underprivileged girls in inner-city communities.

Nora Cronin Presentation Academy is a private middle school for underserved girls in the city of Newburgh. Most of the girls that attend the school come from broken homes in drug- and crime-ridden communities. They were falling through the cracks in school, until they were offered a free, private-school education.

The academy's aim is to "provide a pathway out of poverty through education."

"We are not only here to educate them with books, but emotionally, physically and mentally," says Nora Cronin Presentation Academy teacher Melanie Fescoe.