Church makes learning its goal

It discovered a dire need to improve reading, math and life skills.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Rev. Hosea Ekong first noticed the problem five years ago while forming a confirmation class at Victory Lutheran Church.
Lower South Side youngsters were reluctant to sign up for classes at the Glenwood Avenue church because they couldn't read. The church created a Saturday tutoring program. Too often, however, parents weren't bringing their kids.
"For me, that was very difficult. If they cannot read ... how are they going to get along in society?" the Rev. Mr. Ekong asked. "It was time to do something as a community."
That's when Victory, with help from two other Lutheran congregations, went grass roots to do just that.
Church volunteers collected test scores for kids living in the neighborhood. Volunteers surveyed neighborhood families that tap the church's food and clothing charities.
The results pointed to the neighborhood's urgent need to improve the reading, math and life skills of its young.
The facts created what amounted to an educational map for the church. The result is Operation Learning Community.
What's planned
The after-school program will bring together teachers, aides and others to help neighborhood children, said volunteer Donna Hazzard. Small groups of children in grades one through six will mean individual attention, said volunteer Waymer Martin.
The church expects to serve youth living in a targeted area of the lower South Side, but won't turn away others.
Church volunteers are confident they can demonstrate the need and how Operation Learning Community will help the neighborhood.
What they need is for philanthropic foundations, service organizations, private business and government to show a little faith with funding.
The church recently started raising the $68,000 need to start the program for the upcoming school year.
"There's money out there and we're going to try to get it," said Ken Welch, a church volunteer.
Joining Victory are members from Bethlehem Lutheran in the city and Lord of Life Lutheran in Canfield.
Shocking statistics
Church members were shocked when they saw the statistics.
They were taken aback by fourth and sixth grade reading proficiency scores for the neighborhood children, who go to Cleveland Elementary School. Passage rates dropped between 1999 and 2002 even as the district's overall numbers improved.
Most startling to Wendell Conley was another number: About 35 percent of the city's population reads below a fifth grade level. That means nearly 30,000 of the city's 80,000 residents have low reading ability.
"When I heard it, I couldn't believe it. My response was 'This is like a third world country.' That's unacceptable," he said. "It made me feel, inside, that something must be done."
Surveying neighborhood families showed that residents know there is a problem, program organizers say. Residents know what's needed to fix it and are willing to participate, too.
"We definitely knew we had a community that was interested," said volunteer Gomer Lewis.
The support is impressive, said Jeffrey Magada, director of Flying High Inc. The nonprofit agency helps faith-based groups develop social programs and is working with Victory Lutheran.
Early intervention is vital to curbing later problems, Magada says. He knows; he used to direct the recently eliminated juvenile diversion program in the Austintown Police Department.
rgsmith@vindy.com