Grant to benefit school programs

YOUNGSTOWN — Innovative classroom projects, after-school enrichment efforts, pupil character building — all programs in the city schools that are being funded by nearly $2 million in outside grant sources.

Karen Green, administrative assistant to the schools superintendent, outlined five programs recently financed by government or private institutions that are now in progress or about to begin, all of them designed to provide additional learning and development opportunities for pupils.

The outside financial assistance “is very important,” Green said, particularly at a time when the school district is struggling financially. It gives teachers a chance to “think outside the box” without worrying about financial constraints.

The grants also pay the salaries of staff hired to implement those new programs, she added.

Youngstown has been under state-declared fiscal emergency since November 2006 and ran a general fund deficit of $15 million last year. Money for innovative educational programming just isn’t available from traditional district revenue sources at this time, school officials said.

But money toward that effort is available from government and other agencies, and the district has made concerted efforts to seek out that assistance.

The largest grant Green outlined is financing a character-building program targeting the district’s middle school pupils.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator and at Vindy.com