Alliance showcases talents

By ELISE FRANCO

More than 150 kids participated in a year-end performance.

YOUNGSTOWN — City kids who have spent their afternoons for the past seven months with the Youngstown Afterschool Alliance showcased their hard work Wednesday evening in an end-of-the-year program.

The two-hour wrap-up at the Youngstown Playhouse allowed more than 150 of the young people to dance, sing and perform for a crowd of their family and friends.

Dijonn Green, 14, waited backstage as another group performed a dance. He said he joined the alliance about a month ago because his brother introduced him to Krumping, which is a form of urban dance.

“I’ve been Krumping for about a year, but I wanted to start taking a class,” he said.

Joining the alliance allowed him to do that. Green also sings, and he said he learned how to hit notes he had never before been able to hit.

“Through the program I learned how to exercise my voice,” he said. “Now I can sing notes that used to be too hard.”

Lois Thornton, program director, said this year is the first that the alliance has put on a final program. “We’re doing this because we want everyone to see that we’re not just baby-sitting. We’re teaching.”

Hallie Duarte, 13, chose to take a sign-language class because of a hearing-impaired family member. She showcased her skill, signing to the audience when her friend, Kiaria Ballinger, 13, sang a solo.

“This program has taught me leadership,” Duarte said. “It’s taught me how to try new things at school that will help with my education.”

Asked if she will return to the program next year, Duarte responded with an enthusiastic “Yeah!”

The program is sponsored by five Youngstown schools and funded by a 21st Century grant, a Community Development Agency grant, and Mahoning County Jobs Family Services student improvement grant.

Thornton said the program was not only a success Wednesday night, but all year. By the end of the program last year, she said only about 100 kids were still attending. This year the number is almost triple that.

She said the program works because the main focus is teaching, although the kids are able to enjoy activities such as dancing and playing sports.

“We concentrate mostly on math and reading,” Thornton said. “They don’t realize they’re learning, because we make it hands on, which teaches them in a different manner than they learn during daytime hours.”

Some of the ways she said the kids are taught are by using role-playing, sports and technology. Thornton said the reason this is successful is because the kids are having fun and not thinking about the fact that they’re actually absorbing information.

Ballinger, who sings and dances, said she joined because she had nothing else to do at home.

“I am coming back for sure,” she said. “Everything we do here is fun, and it’s nice because if we don’t have time to do our homework at home we do it here, and they help us with it.”

Thornton said this is the exact reason the alliance is necessary.

“Twenty-eight percent of kids are left alone in the afternoon hours,” she said. “We provide meaningful, enriching opportunities for those kids.”

Next year Thornton hopes to make homework a larger part of the program. She said the more homework that is done during program hours the better, because it will help the kids learn and help raise test scores within the Youngstown City Schools.

Thornton looked like she couldn’t be more proud, as a group of girls finished its dance routine.

“There’s so much talent in this town, and I’m not going to quit until everyone knows it,” she said. “We’ve got good kids here, good, talented kids.”