Summer Bridge Program encourages freshmen

By Harold Gwin

Participants spent a week at YSU, focusing on academics, socialization and more.

YOUNGSTOWN — Improving academic performance and increasing graduation rates are key goals of weeklong Summer Bridge programs for selected Youngstown City School students who will enter the ninth grade this fall.

The effort started last year as a state program aimed at incoming ninth grade boys in general and black males in particular, providing a “bridge” for students between middle school and high school.

Participation isn’t mandatory, and students are recruited, with an emphasis placed on attracting those with disciplinary and/or academic problems.

It drew 45 participants last year and John Allen, district ombudsman, said more than 35 boys had signed up in advance for their weeklong program which began Wednesday and will end next Tuesday. Thirty-six girls had signed up as of Wednesday for their session slated for July 5-11.

Last year’s program was judged to be a success, Allen said, noting that some 70 percent of the participants advanced to the 10th grade for next year.

That’s above the district’s overall average for ninth grade boys, said Dawud Abdullah, Youngstown’s manager of Safe and Drug Free Schools, who coordinates the Summer Bridge program.

The number of boys in this year’s program will likely exceed 40 again, as some weren’t expected to register until Wednesday evening, he said.

It’s all free for the students.

They spend the week living in a dormitory on the Youngstown State University campus.

Mornings focus on academics such as math, reading and language arts. Afternoons are centered on socialization and emotional issues as well as team-building. Evenings are spent listening to various guest speakers offering suggestions on career possibilities.

State statistics show that only 60 percent of ninth-grade black males in Ohio’s nine largest urban school districts go on to graduate, compared to 73 percent of white males and 71 percent of Hispanic males.

Statewide, the numbers vary somewhat, with the latest Ohio Department of Education figures showing a 67.7 graduation rate for black males, 89.1 percent for white males and 67.2 percent for Hispanic males.

Comparable statewide statistics for girls are 74.9 percent for black, 91.6 percent for white and 66.7 for Hispanic students.

Gov. Ted Strickland wants to improve those numbers, funding programs for incoming ninth graders that focus on the academic requirements of ninth grade through his Governor’s Initiative program. Youngstown has some of those funds available to pay for the boys’ program this summer.

Allen said the governor asked that the program be extended to ninth-grade girls this year but didn’t provide additional funding for them.

Youngstown was able to tap some KnowledgeWorks Foundation grant funds to cover the girls’ program, Allen said.

The programs have a combined cost of $133,300, with $52,800 of that amount going to YSU to pay for housing, facilities and food.

The bulk of the funding, $80,500, will go to ON TASC Inc., a local nonprofit drug and alcohol abuse prevention agency, which runs the program on behalf of the school district. ON TASC is providing on-site management, camp counselors, high school peer mentors and more.

gwin@vindy.com