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Program receives grant, praise
Succes by Six
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SUCCESS STORY: Kindergarten students at South Range Elementary School ham it up with U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan as they help him hold up a mock $100,000 check. Ryan presented the check to the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley to expand its “Success by 6” program. The ceremony was Monday at the North Lima school, one of two Mahoning County schools to house the Success by 6 pilot program.
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HELPING HAND: PNC Foundation donated $25,000 to the United Way’s “Success by 6” program. Garry Mrozek, regional president of National City Bank, a part of PNC, also appeared at the ceremony and said the program ties into PNC’s “Grow up Great” initiative.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NORTH LIMA — United Way’s “Success by 6” program for pre-kindergarten children — praised in two schools where it was tested last summer — received $125,000 in grants and federal tax dollars to expand the program to 12 area school districts.
United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley on Monday received $100,000 through the auspices of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and a $25,000 donation from PNC Foundation’s “Grow Up Great” initiative.
The money was presented to United Way during a ceremony at South Range Elementary School in North Lima, where one of the pilot programs was housed. The other pilot program was at Campbell Elementary School.
Some 30 students in the South Range School District attended the four-hour-a-day, four-week session, said schools Superintendent Dennis Dunham.
“We had positive input from parents, and we had kids who became familiar with school routine, being bused and what the building was like and were ready to start kindergarten the first day. The bottom line is it helped kids and was no cost to us,” Dunham said.
One teacher and one aide in each classroom were paid through the “Success by 6” program.
Campbell Elementary School has had a program similar to “Success by 6” for pre-kindergarten kids and their parents and grandparents several years called “Jump Start.”
There are transitions during a student’s school career, from elementary to middle school and then to high school. There is also a transition to kindergarten for kids and their parents, said Robert Walls, elementary school principal.
Walls said the school does pre- and post-assessments of the students and has found that those in the program are better prepared to start kindergarten. And, because parents are involved in the summer program they get more involved in the schools. Also, student’s comfort level is higher because their “Success by 6” teacher is their teacher in kindergarten, he said.
“Success by 6,” created about 10 years ago by United Way, is a kindergarten readiness program for at-risk children. United Way research had determined that for every $1 invested in early childhood education, some $17 is saved through reduced social service dependency, lessened juvenile delinquency issues, and judicial costs.
Ryan, in presenting the $100,000 check, told a story about his involvement in the “Earning by Learning” program in the Warren City School district when he was just out of college.
“We gave kids a book and offered them $2 to read it, and came back a week later and asked them questions to prove they had read the book. At the end of the program, we gathered all the kids together and paid off. One girl had read 50 books and we paid her $200 one at a time, which impressed the rest of the kids,” Ryan said.
A few years later Ryan was at a Warren G. Harding High School football game and student approached him and asked if he remembered her. He said he did not.
She then identified herself as the girl who had won the $200 and said she was going to be class valedictorian, Ryan said.
That’s the kind of thing that “makes you realize why you are involved,” he said.
PNC donated $25,000 to United Way for the “Success by 6” program through the corporation’s signature “Grow Up Great” initiative, said Garry Mrozek, regional president of National City, a part of PNC.
Through “Grow Up Great,” PNC Foundation has pledged $100 million over 10 years, and permits its employees 40 paid hours a year to volunteer for the program. The program receives most of its funding from the PNC Financial Services Group, officials said.
“The region is important to PNC, which is dedicated to making it a great place to live and work and do business,” Mrozek said.
This money will enable the expansion of the program into 12 schools districts, with 22 units, in Mahoning and Trumbull counties next summer, said Robert Hannon, president and chief professional officer of United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley.
Participating school districts are Austintown, Campbell, Canfield, Girard, Hubbard, Jackson Milton, Liberty, Lowellville, South Range, Springfield, West Branch, and Youngstown.
Hannon said the program is modeled after the United Way program in Mercer County, Pa., and that the Youngstown and Mahoning Valley United Way has hired Nancy Lukasko, a retired Brookfield Schools teacher, to be liaison between the schools and United Way. Lukasko does the same thing for Mercer United Way.
alcorn@vindy.com