State grant enables summer day camp

By HAROLD GWIN

gwin@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

A $71,651 state grant will allow a local nonprofit group to offer a free six-week summer day-camp for 75 Mahoning County children.

Darryl Alexander Sr., executive director of the Youngstown Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program, said the camp begins June 21 at the Youngstown Academy of Excellence, 1408 Rigby St.

He said his agency learned that the Governor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiative was offering summer-program grants and applied for funds for a Summer Mentoring Institute that will provide programming five days each week.

The only eligibility requirement is that participants be between age 7 and 14 and live in Mahoning County.

The institute will offer a variety of activities such as academic enrichment, tutoring, leadership development and violence and substance-abuse programs.

There will be field trips to places such as the Carnegie Science Museum in Pittsburgh, the Butler Institute of American Art here and the Cleveland Zoo, Alexander said.

There also will be a community-service component that will have participants helping in a local nursing home, he said.

The goal is to provide young people with the support and opportunities they need to succeed, Alexander said, adding that his agency has run similar programs in the past.

Registration dates are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 11 and 18 at the outreach office at 1327 Florencedale Ave., or by appointment by calling 330-743-2772. Slots are available on a first-come, first-served basis.