Sessions to discuss education, future

Staff report

Youngstown

As part of an initiative funded by the Wean Foundation and the Youngstown Foundation to determine the aspirations and concerns associated with the future of education in the city, a group of leaders is inviting residents discussions today and Thursday.

Today’s sessions, beginning at 6 p.m., are at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County’s main branch on Wick Avenue and at the West Branch on Mahoning Avenue.

Thursday’s sessions, also beginning at 6 p.m., are at the East Branch on Early Road and the Newport Branch on Market Street.

The purpose of these discussions will be to explore how people think about various choices and trade-offs around education and the community, determine under what conditions people will step forward to act and uncover the conditions in the community that need to change in order for people to come together and work toward the common good.

Those attending the sessions, dubbed Deeper Conversations, will be broken up into small groups of 10 to 20 people for a discussion led by a locally trained conversation leader.

Previous efforts leading up to this Deeper Conversations phase of gathering input have included “Ask Youngstown” interviews and Community Conversations.

The interviews were brief four-question “man-on-the-street” interactions that took place in various Youngstown neighborhoods and with faith and business groups to explore steps they believe would create impact on education issues.

The conversations were 90-minutes long and took place in six neighborhoods in the community with teachers, students, faith groups and members of the business community to talk about the challenges and barriers to moving forward as a community in general, and on education in particular.

The Deeper Conversations phase will be followed by a communitywide town hall June 18 at Stambaugh Auditorium.

The purpose of this event will be to share the insights that have been gathered through previous efforts with the entire community, which will be included in the final report presented to the Academic Distress Commission to highlight the suggested ways to move forward with improving education in Youngstown.