At Wean Foundation forum, residents discuss education in Youngstown

By CHRIS COTELESSE

TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

Four plastic folding tables form a square in the basement of the main branch of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County on Wick Avenue.

A man in overalls and a straw hat sits next to a man in a necktie. With 18 other concerned citizens, they discuss education.

The Raymond John Wean Foundation funded an initiative to rally communities behind the issue.

Carlton Sears, director of the public-library system, calls it “authentic engagement.”

“It’s not coming at people with an issue that’s predetermined,” he said of Tuesday’s session. “It’s coming and letting them self-define how to move forward.”

Sears has been working with the foundation and the Harwood Institute, a community-advocacy group based in Maryland, since March. The partnership has hosted several conversations in Youngstown to determine a better way of educating the city’s students.

Their efforts will culminate June 18 with a town-hall meeting in Stambaugh Auditorium on issues that impact the education process.

Once they’ve compiled the information into a report, they will present it to the Youngstown Academic Distress Commission and the school district’s superintendent.

Sears said engaging the community is the first step toward tangible progress, but it isn’t easy.

“How do you move forward when people say, ‘I want more consistency,’ and people say that but at the same time they recognize there has to be change?” Sears said.

Andrew Smith, physics major at Youngstown State University, said education is important to building culture and enriching communities. He came to lend his voice and borrow others’ because he said he didn’t have the answers to such a complex problem.

He said he is hopeful that discussions such as these can address education in a new way.

Sessions also are set at 6 p.m. Thursday at the East Side branch library on Early Road and the Newport branch on Market Street.

Jim Cooney, communications manager for the Harwood Institute, said the discussion is more powerful from the bottom up.

“Community is the answer first,” Cooney said. “Then government can step in to give them a hand.”

The NewsOutlet is a joint media venture by student and professional journalists and is a collaboration of Youngstown State University, WYSU Radio and The Vindicator.