East side group formed to restore sense of famliy to neighborhood

YOUNGSTOWN

A group of East Side residents formed a group to help restore a sense of family to the community.

MyTown Ytown formed last fall and hosts events inside the Center for Community Empowerment at Rockford Village.

“We started in October when there was a lot of bad stuff going on,” said Jessica Gonzalez, one of the group’s founders.

She, her brother, Christopher Gibboney; godbrother, Johnny Heath; friends Jonathan Stevenson; and Antwn Barnes and several others started the group to provide young people and their families with positive activities.

“We all grew up together,” Gonzalez said.

As children, Gonzalez, Stevenson, Barnes and some of the others participated in Heart Reach Ministries Super Kids, a church-sponsored organization that provided after-school activities for students.

“Super Kids was the place to be,” Barnes said.

Gonzalez credits the organization with keeping her out of trouble while she was growing up.

People in the neighborhood acted like a big family while they were growing up, Gonzalez said.

“The ladies on this street back here, they raised us,” she said. “It’s like the saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’”

While Super Kids continues to operate, the group wants to restore a family spirit to the neighborhood.

MyTown Ytown’s first event, a family fun night, happened in January and drew about 120 people. The event in February, a Black History Month movie night, was hampered by bad weather and drew fewer attendees.

Group members foot the bill for all of the events. There’s no charge.

They plan another event May 29 with games, pizza, face painting and other events and hope a corporate sponsor will join in to make it a bigger event.

Read nore about the group and what else they have in the works in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.