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MyTown Ytown offers family activities
By Denise Dick
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, took place last January and drew about 120 people. The event last 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 function May 29 with games, pizza, face painting and other activities and hope a corporate sponsor will join in to make it a bigger event. A Father’s Day event also is in the works.
The group has a Facebook page where people can learn about upcoming activities.
Brenda Kimble, president of the Youngstown City School Board, said she attended one of the MyTown Ytown events and believes what group members are trying to do is a benefit to the school district.
“It’s socialization and self- esteem,” she said. “All of those things lead to a child’s education,” Kimble said. “They learn how to conduct themselves, how to get along with people.”
A lack of socialization in young people contributes to bad behavior when they come to school, Kimble added.
Stevenson said he likes to give back and believes that’s something that more people should do. It helps to strengthen a community and bring people together, he said.
Barnes said that when he was growing up, he would have benefited from such a group, so he wanted to help provide it for young people today.
The Rev. Willie Peterson, executive director of the Center for Community Empowerment and pastor of NewBirth Kimmelbrook Baptist Church, allows MyTown Ytown to use the center for its events. Gonzalez’s brother was a student at the center when he was a boy.
“It’s good to see young people who want to give back,” the Rev. Mr. Peterson said.