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Youngstown Community School to host pilot program
YOUNGSTOWN
Unlocking the potential of students to eventually improve the future of the community is the overarching goal of Success After 6.
The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley rolled out the pilot public/private early-childhood educational initiative Monday.
“This is a game-changer for these kids,” said Ed Muransky, co-chairman of the 2014 United Way financial campaign along with his wife, Chris.
He also is vice president of the board of education of Youngstown Community School, 50 Essex St., where Success After 6 will be tested beginning in September.
“Success After 6 won’t stop at K-3. We intend to add a year in 2016 so it will follow the students into the fourth grade. This cannot fail for the sake of our kids and the future of our community,” said Muransky, head and founder of The Muransky Companies and the Surgical Hospital at Southwoods in Boardman.
“We want to change the direction these kids are going,” said Robert Hannon, United Way president. “Success After 6 brings together school and community resources to provide an intentional focus on academics, health and social services, as well as social and emotional development.”
The initiative will provide tutoring, supplemental programming and after-school support for kindergarten through third-grade students at YCS.
Also, United Way will hire a Success After 6 coordinator to work with school staff in monitoring the students’ progress; connecting what is occurring in the classroom with the after-school program; and reaching out to the community, Hannon said.
A major community partner, the YMCA of Youngstown, will provide the after-school programming, which will take place four days a week. The programming will include academic tutoring; enrichment activities such as music and art lessons; field trips and attending Covelli Centre events; and a hot meal before the kids are taken home.
The YMCA is to be a partner with the United Way and the YCS in piloting a program that will enrich students’ lives, said Timothy M. Hilk, president and CEO of the Youngstown YMCA.
“We are confident we can close the achievement gap between lowest-income families in a community and anybody else,“ Hannon said.
The Success After 6 initiative at Youngstown Community School will get a jump-start this summer with United Way offering its well-established Success By 6 program to incoming kindergarten students.
As Success After 6 grows, United Way plans to bring on additional community partners to provide other resources to the students, Hannon said.
“This is exactly what needs to happen,” said U.S. Rep. Timothy Ryan of Howland, D-13th, one of several elected officials who attended the kickoff. “We need to get back to fundamentals ... to unlock kids’ potential, which include food in their bellies and feeling safe and cared about. I’m all in.”
“It’s interesting that we lose some kids by the third or fourth grade. But we have no intention of losing the kids in this program,” said Sarah Brown-Clark, chairwoman of the United Way board and the Youngstown clerk of courts.