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YAA's focus is on math, reading, youth development, parent involvement
YOUNGSTOWN
More than 300 Youngstown after-school program participants marched from the Youngstown Board of Education offices to Choffin Career and Technical Center as part of the Youngstown Afterschool Alliance’s “Lights on Afterschool” event.
At Choffin, students at the YAA’s fourth-annual event Thursday moved from station to station engaging in activities designed to improve their learning skills.
The alliance’s primary focus is on mathematics, reading, youth development and parent engagement, said April Alexander, the organization’s program director.
The YAA is a collaboration with Youngstown School District, the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, and other community partners. It is supported through 21st Century Community Learning Center grants from the Ohio Department of Education.
Participating schools are Harding, Martin Luther King Jr., McGuffey and Wiliamson Elementary schools, Discovery Career Connections at Volney, Chaney PVA/STEM, and East High School.
Alexander said the event’s primary purpose is to “bring light” to the benefits of the after-school program.
“Our belief is if we can build relationships between schools, parents and the community, we will build toward success for our children,” she said.
“We teach our kids there is more to life. We encourage them to have academic success and participate in the community and move on to college or a technical school after high school,” Alexander said.
If the kids attend YAA regularly, the one-on-one and small-group tutoring enables many of them to improve their grades up to 25 percent, she said.
The YAA is very valuable for the kids, said John Owens, who is involved with the Inspiring Minds youth program at Harding Elementary.
“It gives kids a chance to excel in reading and writing and have fun with their friends at the same time,” Owens said.
Owens said one of the things he likes most about the after-school program is that it provides supervised learning activities, something he admitted he could have used growing up in Cleveland.
Sharon Ford of Youngstown, who has twin boys in an after-school program at Kirkmere Elementary, said the program gives kids a chance to choose areas that interest them, such as engineering, science and math.
“Our after-school programs are supported by community partners who help us provide our children with healthy snacks, homework assistance, mentoring, tutoring and youth-development activities, including tennis, health and nutrition, photography, dance and art,” Alexander said.