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Showing Youngstown kids education is path to opportunity
By SHAIYLA B. HAKEEM
YOUNGSTOWN
Academic institutions across the city united in a simultaneous effort to showcase the importance of literacy and to make a public stand against crime.
Youngstown’s Citywide Advancing Education-Reducing Crime Day took place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
The event was put together by community activists’ Jon Howell and his wife, Adrienne, in collaboration with the Youngstown School District. In 2016, the Howells spearheaded Operation Paint Brush, which provided four low-income family homes, located on each side of the city, to be repainted.
Jon said the goal of this event was to raise the quality of education, with emphasis on reading and writing, while uniting as a community to speak out against crime.
“We believe that if a child can read and write at a high level, they can learn any job and excel at it,” he explained, “But if they cannot read and write, they are doomed, because you’ve got to be able to read and write to do anything in life as far as advancement.”
To encompass the entire city, sites were set up at these schools on each side of town: Harding Elementary on the North Side, Taft Elementary on the South Side, Martin Luther King Elementary on the East Side and William Holmes McGuffey Elementary on the West Side. Free transportation to the sites was provided by the Western Reserve Transit Authority, and each site featured the same activities and public services. That not only created a broader and deeper community reach, but allowed each side of town to rally together with their immediate community in a positive way.
“We know people have transportation challenges here in Youngstown,” Jon said. “Getting from one side of town to the other is not always easy and we wanted as many kids as possible to come out and participate.”
The day featured multiple activities, including morning and afternoon writing contests, demonstrations from the Youngstown Police Department’s K-9 Unit, storytelling, Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County’s Pop-Up Library and live entertainment. Representatives from Youngstown’s Juvenile Justice Center, Community Policing, Community Initiative to Reduce Violence and the Sandy Hook Promise were on site to speak to students and community members about their organizations.
Throughout the day, more than 40 local celebrities, split amongst the sites, read books to the students to show them the importance of literacy. Howell wanted the children of Youngstown to interact with positive, influential individuals who are products of their community. He believes kids mimic behaviors and attributes they see, positive and negative.
“Our goal is to role-model successful behavior of people in Youngstown so our kids can see and say, ‘Hey, they’re successful in Youngstown, they believe in reading and writing, so I need to role-model that behavior,’” he explained.
The Rev. Lewis W. Macklin II, pastor of Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church and a Youngstown native, was a local celebrity reader at Taft Elementary. He entertained students with John Scieszka’s book, “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” an alternate view of the classic children’s tale through the eyes of the Big Bad Wolf – Alexander T. Wolf, who attested to only wanting sugar from the three pigs to finish baking his grandmother’s birthday cake. Macklin said the collaboration with city government, Youngstown School District, faith communities, businesses and neighborhoods were evident and the distribution of community resources were effective.
“Seeing youth and adult arms packed with books was most affirming,” said the Rev. Mr. Macklin. “The gift of literacy is a blessing for the entire community.
According to Jon Howell, about 3,100 books, 20 of Barnes & Noble bookstore’s Nook tablets and 20 bicycles were donated to the event. Each child was estimated to receive three books, at minimum. Breakfast and lunch were provided at no charge, and more than 15 local barbers were on site to give free haircuts to the students.
Youngstown resident Ja’Meil Coleman brought his son to the Martin Luther King location to get a haircut and pick out new reading material. His son is only in first grade, but Coleman said he’s well aware of the violence happening in and around the city. He wants his son to grow up in a safe environment and be able to enjoy life without the worry of being a victim of crime.
“This is a good thing that they’re doing here for the kids,” said Coleman, “We need to come together more like this because it’s time out for all the violence.”
The event concluded with simultaneous anti-crime candlelight peace marches through each site’s neighborhoods with signs advocating education, safety and the community’s stance against crime.
It is planned to become an annual event, Howell said, adding, “Education is the power to opportunity.”