by Michael DiVittorio
McKeesport's Youth CAST Leadership Program
met on Thursday evening to discuss how programs and initiatives in
Detroit can benefit people here.
Youth CAST — Community and Schools Together —
wants to establish a range of services that focus on creating a
high-quality extended academic environment and a positive social and
emotional learning experience for grades 6-12.
Coordinator Aaron Johnson said about 30 parents and students observed Detroit's programs during a visit there Oct. 3-5.
“The nice thing about it is they all work
together so that there's not duplication of services,” Johnson said.
“That way, all the kids are involved in something. That's what we're
looking at here through our partners.”
Johnson said a model example is Don Bosco
Hall, a private nonprofit agency that provides human support services to
enhance the quality of life in the Metropolitan Detroit-Wayne County
community. It offers community service and educational programs among
its activities.
The Rev. Phil Williams of Bethlehem Baptist
Church said he was impressed with City Year Detroit, which provides
critical services to some of the city's most underserved youth.
Williams and Johnson likened City Year to
AmeriCorps, a federal program that engages adults in intensive community
service work.
“We saw that, when the youth are involved, there's impact,” Johnson said.
“It was awesome,” Williams said. “One of the
trademarks that I think is important is they are uniform-based. They
wear red coats. Anytime the kids see a red coat they know that this
group is there. Most of the them are high school or college graduates,
They volunteer the whole year, working with just stipends, and they go
into schools.”
YouthVille Detroit has activities and amenities such as a music studio.
“Their studio is top of the line,” Williams
said. “They also have a ballet room, a dance room, archery. Inner city
youth were competing around the country in archery. That's the kind of
things we've got to do here.”
“One thing that jumped out was how Detroit
looks very similar to McKeesport, just on a bigger scale,” Johnson said.
“I thought that that was pretty amazing.”
Students documented their findings from the trip in journals.
Thursday's meeting at the Senator James R. Brewster Community Center in Crawford Village was for parents.
“We'll take the data that we have from the
trip and have some evaluators look at it and give us direction,” Johnson
said. “Then we'll take it to the kids and let them decide, ‘How does
this look? How are we going to incorporate this aspect?'”
They discussed how to get more people involved and what roles they should play.
“This can't be one of those fly-by-night programs,” Williams said.
“This won't just be beneficial to the children,” Eugene Kelley said. “This can be beneficial to the parent.”
Call 412-675-5020, ext. 605, for more information or to get involved in Youth CAST.
Michael DiVittorio is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1965, or mdivittorio@tribweb.com.
Reference Link: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourmckeesport/yourmckeesportmore/4859855-74/youth-cast-detroit
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