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Swanston Fund Renews Campbell Works for Children
CAMPBELL, Ohio -- Encouraged by promising results of a year-old, multi-disciplined program for elementary school students in the Campbell City Schools, the William Swanston Charitable Fund today announced a $599,400 grant to continue the effort, marking the largest commitment in the history of the Swanston Fund.
The grant will fund two years of support for Campbell Works for Children, a consortium of educational and social programs that has proven very effective in enhancing student achievement since its launch in July 2011.
“Early results are quite impressive, which is one of the reasons the Swanston Fund has extended its commitment,” said Paul M. Dutton, chairman of the board of the Swanston Fund.
“We are seeking to develop strategies and encouraging collaborations which might be replicated for at risk children in other communities.
Robert Walls, principal at Campbell Elementary, said the school has documented in the past year a significant increase in the number of second-graders reading at a third-grade level. That is highly significant, he said, because reaching that level by third grade is a leading indicator of whether a student will ultimately graduate from high school.
“We are very focused on giving all students in Campbell the best opportunity to reach that goal,” Dr. Walls said.
Walls said the first 12 months under the Campbell Works initiative have also brought these developments:
- In just a few months, 18 families have signed up to work with specialists to prepare their children for kindergarten.
- Of 8 students enrolled at Camp Challenge, designed for students with behavior issues, five have shown tremendous progress with grades and attendance.
- Students enrolled in the after-school and in-school literacy programs – both supported by Campbell Works after state funding for them was eliminated – continue to enjoy rapid and significant improvement in their test scores.
“Success doesn’t happen overnight, but these are all good signs,” Dr. Walls said.
Campbell Works for Children involves seven different educational, social service and religious agencies that collaborate to provide a range of programs and services to Campbell Elementary students from kindergarten through fourth grade.
These services include an after-school learning program, a summer day camp, individualized literacy training, anti-bullying instruction, teacher seminars, a camp focused on kids with behavior issues, family support and more. Plans for the year ahead include addition of an education program for parents, establishment of a community advisory group and more formal evaluation of the program’s results.
“The Swanston trustees are impressed with the collaboration among these diverse agencies,” Dutton added. “Collaboration removes duplication and inefficiency and adds value.”
More than 90% of Campbell Elementary students live in poverty, and that is a documented barrier to learning. That is why the Campbell Works program includes so much activity beyond the classroom, said Gerald Hamilton, a Campbell resident and program director for Campbell-based Neighborhood Ministries, one of the collaborating agencies.
“We’re involving families and we’re reaching these students after school hours, during the summer and even before they start kindergarten,” said Hamilton, a Campbell High School graduate and football and basketball coach. “This level of support gives students a better opportunity to overcome the challenges many of them face.”
In addition to the school and Neighborhood Ministries, the Campbell Works program includes these organizations:
- Catholic Charities Regional Agency
- Community Solutions Association
- D& E Counseling Center
- Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education
- Help Hotline Crisis Center
Besides the grant for Campbell Works for Children, the Swanston Fund awarded $145,000 in grants to these four programs focused on providing services to at-risk children:
- Valley Counseling Services will receive $65,000 for its work to help prevent student suspensions and expulsions in the Warren City Schools.
- The Eagles program, which operates at Wilson Middle and Williamson Elementary in Youngstown, will receive $40,000 for its work to help students with discipline issues become better communicators and more cooperative team members.
- The Compass Family & Community Services 10-bed Daybreak program in Youngstown will receive $20,000 for its work to provide emergency housing to teenagers who cannot safely stay at their homes.
- The Potential Development Program’s School of Autism in Youngstown will receive $20,000 to expand its educational programs to high-school students.
The William Swanston Charitable Fund, established in 1919, is a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley. Board members are Dutton, Delores Crawford, C. Gilbert James Jr., Molly Seals and Patricia M. Sweeney. The fund .
SOURCE: Williams Swanston Charitable Fund.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.