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:
“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:
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:
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.