HYPE after-school program gets grant

Item file photo Felecia Scarborough, a teacher with the HYPE program, reads to her students in 2007. The after-school program recently received a federal grant of more than $677,000.

By JASON WERMERS
Item Staff Writer
jwermers@theitem.com

The after-school program that Brandi Rose credits for a reading surge by one of her daughters now has four more years of funding with a federal grant of more than $677,000.

The money will allow HYPE, or Helping Youth Pursue Excellence, continue operating at the M.H. Newton Family Life Enrichment Center and Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.

Rose said her 9-year-old daughter, De’Ovion, started last school year with a D in her third-grade English language arts class at Wilder Elementary, but finished with a B.

“I have two daughters that go there,” said Rose, 28, of South Sumter. “There are certain days when I get off work early enough to pick them up from school, but they don’t want me to pick them up. They want to go to the program.”

The funding, $200,000 of which will keep the program open this coming school year, comes from a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant given through the federal No Child Left Behind Act, said Shelly Galloway, spokeswoman for Sumter District 17, which works with HYPE.

The free program began at Newton and Trinity four years ago. Those locations now serve 150 children in kindergarten through eighth grade, HYPE’s director, Barney Gadson, said. The program caters to children who are falling behind on grade-level school work and who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The new money allows HYPE to continue for four more years, Gadson said.

An external evaluator, Systemwide Solutions of Columbia, named HYPE at Newton as one of the state’s top after-school programs in the 2007-08 school year.

“Right now, 50 percent of the students we track have gone from B and C students to A-B honor roll students,” Gadson said. “That’s why it’s so important to continue these programs. After we’ve made those gains, we want to see those strides continue. This new round of funding will ensure that.”

A total of 40 programs received 21st Century learning money. Such programs are important, state Education Superintendent Jim Rex said.

“Students who are struggling in class can get a real academic boost in a well-run after-school setting,” Rex said.

Gadson said HYPE is beginning to reach out to Sumter’s growing Hispanic community. This past school year, applications in English and Spanish were given to participating schools. HYPE will teach students at least basic Spanish, Gadson said, and he hopes to be able to expand the program’s use of technology.

In total, HYPE serves about 450 children in seven locations throughout Sumter County, but the five others are newer and still in their first four-year grant cycles. Gadson said his goal in expanding HYPE throughout the county is to get more children involved in fun, positive, educational activities beyond the school day and keep them off the streets.

“We are trying to increase neighborhood connectivity by making sure kids are connected to another place besides school,” he said. “The centers do that. The kids have a place where they are accustomed to going, and it keeps them out of trouble.”

Rose, whose 13-year-old daughter, Zi’Asia, is about to enter eighth grade at Bates Middle School, said that as a single parent she gets peace of mind knowing her children are in “a safe, positive environment.”

“It keeps them out of trouble,” she said. “It’s a free after-school program, which is great because I couldn’t afford most of the after-school programs out there today.”



Contact Staff Writer Jason Wermers at jwermers@theitem.com or (803) 774-1295.

HYPE PROGRAMS
Free after-school programs are offered at:

  M.H. Newton Family Life Enrichment Center

  Trinity Missionary Baptist Church

  North HOPE Center

  South HOPE Center

  New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church

  Jehovah Christian and Academic School

  Wedgefield Baptist Church

Space is available for the coming school year at Wedgefield, Trinity, New Bethel and South HOPE Center. For more information, contact the Newton center at (803) 934-9527.