COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — School’s out for the summer and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther welcomed kids to the first day of summer programming at the J.C. Broadus Center on the city’s northeast side.
Ginther said the program is part of the city’s comprehensive safety strategy; he’s calling on faith leaders, business leaders, parents and the entire community to step up this summer and protect the city’s youth, and that as summer approaches, the community must remain vigilant.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we’re reaching kids where they are at the neighborhood level and working with some great neighborhood partners to help offer programming for these young people, keep them safe this summer,” Ginther said.
The city is really trying to focus on prevention, intervention, and enforcement, Ginther said, which is why the city is making these historic investments in youth programming.
“A lot of our traditional summer camps through Recreation and Parks and others are more geared towards kids in elementary school and in grade school,” he said. “A harder-to-reach group is the pre-adolescents and adolescents who maybe don’t want to go to a traditional summer camp but may do something like this.”
He’s talking about the J.C. Broadus Center for Youth Advocacy Inc. NBC4 got an inside look at the Raising Awareness, Violence Prevention, and Growth through Education (R.A.V.A.G.E.) program on Monday. It’s for ages four through 19 and takes place in the evening.
“Our mission is to get all the students and kids from out of the street, make sure that they have something to do, make sure it’s positive,” Cynthina Harrold, the director for Natural Talent, said.
During the R.A.V.A.G.E. program, youth participants receive tutoring as well as dance and drum lessons. Multiple organizations came together to create this program.
“We all have came together, to wrap our arms around the children and not just the children, their parents as well, because we thank the parents for lending their kids to us to give them a safe space, to keep the kids safe and off the streets and giving them something to do,” Amber Broadus, CEO for the J.C. Broadus Center for Youth Advocacy Inc., said.
Shawn Saunders, 14, is a member of the program and has goals of attending college and joining a drumline. He said the program helps give him structure and sets him up for future success.
“If you don’t have a structure at home, this program, this program like a family is actually like a family,” Saunders said. “You come in, you drum, you learn stuff, you learn new things every time you come.”
They’re still accepting youth into the R.A.V.A.G.E program; for more information, click here.
