Cumberland youth agency gets large grant

CUMBERLAND — The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the Cumberland Office of Children, Youth and Learning a $550,000 grant that office Director Michael Magee says will be used to finance the expansion of the year-old town department’s afterschool offerings.

New to those programs will be an afterschool enrichment program for B.F. Norton Elementary School students slated to be launched in the fall.

The money represents the largest amount the department has received to date, and will go a long way toward guaranteeing its short-term existence and legitimizing its mission in the eyes of potential donors, said Magee.

The OCYL operates on a $69,900 annual budget, which includes Magee’s approximately $60,000 salary. Programs are financed largely through registration fees and grants. Magee says the aim of the office is to raise enough outside money so that it does not rely on tax dollars as its primary resource.

"This federal funding ensures that the OCYL can grow as we have hoped and remain sustainable over the next three years," said Magee, who has headed the department since its creation in February 2007. "It also positions us to attract additional major funding towards our ten-year sustainability plan."

Mayor Daniel J. McKee said in a statement that the grant was the result of an 18-month effort aided in part by Sen. Jack Reed and Rep. Patrick Kennedy.

"They understand the great importance of expanding learning opportunities in our community, of thinking outside the box, and of bringing resources from outside our state to the table in these difficult fiscal times," McKee said of the two Washington delegates.

The $550,000 will be paid over two years.

It makes possible the creation of a five-day, "extended learning" program for children in grades one to five, in the Valley Falls section of town. The program would run from 3 to 5:30 p.m. and offer art, music, math and reading classes.

"There is a great need there," says Magee. "Fifty percent of students are from families that are low income, and a very significant number of kids are failing to meet grade-level expectations."

That program will be offered at no charge to students at B. F. Norton that qualify for free or reduced lunch at the school. Eventually, Magee said the town hopes to expand the program, which will serve about 50 students in its first year, town-wide.

Magee said the program would require a staff of about 8 to 12 part-time teachers and assistants and a budget of about $50,000 in its first year. It would likely be run from rented classroom space at Our Lady of Fatima Church.

The OCYL also plans to expand a number of its current programs, including an early childhood literacy class for 4- to 6-year-olds, and visual arts classes for elementary and middle schoolers.

Grant money will be used to purchase laptop computers for its Youth Mapping program, which teaches high school students to work with GIS and GPS software, and its Digital Media Lab, which offers a variety of digital technology classes and sponsors the Young Filmmakers Club.

The cost of 12 laptops and software would be at least $25,000, according to Magee. Money will also be used to expand the roles of Neil Anderson, who is an adviser to the Cumberland Youth Commission, and Jason Freedman, who runs the Digital Media Lab.

Anderson will head an expanded version of the Youth Leadership Academy, a program piloted this summer that trained high school students in advocating for youth issues locally and statewide.

Freeman is expected to expand the lab’s offerings to include training in Adobe Photoshop and Illustration as well as Web design.

Since its inception, the OCYL has collected nearly $125,000 in grants, including those from the Cumberland Local Education Foundation, Nellie Mae and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation.

pmarcelo@projo.com