617 Steiner Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45204
Dater 4 Kids ... Youth Development Program
Santa Maria is a catalyst and advocate for Greater Price Hill families to attain their educational, financial, and health goals. For more than 123 years Santa Maria has helped families help themselves. A grant from the Charles H. Dater Foundation supported diverse activities within the Youth Development Program in Lower Price Hill, despite the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. By adapting our activities to follow health and safety guidelines we still provided social-emotional skills groups for at-risk youth, six field trips, gardening opportunities, community service projects, and other community building events for at-risk youth and their families.
Thirty-six youth were involved in structured social-emotional skills groups, facilitated at Oyler School during the majority of the 2019-2020 school year, and then in small group virtual sessions or in-person porch visits once the pandemic closed down schools. All youth (264) benefiting from Dater Foundation funding participated in community service projects, though due to the pandemic, these transitioned to an individualized basis in which youth received supplies at their houses and served their own families and neighbors. Of those youth for whom we had demographic information (75), a vast majority (96%) showed “increased bonding to community and caring adults” according to our Life Skills survey. All 129 families participating in the family advocacy component of the program received emergency services and motivational coaching, and 47 of these families moved from “crisis” to “seeking stability” after 11 months as measured by the Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) family stability measure.
A Good Success Story …
Donny Martin (DJ) ... one story about a program participant (in the picture: DJ and Brother Abdullah)
The pandemic has surprisingly brought on a season of creativity, stronger support systems, and new collaborations for the youth in Lower Price Hill. Keeping kids connected with their peers, positive adults, and teachers during on-line learning has been essential. Staff at the Joe Williams Family Center became concerned when an 8th grade boy, Donny Martin (DJ), grew disengaged from programming after his mother lost her battle to cancer. This season of quarantine already brought on a feeling of isolation and loneliness, but the devastating loss of his mother elevated it even more. Abdullah Powell (Brother Abdullah), from Elementz, started teaching music production for interested youth at the Joe Williams Family Center. This opportunity piqued DJ’s interest and it turned out to be the perfect addition to programming! It has allowed DJ to process his emotions, cope with the losses he experienced, and develop confidence in himself. With Brother Abdullah’s guidance, DJ has created music instrumentals, written song lyrics, and recorded his first music video! His first song was written in honor of his baby nephew that tragically passed away after being just a week old. It was a surprise for his older sister as she grieved. He is currently working on his second song that will be celebrating the life of his beloved mother. The quality time with Brother Abdullah combined with the already established social-emotional skills groups made for the perfect, mood-boosting combination! These days, DJ will frequently stop by at the Joe Williams Family Center to say hello, grab a snack, or discuss what is on his mind. He tries to linger long enough to see which Youth Development Program staff member will be kind enough to play a little basketball with him. He is definitely a young man of many talents! Who knows, maybe one day DJ’s songs will be playing over the radio.
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