A group of third-through-fifth-graders in two Erie elementary schools are about to fill their after-school hours each Wednesday with a variety of activities.
They will head to the Eagle’s Nest on Pennsylvania Avenue, where they will meet with a group of Erie police and Erie County probation officers. They will have a snack, do a worksheet, engage in curriculum, enjoy an activity, eat a warm and balanced meal and then be taken home to their respective neighborhoods, Tyresha Barnes said.
Barnes spoke Sept. 16 as officials including Erie Housing Authority leaders gathered in the Eagle’s Nest Athletic Center to announce the launching of the city’s newest Police Athletic League program.
The Housing Opportunities for the People of Erie After-School Police Initiative for Residential Educational Support, or HOPE ASPIRES program, will bring together students from housing authority properties and officers in the Erie police Quebec Unit, which covers housing authority property, for weekly mentoring and relationship-building sessions, much like the larger Police Athletic League program that has been in Erie schools and centers for a decade.
“Many of our residents are children, so we really tried to home in on what programs would entice our children to participate and give them something to do after school and in the summer months,” said Dusti Dennis, executive director of the Housing Authority.
Officials have said that roughly 1,500 children between the ages of 8 and 18 live in Housing Authority-owned properties in Erie.
The new program is made possible by a $500,000 grant the Housing Authority was awarded from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The funding will cover the program for three years.
Building trust ‘one conversation and one relationship at a time’
Barnes, the program’s coordinator, said the after-school sessions begin Oct. 7 and will initially involve 40 students. They will be picked up from school at 2:30 p.m. and taken to the Eagle’s Nest, where they will engage with the officers and others. After the sessions end at 6:30 p.m., the students will be taken home to their respective neighborhoods, she said.
In addition to the weekly sessions, the program will also feature quarterly field trips and special events, Barnes added.
The plan is to grow the program by taking in students from more grades in the coming years. The hope is that, by 2033, its early participants will be juniors and seniors and will help to mentor the younger participants, said Renee Lamis, the Housing Authority’s director of development.
Cpl. Mike Roofner of the Erie Bureau of Police Quebec Unit speaks of his unit’s involvement in a new Police Athletic League program for students in Housing Authority of the City of Erie properties during a kickoff of the program Sept. 16. Forty students in grades 3 through 5 will be the initial participants in the program, which begins in early October.
For officers in the Quebec Unit, which has patrolled housing authority property and developed relationships with its residents for decades, the program will show the children that officers are not just people they see when something goes wrong, but are mentors, coaches, listeners and role models, Cpl. Mike Roofner said.
“That is how trust is built: One conversation and one relationship at a time,” he said.
More: Erie P.A.L. Junior Police Academy wraps up week of learning about law
Acceptance into the program for eligible children is on a first-come, first-served basis, Barnes said.
More information on the program can be found on the Housing Authority’s website. Those interested in signing up can contact Barnes at 814-452-2425.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Police Athletic League for Erie Housing Authority youth set to start