New grant funding through the Pennsylvania State Senate’s School Safety and Security Committee, Building Opportunity through Out-of-School Time (BOOST) and Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) grants, were awarded to multiple projects in Erie County, aiming to support local community violence prevention and intervention strategies and after school/summer programs for at-risk school-age youth.
One of the organizations awarded nearly $50,000 is the United Way of Erie County, who along with the YMCA of Greater Erie are now planning on launching an, “Intro to Sports,” program.
Meghan Easter, Associate Vice President of Community Schools for United Way of Erie County, explained that they will now be working with all of their community school directors as they roll out the program.
The partnership is expecting to serve approximately 280 students in grades 1-5 across 10 Erie Public Schools.