Albany Summer youth program reports more than 2,000 participants

ALBANY – More than 2,100 youngsters participating, 55,405 meals and snacks served, 878 hours of academics, nearly 20,000 minutes of activities.

Those were among the statistics presented to city and county officials detailing the impact of the first Albany Summer Collaborative.

Officials with the United Way of Southwest Georgia, which initiated the program after word of Albany State University’s cancellation of the summer National Youth Sports Program, provided statistics on the first seven weeks of the 10-week program during meetings last week of the Albany City Commission and the Dougherty County Commission.

“Our goal was to bring a pool of people to increase the impact you’ve been having all these years (for a) collective impact,” United Way President and CEO Orson Burton Jr. told Dougherty commissioners. “What it means for us is not to work in silos and make sure we are creating measurable results.”

Of the 2,140 youngsters served, 73% had never participated in a summer program before, Burton said. The initial proposal was to bring in about 1,000 participants, but the numbers realized were more than double that number.

Of those, 280 were homeless children, Burton said.

The Albany City Commission approved a $350,000 expenditure to help fund the collective, which helped fund 18 organizations and their summer programs.

“The Albany Summer Collaborative is by far one of the best summer programs I’ve witnessed,” County Commissioner Anthony Jones said after hearing Burton’s presentation. “In three months, you reached 2,000 students. That’s incredible.

“I was on the fence on how you were going to pull it off. You exceeded expectations. I tip my hat to you twice.”

Albany City Commissioner Diana Brown, who volunteered at several of the sites, also said she was impressed. For next year, the commissioner said she would like to see the county and Dougherty County School System participate financially.

The Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office increased the number of participants in its annual summer program to help offset the loss of the program at Albany State, which had been in operation for five decades. The United Way reached out to sign up families that would not have otherwise been able to participate , Brown said, and that helped boost numbers.

“They went out to the apartment complexes, to the grocery stores,” she said. “A lot of them never heard about the program. We need to continue to build and make safer neighborhoods for our children and create a better environment to learn.”

During her time at the sites, the commissioner said that she witnessed children learning and growing.

“The only thing these kids want is someone to love on them,” she said. “We need to stop looking down on them. When you show them we’re all in this together, I think change will come. It can be changed. It’s about the children and the parents.”