ST. LOUIS, MO. (December 20, 2019) – Every child needs somewhere to go after school besides an empty house. For the past 37 years, Midtown Community Services has given kids ages 5-18 from at-risk neighborhoods a safe place to play and learn once the final school bell rings. And now with a generous $7,000 grant from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing, Midtown can expand its afterschool educational programming over the next two years.

This year, more than 50 kids have enrolled in Midtown’s Youth Development program. Funding from Boeing will be used to purchase craft and school supplies for the program, expand STEAM activities to take what students learn in school to the next step, and provide high schoolers with free ACT tutoring and leadership workshops. The goal of Midtown’s program is to help youth progress in academic level within the school year and prepare them to enroll in secondary education after graduation.

“Researchers have found that when kids at risk have access to afterschool programs that offer strong programming and dedicated adult mentors, they experience higher test scores, improve their self-confidence and avoid risky behaviors,” remarked Laura Lamb, executive director of Midtown. “This grant from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing helps ensure we not only increase our breadth of programming, but make it available to even more children from underserved communities in St. Louis.”