Free basketball program shoots for positivity in Youngstown's South side
The heat didn't stop a group volunteers from flipping an empty parking lot into a place for young people to shoot hoops.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The heat didn't stop a group volunteers from flipping an empty parking lot into a place for young people to shoot hoops.
21 News was there when local organizations jumped in the game to bring a free basketball program to Youngstown's South Side.
Passing, dribbling and shooting for nothing but net, you couldn't tell by watching these young basketball players but it's not every day they get to shoot hoops close to home.
“It was nice because I live in a part of the neighborhood that there aren't many kids, so I don't have that many people to play with except my friends, so it was good to play with other people,” Said Jonathan Clay of Youngstown.
The organizer of the event, Diane Gonda, said the program came from asking residents what they could do to make the neighborhood better.
“We've had several neighborhood conversations and done canvassing of the residents to say, 'How can we help make your neighborhood better?' And they told us over and over again that there's nothing on the South Side for children to do,” Gonda said.
So the Taft promise neighborhood decided to get in the game of changing that, partnering with partnership with the Mahoning Co Juvenile Justice Center (JJC), the Community Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) and the Youngstown parks department to create a free pop up basketball program on the south side.
A move Andre Elliot says keeps kids active and helps the community flourish
“Crime goes down, that's number one,” said Elliot of the Mahoning County JJC. “Young people are more social. They're starting to move into different activities and keeping their brains thinking.”
Putting the event on was a team effort, too, transforming this parking lot of Metro Church into a basketball court.
"The parks department brought in the hoops and the JJC folks painted the courts and we're ready to go," said Gonda.
And the kids jumped right into action, playing learning how to use teamwork and how to pass the ball.
Organizers say they hope the community can continue to team up to make programs like this possible, and say they'll do their best to help the community thrive, one basket at a time.
There's still time to join the free basketball program.
They'll be back out at Metro Assembly of God Church at 6 p.m. on July 30 and August 6.
Organizers also say they're working on a baseball program for the future.
