(READING) – Alvernia College President Dr. Thomas F. Flynn today announced today (June 15, 2006) a partnership with Centro Hispano to provide educational programs and other activities to support middle-school-aged children in the south Reading community.
The “South Reading Youth Initiative” will provide middle-school aged students with programming and services to help them persist and achieve in school, and prepare them to make a difference in their community. Beginning this fall as a small pilot program, the program will involve Alvernia faculty and students and leaders from the community and a number of community organizations. Leaders of Alvernia College and Centro Hispano announced the venture at the Centro Hispano headquarters in Reading.
“We have a tremendous opportunity to have an impact on young people at the most crucial developmental period of their lives,” says Alvernia College President Dr. Thomas F. Flynn. “Relationships with mentors strengthen their preparation for further educational opportunities. It is also a thrill to be able to partner with the people at Centro Hispano and other community groups to take advantage of all of our resources for this important work.”
Jonathon Encarnacion, Executive Director of Centro Hispano, is excited for such a program to develop the next generation of leaders for the greater Reading area. “Young people are such a force for the positive changes that can happen in a community. This program will equip these kids with the knowledge, ideas and confidence to reach their highest goals and inspire others in the community to follow them. Centro Hispano and Alvernia College are uniquely positioned for this 
important work in the City of Reading.”
Also present at the announcement was Pennsylvania State Sentator Michael O’Pake, who announced a state grant of $25,000 to move the initiative forward. “It’s a beautiful day for Reading,” O’Pake declared as he noted not only the benefits to Reading students, but the notion that this program will involve a number of community agencies and churches working together. “The self-esteem of these children will be encouraged, their talent nurtured, and their sense of community strengthened.
Additional grant funding has been secured in conjunction with Centro Hispano. Both partners are also committing other organizational resources, such as personnel, to the program.
Dr. Anne Skleder, Alvernia College’s vice-provost who is leading the school’s efforts to create this program, describes the program as providing a “supportive, positive, educational safe haven for students at the most critical age.” The foundation for the program will be built upon supporting students in making healthy choices; providing mentoring, especially through then participation of Alvernia College students and faculty; and making sure students do not rule out continuing their formal education or training beyond their high school years.
The South Reading Youth Initiative is modeled after the successful “Si Se Puede,” or “Yes, You Can” program which for the past three years has brought dozens of Reading teens to Alvernia College for an intense credit-bearing summer residence program taught by Alvernia College faculty. The program combines academics and career exploration with projects and activities demonstrating the skills required for college and that, for those who reach, a college education is within their grasp.
Using the summer program as its central activity, the South Reading Community Center will provide year-round support and enrichment services to students from the summer programs and other teens from the community. A group of teens who completed the Si Se Puede program will be part of an advisory group which will meet throughout the summer to develop initial programs and activities. A pilot program will be launched later this summer at Centro Hispano with about 20 to 25 middle school students. This group will form the core group for the program’s first year.
As the program develops, the teens themselves will take on a greater role in helping develop programs and activities to reach out to more students in the area. “While we will be supporting all the teens in these programs,” Skleder says, “it is also important that they support each other.”
By the end of the first year, Alvernia and Centro Hispano officials hope to have about 75 students participating in the program and more in future years. “We want to build a strong and sustained presence in the area and with these young people,” Skleder added.
Alvernia is already a strong presence in the Latino community, Dr. Flynn noted. Through the College’s community service programs, students are a regular presence in Reading neighborhoods working in the schools, in senior centers and other locales as well as those city students participating in Si Se Puede. As a college founded by immigrant Sisters from Poland, Alvernia, he quipped, “knows something about serving underserved populations.
