PIC to Expand Afterschool Programming
to Middle and High School Students in Fayette County

The Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been selected as a recipient of 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grant funds through the Pennsylvania Department of Education. These funds will be used to create four community learning centers that will provide a comprehensive array of after school and summer educational programming to targeted at risk students in grades 6-12 from the following schools in Fayette County:

• Brownsville Area School District - Brownsville Sr. High School & Redstone Middle School
• Connellsville Area School District - Connellsville Jr. High School East and Connellsville Jr. High School West
• Uniontown Area School District - Ben Franklin School and Lafayette Middle School
• Albert Gallatin Area School District - Albert Gallatin South Middle School

The 21st CCLC program provides funding for the establishment of community learning centers to provide academic, artistic, and cultural enhancement activities to students and their families during out of school hours. Eligible Fayette County students will have the opportunity to participate in quality academic instruction and a variety of enrichment activities at the new centers PIC creates in cooperation with each school district. These activities include directed learning in math and language arts, expanding learning in technology and STEM-based areas, with a variety of physical and character building/motivational activities throughout.

In 2006, the PIC received funding through the Pennsylvania Department of Education to create two 21st Century Community Learning Centers in Fayette County. Also, in 2007, PIC was again awarded funding to expand the existing program to create a third center. Through the hard work and dedication of program staff, PIC has been successful in forming rewarding experiences for elementary youth in the Brownsville, Connellsville, and Uniontown Area School Districts.

According to Tim Yurcisin, President of the Private Industry Council, "Our goal with expanding this collaboration-based program is to address the needs of targeted at-risk middle and high school students and their families in academic, character, social, and cultural education activities that will improve scholastic performance and individual development. We are glad that the state is supporting our efforts to help the meet the needs of this age group in Fayette County."

In addition to the Brownsville, Uniontown, Connellsville, and Albert Gallatin Area School Districts, partners in this educational initiative include: TAME, Inc./DARE2XL; Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus; the Education and Technology Institute; Fayette CareeLink; Penn State Extension; Dads Matter of Fayette County; and Adagio Health. The annual award of $396,000 will be used to provide programming to up to 120 students during the school year and 210 during the summer until June 30, 2013, subject to continued availability of funds.

For more information please contact: Tami Ozegovich, director of education at 724-836-2600, ext. 207.