It was also the first time that the parents of those kids had to pay fully out of their pockets. Federal COVID-19 funding to the state, which had turned into After-School Enrichment (ACE) for families to use in after-school and tutoring programs, dried up for the company this past April, said owner Michel’le Jenkins.
While the Ohio ACE program can be used for tutoring according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, no more families can sign up, and the money can’t be used for before or after school programming. Jenkins said the program only covers one-on-one tutoring which eliminates some of the company’s most popular services.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
A total of 34 kids from Dayton, Trotwood, Middletown and Springfield attended the summer camp in a building on the Trotwood Preparatory and Fitness Academy property, which is not affiliated with Fail Me Not Tutoring.
The camp and tutoring program, which runs during the regular school year, serves grades kindergarten through eighth.
Jenkins, who holds a master’s degree in education, saw students who were struggling in school and wanted a service where kids could learn outside of a classroom.
“We want to make them feel comfortable,” she said.
She’s run the tutoring company since 2020 and has six employees at the camp and eight employees total. Background checks are run on all staff.
Tutoring is based out of a West Dayton facility. Offerings include private tutoring, a multiplication boot camp and “Phunky Phonics,” where younger students can work on reading fluency.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
But she says now one of the biggest struggles is funding. Since the ACE funds dried up, the families she serves are now paying out of their own pocket.
Jenkins said she feels the program is important.
“When I look at what’s going on with youth in Dayton, it’s a lot of at-risk youth,” Jenkins said. “I feel they don’t have a safe environment to be a kid.”
The summer camp and tutoring classes are a safe space, but also a structured learning environment. Jenkins said her students can avoid some summer learning loss, the idea that students lose part of what they learned in the previous school year being off school during the summer, by attending the camp.
During the summer, students learned in the mornings, had recess and had arts and crafts or another activity in the afternoon. Jenkins wanted to teach them financial literacy and having fun with movement, so she incorporated those concepts, along with many others, into her summer programming.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
On the morning photographer Bryant Billing and I visited the campus, the kids split into small groups and worked with Omega Psi Phi – Delta Alpha chapter member Lionel Pittman, an engineer, to build windmills.
Pittman has three degrees in engineering and used to teach before his current job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Now, he does a monthly hands-on STEM class in schools during the school year.
Pittman said a large part of Omega Psi Phi’s philosophy is service. He said there’s a huge need for engineers, especially ones who come from this community, who can help solve future problems in climate change, building more housing or solving food shortages in Dayton.
“The more they understand and are less fearful... the better they are when these things come to their jobs, future communities, to stand up for themselves and to advocate for themselves,” Pittman said.
Alvin Reese III, one of the students in Jenkins’s summer camp, told me his favorite part of the day is recess. While talking to me, he was holding a windmill and kept looking toward where Pittman demonstrated how they worked.
Jenkins said she’s looking for more organizations like Pittman’s to do hands-on activities for kids. For more information, go to https://www.fmntutoring.com.
Eileen McClory is a Dayton Daily News education reporter.
About the Author
