Community Extension Center reaches out to Mt. Vernon Ave. area

COLUMBUS – A fixture of the near east area in Columbus for more than 30 years, The Ohio State University Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center is expanding on its mission to serve as a conduit between the university and the community.

In addition to popular computer literacy classes, the Center will soon offer two programs for area youth: a week-long residential summer camp for high school students and a new 4-H program.

Center director Georgina Dodge says both projects further the Center’s goals to focus on education. “Education is the linchpin of our business,” says Dodge. “We’re very interested in helping young people get a foothold on the educational stepladder and then helping them move up, preferably into higher education. And at the same time, we’re very interested in providing enrichment for adults.”

Before joining the center as director last September, Dodge was a faculty member in Ohio State’s English Department. An expert in African American and multi-racial literature, Dodge is very interested in bringing her expertise to bear on center programs.

One such development is the new 4-H program, which will provide character-building activities for children. “The main goal of our 4-H program is to provide constructive and fun activities for children who might not otherwise be involved in out-of-school activities,” says Dodge. “To have them learn skills, whether academic skills or life skills by doing something that’s enjoyable, I think that’s how we all learn best.”

Compared with rural 4-H programs, Dodge says the Mt. Vernon Avenue area program will be somewhat non-traditional.

“Kids would normally work on projects on their own, at home with the help of a parent,” she says. “But in our program, projects will be based here at the center Kids will come here to work on their projects and they’ll store their projects here.”

Another non-traditional offering at this 4-H chapter is concurrent activities to keep younger siblings busy.

“We anticipate that many of the children that we will be recruiting may be responsible for younger siblings. To help insure that club members can come to the center to work on their project and attend 4-H meetings, we’re going to develop programs for younger kids as well,” says Dodge.

Ultimately, Dodge hopes the 4-H program will serves as a way to bring community members of all ages to the center.

“The plan is to help build and structure communities through families here in the Mount Vernon Avenue area,” Dodge said. “As a 4-H agent once told me, it’s about a lot more than cows and plows.”

Another program hosted by the center this summer provides students entering 11th or 12th grade this fall the opportunity to participate in a unique summer residential camp from June 15-21. The camp program, titled “Celebrating Ohio’s Bicentennial: The Troubled and Triumphant History of the Black Experience,” gives students a chance to live in an Ohio State residence hall for a week while reading and writing about an element of Ohio history.

The summer residential program has three academic components. Program coordinator Carla Wilks says the program is designed to “provide students with both an appreciation for and understanding of the experience of African American history and culture. Students will be immersed in learning and writing about the Black experience in Ohio,” says Wilks.

Academically, classes will be taught from an historical and literary perspective and will be based on the students’ reading of “The River Jordan: A True Story of the Underground Railroad.” Then, students will conduct research on the Internet and develop computer literacy by using websites. The third component of the program emphasizes enrichment and includes experiencing college life, guest speakers, videos with discussion, and field trips on campus and to an Underground Railroad site in Marietta.