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From 2022, a Stedman Elementary School student celebrates the end of an 18-week EAYD program with Coach Josh Mayes.

Stedman Elementary School in Denver’s North Park Hill neighborhood used $50,000 from an ESSER grant to offer an afterschool program specifically for boys of color.

The funding from ESSER III paid for the Sims-Fayola Foundation’s Empowered Ambition Youth Development (EAYD) program, whose mission is to "improve the life outcomes of young men of color through direct programming and catalyzing systems change by addressing the root causes of educational inequities and institutional barriers."

The program “focuses on improving the social-emotional skills of young men. Also, it has components of mental and behavior, wellness, financial literacy, physical fitness, and some academic support around reading literacy,” said Dedrick Sims, Sims-Fayola’s chief executive officer. 

“The whole goal is to help them to make better decisions around how to deal with conflict in their life, whether it's interpersonal conflict, or interpersonal conflict with someone else,” Sims said. 

Michael Atkins, Stedman’s principal, has seen positive results from EAYD, which has been running for four years at the school, finding “it gives children an outlet to the world that they previously didn't have. Me. I was a little black kid who grew up in Park Hill in a lower socioeconomic environment, and I would have benefited so greatly from adults that look like me that were from where I'm from, who are promoting success.”

EAYD has served 16,000 young men in programs across the country. 

“Our program has resulted in greater than 60% reduction in suspensions, truancies and negative discipline referrals that are associated with violence and physical contact,” Sims said. “And one way that we get those numbers is via achieving double-digit gains or increases in the social-emotional skills that we focus on with the boys.”

 With ESSER grants ending September 2024, Sims said they will explore other funding sources. “We're always looking for funding.” The EAYD program is expected to continue at Stedman.