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When Loniqua Howell was growing up in New York, it seemed like there were things for younger people to do instead of just hanging out or sitting inside in front of a screen. And there was a sense of community. Everybody knew you and, as she puts it, if you got caught doing something you shouldn't, you were in trouble at home -- there was accountability. That's one reason she started the local Boy Mom Marathon nonprofit.
"Where I was growing up, the community was involved. If I got in trouble by the neighbor down the block, I also got in trouble once I got home. We had to put signs around our neck. I was bad or whatever I did, and that was my week outside. So it was also embarrassing, and sometimes you need a little bit of embarrassment...and everybody else gets to see it," she said.
When she moved to the Williamsport area, Howell, who had been told this was a kid-friendly area, was surprised to find that although there were lots of programs, they tended to be costly. For parents of multiple children with limited finances, that can be prohibitive.
"My nonprofit is dedicated to the youth within the community, offering low-cost or no-cost programs," she explained.
This year during the summer, kids ranging in age from five to nine are in Howell's summer camp program while during the school year Howell offers an after-school program.
"The main objective is offering different programs that aren't readily accessible to our youth," Howell said.
During the summer camp, the children receive breakfast, lunch and snacks. There are field trips and daily activities, which include some directed at helping the children to avoid what is called the "summer slide," where what has been achieved or learned during the school year is lost due to the long summer vacation.
She shared that during a stretching exercise some of the children didn't know which was their right side when she asked them to raise their hand.
"Accountability at home also has to take place because just because you have your kids in school and you think that the teachers are teaching, you've got to go back to reading with your kids at home, making sure that they're reading on their level," she said.
"We've got a lot of kids that do online school, so the parents believe that their kids are on schedule, where they need to be, but then they come here and we do practice math, and some of them can't add. Some of them can't multiply simply your two time tables, your five time tables, and that is a concern. So it's also a question of whether or not the No Child Left Behind Act is essential because we're pushing kids along just because they might meet a certain criteria," Howell said.
"When you run programs like this and you're actually taking the time to invest in your kids to take notice of what they may be lacking, I reach out to all the parents. I let them know whatever paperwork we do for the day, whether it's writing and script and things like that, I'll send them home. I discovered a new book while I was doing some research, called the Weighty Word Book, which goes through the alphabet and it just gives you one big word that they may use, and then it shows them different ways of learning and keeping it in their mind," she said.
Howell, who has a bachelor's degree in psychology with an emphasis in behavior analysis, a master's in forensic psychology, a master's in criminal justice, the court system, which she says helps her to understand how things go and how things can be processed, is currently working on a mental health counseling degree for private practice-"so that it'll be easier to work with my own youth or youth that come in or get referred."
As the local community struggles with juvenile delinquency issues, Howell feels that it's important to understand where the kids and teens who are involved are coming from.
"Their background and certain things that they've gone through, some adults have never even gone through. They're not even 10 yet, and they've had experiences in life that I think some adults wouldn't even be able to cope with on a daily basis," she said.
She advocates for "taking time to actually get to know some of these kids and understanding some of their backgrounds."
"Not every kid is bad just because they have bad behavior. That's not necessarily them. Some of them are in environments where they don't know how to regulate an emotion or something like that. Or grandparents are in house raising the kids and they're dealing with different ages or their own health issues or whatever the case may be, but programs like this give you an opportunity to sit down and get to know your youth that you're dealing with.
"The majority of the kids out here, they're intelligent, but yet they are not given the resources or you've got people placing perceptions and their own ideas of what they are on them, and it creates a labeling theory. Once you start considering or calling someone - like if I could always call this young man right here a bad kid, and tell him you're the bad guy - after a while, their brain is gonna adapt to that. So yeah, getting to know the kids in the area, understanding where they come from," she said.
"I encountered a guy in the store one day that stated, 'Oh, I never needed help raising my kids when I was raising my kids years ago,' and I'm like, well, times have changed," she said.
Another issue is the state of the economy often requires that both parents have to work in order for the family to survive.
"You're dealing with stressors. You're dealing with daily nuisances...you come up against different things, but programs such as summer youth programs, summer camp programs, whether they're mentoring programs or not, because we do different things throughout the day. Whether we end up having a discussion after lunch, talking about our day. They wrote about who they are, what they like to do. Once again, getting to know who you're dealing with," she said.
Howell is working with the county commissioners to set up a youth council meeting so that they can tell the community what they see as the important issues in their lives.
She feels that the main thing right now is getting the community to hear the kids.
"And then to learn how to speak to them just as much as an adult wants to be spoken to, with respect," she said.
A lot of times, she said, adults are just "cursing kids out,"
"Sometimes you just sit outside and the kids go 'hi miss, hi ma'am' They're very respectful, but they want the same stuff they're giving out to the adults in return," she said.
After four years of running the program, because of its continued growth and a hope that more programs can be added, Howell said that they are really in need of more space. Right now they are located in the basement at Central Baptist Church, 601 Seventh Ave. and they do have the possible option of fixing up the space and possibly continuing there, but finding a secure permanent place is a goal. They will also have a table at the "Percy David Mitchell Sr. Day" celebration, Aug. 29 and are seeking donations of school items to be given out and volunteers to help.
For more information about the various programs offered year round for youth of all ages, visit the Cencade and Boy Mom Marathon Facebook page.