“It is easier to build small
children than to repair
broken men”
The quote from former slave turned activist
Frederick Douglass is on a plaque in
Johnstown’s Flood City Youth
Fitness Academy.
It’s a motto that resonates with Oscar Cashaw and Deacon Jeffrey Wilson.
The two men lead the growing program that feeds, educates and mentors about 130 children a day.
If you visit the academy on a typical weekday afternoon, prepare for a busy scene, with excited and engaged youth quick to say a polite hello.
Then they are off, maybe to play dodgeball, to get some homework help, or to try a new instrument. The FCYFA has created a little something for everyone with an overarching mission of making kids feel loved and safe.
The non-profit organization was established in 2007 as the “Flood City Boxing Academy.”
The mission at that time was to teach boxing skills and introduce physical fitness to local youth to help some fight obesity and others escape from issues such as drugs and violence.
Cashaw, creator of the program, saw the many benefits participating in a sport provides.
“It reinforces good behavior over bad behavior,” he says. “You show up late to practice, you may have to pay a punishment – run so many laps, do so many pushups. So, you get it in your brain, you need to do what you need to do. Now when they do good things, they develop confidence and learn to succeed.”
Over the years, the program expanded to include a lot more than just boxing and physical fitness. Wilson came on board in 2017, bringing with him 30 years of experience with kids and teens through the Baptist Youth Fellowship.
“It’s a tangible reward,” Wilson says. “There’s a lot of things in life, you don’t see the tangible reward to it, but we see children who have come from adverse situations and now they are doing extremely great things.”
Take for instance, 15-year-old Jay Pridgen. School for Jay was not going well, but now, thanks to the academy’s tutoring program, Jay is back on track and proud to see her grades going up.
“I was struggling and needed extra help,” Jay says.
She also is quick to point out that the academy is like an extended family.
“It’s a good place to come and de-stress after school,” she says. “We’re treated like family here. A lot of people I call my brothers and my sisters even though we are not biologically related. A lot of us do go to school together so we see each other there and we hang out together here.”
The Flood City Youth Fitness Academy works closely with the Greater Johnstown School District, so that tutors have the materials needed to help students succeed.
In addition to tutors, the academy also provides mentors. Chasity Ingram is the academy’s mentor supervisor.
“Mentors are here to actively engage the kids in activities, make sure that they go to tutoring and also keep them active and learning how to do new things,” Ingram says.
“We want to make sure all the kids have each tool that they might need when they leave here.”
Ingram is mother of four girls. All of them come to the program.
“This is a safe haven for them to not be out in the streets, doing something they shouldn’t be doing,” she says. “We are trying to build them up and make sure they understand someone is here to help them get to the next level.”
Transportation can often be a barrier for families, so the FCYFA has that taken care of, in part, thanks to a generous donation of shuttles from the Conemaugh Health System.
“We pick students up at school and bring them to the program,” Wilson says. “Then we take them home at the end of the day.”
In the summer, the students get picked up at home.
Those rides to and from the program and the meals provided are a true godsend for some families.
“That’s the carrot on the stick,” Cashaw says. “If we were not serving food here, a lot of these kids wouldn’t be here. They know the set times and are sitting, waiting for that meal.”
“Realistically, we live in a real complicated world now,” Wilson says. “Parents may be struggling to work; they might not be able to adequately provide that meal. Many are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.”
Ten-year-old Norah Minor says the academy is the perfect place for her after school.
“I’d probably be stuck on the bus and having my grandparents pick me up, because my dad works until 4 out in Loretto and my mom works until 4:30 downtown.”
Her 10-year-old friend, Maia Schuster, says she could go home, but would rather be with her friends.
“This place is way more fun than being stuck at home,” Maia says.
Both girls light up when talking about the academy – particularly when it comes to coding.
“On Wednesdays, there is coding in the tutoring room,” Norah says. “I love it.”
Maia quickly chimes in. “Oh coding is great.”
Coding and robotics are just two of many topics students are introduced to at the academy. There also is exposure to graphic design, computer science, art, STEM and music.
Every child can learn to play up to seven musical instruments at no charge.
The music program is possible in part through a grant from the Pennsylvania Rural Alliance for the Arts. Not only is it helping students to learn to read and play music, but also is helping to preserve an important part of the community culture.
“We realized we needed to bring up another generation of young people who could read and understand music,” Wilson says.
“It is an important part of our community. Who is going to play at celebrations, family reunions, funerals?”
Cashaw agrees. “The old negro spiritual hymns – picking cotton, banjo picking, hymns – became part of American culture and helped spin off many types of music, including jazz, rhythm and blues, bluegrass and even country music.”
The students learn about their heritage at the academy, but also through field trips to places like the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore and the Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, D.C. They also have the opportunity to visit Howard University and Morgan State University and learn to paddleboard at Greenhouse Park.
Sometimes, the field trips come to them. Most recently, the St. Francis University women’s basketball team held a basketball clinic for the youth.
“Some of our students are inner-city kids with not a lot of resources,” Wilson says. “We can offer things aside from what they are used to and take them places where they’ve never been.”
All of this comes with a price, so Cashaw spends a good portion of his time working on grants and developing partnerships with other community leaders, organizations and donors.
“We have great partnerships with the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, AmeriServ Financial, the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, Conemaugh, Lee Initiatives, Learning Lamp and the United Way – just to name a few,” he says. “They believe in what we are doing.”
For him, the payoff comes in a special way.
“When I walk out on this floor, kids run up to me and hug me and say, ‘How you doing, Mr. Oscar?’ – which is thanking me.” he says.
“That’s what I get out of this. I’ve been blessed to find my purpose in life and how I can actually contribute.”
