The AHEAD Foundation is a private non-profit organization created to serve children and their families in the Massillon Community by helping to remove barriers to learning. AHEAD is designed to work with families, school personnel, and community resources to: reduce and eliminate some of the issues of poverty, improve negative educational experiences of children or families, support the social, emotional and physical limitations of families, and to provide enrichment opportunities that can enhance the overall experiences and achievements of the students in our district. Overall, our goal is to support the district and serve families by helping to address those concerns which can impede the educational and life experiences of children.

AHEAD originally invested, supported and developed the first afterschool programs with the Massillon City schools in 1994. It has been involved in finding supportive solutions and programs to families of the Massillon community since that time. Its role has evolved over time yet the purpose to provide support and services to families has remained the same.

AHEAD plays an important role in providing social service support to the Massillon City School District . Assessment, referral, supportive and consultative services are available to families and staff. Connecting families as well as the district to community resources is another critical role AHEAD serves for the district. AHEAD is actively involved in many collaborative activities within the community and has played an integral role with the Salvation Army in developing the Community Collaborative Network; this is an opportunity for Massillon based community agencies to keep each other up to date and informed of each other’s activities., and build potential partnerships together.

The AHEAD Foundation is currently an active partner with our 21st Century After School programs in grades K through 4 which services 225 children and approximately 150 families at three Massillon City School Elementary sites. The programs are housed at Franklin , Emerson and Smith Elementary Schools and serve children from all six elementary buildings within our district. Middle school children are served in our partner, Kaleidoscope Kids program grades 5 through 8 on site at our new state of the art middle school. The Kaleidoscope Kids program serves approximately 330 children were provided with the much needed afterschool programming, care and youth development opportunities. Children in our afterschool programs benefit from not only the safety and supervision of care between the high risk hours of 3pm and 6pm , but also from academic improvement, support and exposure to enrichment opportunities in the areas of arts and recreation, social/emotional support and lifestyle choices. Children are provided a hot, nutritious meal and a safe reliable ride home. Parent participation is a required component that enhances the child’s success in school and in life.

The AHEAD Foundation also plays an integral role in social service coordination, development, programming and implementation of the CARE TEAM, a concept that has been successful in other districts and is currently being piloted at the Massillon Middle School . The Middle School program known as TIGER PATHS focuses on ways to help reduce barriers to learning in both academic and non-academic arenas by building supports around students and their families.

AHEAD is run by a Board of Directors and is a 501 (c) 3 established in 1995. In 2002, Mickey Workman was brought on board as the Social Service Coordinator and provided much needed social services to the families within Massillon for several years, before retiring in 2005. In September 2005, Vanessa Stergios was hired as the Executive Director. She is a Licensed Social Worker with the State of Ohio and has a Master’s Degree and Post Master’s Degree coursework in Clinical Counseling from Walsh University . Vanessa has worked in the social service and related fields since 1987 with several agencies, organizations and medical institutions in Stark County .

We are located at: The Massillon City School Educational Complex at: 207 Oak Ave. SE , Massillon , Ohio 44646 . Our phone is 330-832-7223 and email is: info@massillonahead.com