Von Vohlkin (top right), Kaylee Wamsley (left), and Jazabella Robson (bottom right) dance to some music being played before a dance class taught by Emma Prochaska (top left) in the gym of The Hive, an after-school program for kids in elementary, middle, and early high school in Nelsonville, Ohio. Prochaska, a dance student at Ohio University, volunteers at The Hive every other Wednesday and one day wants to develop dance programs for youth in the foster care system. “This was a good opportunity to get some experience,” says Prochaska. Many kids enrolled at The Hive have non-traditional family situations; eight are in foster care and 22 of them are being taken care by a non-parent family member.

In systemically impoverished communities, many families struggle with the onslaught of barriers to providing for their families. Children suffer when factors beyond their control overwhelm their family systems and destroy their quality of life. Families without access to steady incomes can end up with gaps in reliable transportation, housing, nutrition, hygiene, clothing, and other basic needs. Stressors at home, including absent, substance-dependent, or abusive parents, can result in behavioral problems in kids, preventing them from socializing and sustaining healthy relationships. Youth resiliency programs strive to meet any needs of school-aged children in Athens County, the poorest county in Ohio. After-school programs like The Hive, drop-in centers like Sojourner’s Resiliency Center, and religious youth groups like the one run by the First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville each have their own approach to addressing the needs of these kids. However, they all provide for physical needs, host activities, offer emotional support, and provide positive role models for becoming successful adults. Each group offers a safe space to socialize and just be kids.

Eliza Coulter, a part-time volunteer and parent of two boys who go to The Hive, slides down a slide with her son Ivan, 3, as other Hive kids of all ages run around the public playground behind The Hive. Coulter says that working at The Hive gives her an opportunity for affordable child care and to spend more time with her kids.

Bentley Shumway makes a snack for himself out of canned tuna, crackers, and cheese puffs. All ingredients are from the pantry at Sojourner’s Resiliency Center, a drop-in center for youth in Athens, Ohio, mainly geared towards helping kids at risk of homelessness. According to the staff at Sojourner’s, a majority of the kids who frequent the center are food insecure, and some take home canned and dried goods from the pantry home every day.

Kylee Smith gets out of The Hive’s van to walk to her house in Nelsonville. Jonathan Martinez, a full-time staff member at The Hive, drives the van at the end of each shift. He gives rides to an average of six kids a day, but he can take two full trips before he drops off the van and walks home.

Breyonna Young (center) looks at Lauren Shumway (right) while Aaliyah Matheny (left) braids her hair at Savannah Loving’s fifteenth birthday party. These girls a lot of time together, but there seems to be some animosity between them at times. All three girls, and everyone at the party, goes to The Hive, and some also go to the First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville’s youth group.

Mackson Flipse, 8, gives a middle finger during a portrait in the library upstairs in Sojourner’s Resiliency Center in Athens, Ohio, on Friday, Nov. 11, 2022. Flipse is one of around ten of the main “regulars” at the center. When not playing catch, video games, or getting in arguments with his friends, Flipse likes to play the drums during his time at the center.

A fight breaks out in the Gaga Ball enclosure while kids watch outside The Hive. A handful of Hive kids flocked to the scene to watch when they saw the fight had started. Katie Fox, The Hive’s coordinator, says a lot of these kids thrive on chaos because it mirrors their home lives. Encounters like these are not uncommon, but most disagreements at The Hive do not come to blows.

Katie Fox, The Hive’s coordinator, looks for Hive kids after a fight. A passerby called the police and a couple of the older kids wanted to share their side of the story with the officers that were called to the scene. Fox wanted to take them back to The Hive to keep them out of trouble. Although one kid received a cut on the head, the officers let them go without arrests. One of the officers drove one of them to his grandmother’s house.

Savannah Loving (center) jokingly “flips off” her friends while they hang out in her room during her fifteenth birthday party. Loving and her sister, Makayla, are the foster daughters of Dottie Fromal and they regularly attend The Hive and the First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville’s youth group.

Lori Crook holds a framed photo of Dottie Fromal’s foster daughters after Fromal’s eviction hearing, in hopes that the opposing legal team will see it. If Fromal loses her housing before she finds another place, she could lose custody of her foster daughters. All three foster daughters attend The Hive and the First Presbyterian Church of Nelsonville’s youth group.

Molly Sanders inspects Kaylee Wamsley’s hand after it had been hurt while playing at The Hive. Sanders is a part-time employee and a college student at Ohio University. In her home town, she used to work in child care at a country club, and prefers working here. “I miss the ease of working with country club kids, but I feel like I grow a lot more working here.”

Mickinzee Wolf, 11, shows Erica Foltz anime-style characters she made on an app on her phone. Foltz, the Sojourner’s Resiliency Center’s Athens Outreach Coordinator, has a close relationship with many of the kids who come to the center. She and other staff members often play video games with the kids on the center’s consoles.

Abri Withrow and Audyn Smith watch a video as they lay on bean bags in The Hive. This stage space is sometimes used for karaoke, talent shows, and movie nights.

Leon Rohn climbs a swing set outside of The Hive.