Following a first year that saw significant gains in students' reading and math scores, the Youngstown City School District provided an expanded after-school program which began Monday. 

"In only five months last school year, our students improved an average of a year's worth in reading and three-quarters of a year in math," said CEO Krish Mohip. "We're excited to see the strides they're able to make in a program that runs from September through the end of the school year."

This year's program is for kindergarten through eighth-graders and will include academics, fun enrichment activities and exposure to fundamental sports skills. 

Sessions begin immediately after school and run until 6:30 p.m. for the elementary schools and until 6 p.m. at Rayen Early College Intermediate School.

Dinner and a snack, as well as busing home, will be provided by the school district and it's all free to families.

YCSD is partnering with the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, which offers its Success After 6 program at Williamson, Taft, Paul C. Bunn, Martin Luther King and William Holmes McGuffey elementary schools, in the after-school initiative. 

Success After 6 services Kindergarten through sixth-graders.