Councilman plans to bring RC park in Youngstown to instill bonding and success for kids

Youngstown's First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver is starting a new program aimed to unite fathers and sons by taking part in a special hobby: remote-controlled, or radio-controlled, cars.

Oliver plans to open a brand-new, multi-track RC park to expand minds, bond and reduce violence in the city.

By taking part in the hobby, he said said kids can learn useful skills, build cars and even become pros. 

He said this has been a lifelong passion of his and and has immersed himself into the hobby with his three-year-old son Ari as a way to bond. 

"I bought him his first remote control car at two years old," he said, I've got a love for remote control cars."

The problem is, there's no designated outdoor space in Youngstown to race, play, build and learn how to use them.

Oliver's changing that, by finding a property to build a multi-track RC park so parents and kids can come and join the club called "Ari's Eyes RC Hobby and Kingdom."

"The idea is to bring a lot of fathers together who have young children, and we raise them all up together in this RC club," he added, "So we all work together to raise our children together, so as they grow, they get into STEM and STEAM  and become engineers together based off this program, therefore reducing violence in the city."

Oliver has local enthusiasts in on the plan to bring people together and teach unique skills, and said the space will also include 3D printers on site to allow kids to design and build cars. 

"These six-year-olds and these three-year-olds are able to do these things," RC enthusiast, Devyn Dellamy said, "Once they get to our age, they'll be able to pull off things that we only dream about as far as fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination."

Oliver is getting the organization's ducks in a row and hopes to find a property as soon as next month.

The group is seeking grants and donations to make this affordable for parents to join and get what they need to get started.

Boardman Hobby Center and Austintown Hobby & Raceway shops said they are also willing to get involved to help in any way they can.

Anyone interested in joining the club, donating or helping out can email [email protected]