The Greater Wheeling Area Youth Outreach, Inc. is committed to empowering young people from lower income families with the opportunities, skills, and vision to achieve long-term dreams and goals.
SERVING THESE HIGH SCHOOLS AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS
North Program: Wheeling and Buffalo Grove High Schools ; Holmes and London Middle Schools
South Program: Hersey and Elk Grove High Schools ; River Trails and and Grove Jr. High Schools
Seeing academically underperforming children from low-income households being left behind by northwest suburban public schools prompted Philip Herman in 1997 to establish a supplemental education program for low-income suburban youth of all races.
The program, originally coordinated under the auspices of the Wheeling and River Trails Park Districts, provided academically struggling students with adequate time to study and a chance to participate in healthy group recreational activities.
Herman’s vision was for his after-school program to blossom into a larger scale tutoring/mentoring initiative for middle- and high school students. That program became the Greater Wheeling Area Youth Outreach, Inc. (GWAYO), and was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation on August 16, 2001.
