But this fundraiser isn't all fun and games; if it is successful, it may allow the program to continue helping low-income minority students who may not otherwise have an opportunity to attend college.

Jess Levine founded the program in 1986 as an offshoot of the now-defunct Adopt-a-School program through Chicago Public Schools, said Balanda. It was originally a partnership with the Hans Christian Andersen Elementary School, and developed after school programs for neighborhood kids with the potential to go on to college. These days, all students who begin the group's enrichment program in sixth grade and complete it will be awarded a college scholarship. But that requires more than simply showing up after schcool every day, Balanda says; students study reading and writing as well as time management and studying techniques.

"Our program is quite rigorous" Balanda said. "It's not a drop-in center. When the kids are here, they're working. It's like an extension of school. They're doing activities. They're expected to be on task. So not every child who comes into our program at sixth grade will finish our program."

Luis Ramos counts himself as an East Village Youth Program success story. Ramos began the enrichment program as a sixth grader, was awarded a scholarship upon high school graduation and is now a senior at Depaul University, who is completing a degree in secondary education with an emphasis on Spanish.

He said the EVYP was instrumental in inspiring him to follow his chosen path of study.

"East Village was able to help someone like me who came from the neighborhood that I came from make it this far," Ramos said. "This is something I want to do. I want to help basically the same kids who were like me when I grew up."

When Ramos was growing up in Wicker Park, he says many of his peers were not interested in going to college after high school. Ramos plans to become a teacher, in an effort to combat that mindset among similar students.

"You always see the same sad story every time," he said. "You know, kids that don't make it because they don't know where to go or have anyone to push them or someone to look up to or that they could relate to."

Now that Ramos has almost completed college, he says he would love to continue to be involved with the EVYP.

"It's kind of like an obligation or something that I should do because they never gave up on me when I was going through bad times and needed a lot of help," Ramos said. "They were there for me. If I could just pay them back somehow by tutoring or being a mentor, that's something I want to do."

Looking ahead, Balanda says the center's next goal is to introduce more technology to the students by building a mobile computer lab.

There is also the possibility that the program will move to the Belmont Cragin community, where a EVYP satellite program currently exists. However, it is uncertain of the EVYP will be able to remain at its Grand location, and its longevity will be determined by the amount of available resources. But the students currently involved in the program will not be abandoned.