YOUNGSTOWN — Kelly Pavlik, former middleweight boxing champion, spoke to Mahoning County commissioners Thursday about his goal to improve the lives of young people. He’s hoping the commissioners can allocate funds — such as American Rescue Plan money — to help him do it.

Pavlik, who last fought in 2012, is focusing his energy on the Kelly Pavlik Charitable Organization, a nonprofit operating a boxing gym in Columbiana. He wants to expand his facilities into Trumbull and Mahoning counties and offer athletic, wellness and educational opportunities to youths in areas outside of the larger urban areas in the Mahoning Valley.

He had a significant advocate in his corner when he met with the commissioners at a staff meeting in their offices in the county administration building — state Rep. Lauren McNally, D-Youngstown.

McNally said she has been working with Pavlik for about five months, hoping to acquire funding from Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, “which was partly created because there is a significant amount of disparity in philanthropy in rural areas versus urban areas.” She talked about other funding sources at the Statehouse, but some funds might not be available until next year, she said.

She said, for instance, “Cleveland has millions and millions of dollars of philanthropy available to them; just outside” of Cleveland, there is “nothing. And the same is true here,” she said.

The foundation includes Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

She said state legislators have created programs to change that. She said Pavlik’s charity “fits exactly into the mold of why we’ve created these statehouse funding projects.”

She said Pavlik’s organization “has had a huge response in terms of the people who want to sign up and get the services offered.”

She she Pavlik’s organization can be described as a Boys and Girls Club for people living outside of the larger urban areas — the suburbs or rural areas, “who would never have access to this stuff, but those kids need access to those things — health, physical health, mental health, tutoring” and after-school tutoring.

Pavlik said his original goal was to open a boxing gym to help get kids off the street “for even two hours a day — boxing, not getting in trouble and having something to look forward to.”

He decided that not every kid will want to box, so he started offering personal athletic training and wants also to offer counseling. “A lot of the kids are either underprivileged or at risk or just kids who are not underprivileged but do not have the side money to pay for tutoring or extra help.”

He said if he had a facility just in Boardman, then kids from Trumbull County or East Liverpool probably would not travel to that location. He has looked at sites in Niles and Cortland and spoken with the mayors of those two locations.

“I want to be able to provide the services to these kids,” Pavlik said.

He has 45 kids in his program in Columbiana and 35 more on a waiting list. “Every kid in grades 4 to 12 will be free in this program,” he said. “They are required to come twice a week.” He would like it to be more than twice per week.

He’s working to open a second facility because a lot of kids want to come.

A summary of his program that he turned in to the commissioners states that Pavlik wants to provide facilities “(where kids can) not only train physically but also offer our youth educational tutoring, classes, substance abuse counseling, a mentorship program as well as after-school meal programs and programs for seniors like senior sneakers and other gentle and low impact workouts.”

He asked the commissioners for money for computers, tables, chairs, paper, pencils and pens for the classrooms and counseling and transportation.

Audrey Tillis, county administrator, said the commissioners would work with legal counsel from the prosecutor’s office and others to see whether ARP funds would be eligible for that type of need.