After-School Program Cuts Worry Communities
Updated: 1 hour 25 minutes ago
(March 31) -- Unprecedented cuts to after-school programs have law enforcement and other leaders struggling to preserve them with dwindling resources and worrying about the potential impact on communities and public safety.
"Quality after-school programs are a crucial weapon against crime," said Susan Manheimer, president of the California Police Chiefs Association.
Police Chief Richard Word of Vacaville, Calif., agreed. "People say that it's not public safety, but it is," he said to journalists in a recent conference call. And in the 2 to 6 p.m. after-school window, he added, it's "high time for juvenile crime."
Manheimer and Word were reacting to a new report by an anti-crime group showing that after-school programs provide safe activities -- including homework help, conflict management, sports and games -- for more than 400,000 California students every day.
The study was done for an affiliate of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national group of 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and leaders of police officer associations concerned about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's expected plan to cut $8 billion from education spending.
The concern is not limited to California. Around the country, hundreds of after-school and summer programs are either already on the chopping block or under threat of closing by cash-strapped
"Quality after-school programs are a crucial weapon against crime," said Susan Manheimer, president of the California Police Chiefs Association.
Police Chief Richard Word of Vacaville, Calif., agreed. "People say that it's not public safety, but it is," he said to journalists in a recent conference call. And in the 2 to 6 p.m. after-school window, he added, it's "high time for juvenile crime."
Chicago Tribune / MCT
Teachers and police officials are upset that after-school programs from California to New York are losing funding. Research shows kids in such programs earn higher grades, have improved attendance and are more likely to graduate from high school. Here, children in Harlem participate in a 2009 martial arts fitness program after school.
Manheimer and Word were reacting to a new report by an anti-crime group showing that after-school programs provide safe activities -- including homework help, conflict management, sports and games -- for more than 400,000 California students every day.
The study was done for an affiliate of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national group of 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and leaders of police officer associations concerned about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's expected plan to cut $8 billion from education spending.
The concern is not limited to California. Around the country, hundreds of after-school and summer programs are either already on the chopping block or under threat of closing by cash-strapped