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Articles and resources are cited
for municipalities supporting after school activities;
it pays, too, in dollars, lives.
By Randall Aragon, Police Chief, Conway
In law enforcement's quest to continually develop effective
measures to prevent and control crime, especially for
our youth, police executives have clearly realized that
there are numerous "non-police" initiatives that work.
One highly successful crime-control strategy is after
school activities. Borrowing from several excellent research
studies that include after school programs: Making a
Difference in America's Communities and several tidbits
of information from organization documents relating to
the Fight Crime, Invest in Kids program, I would like
to share the following key findings: · In the hour after
the school bell rings, turning millions of children and
teens out on the streets with neither constructive activities
nor adult supervision, violent juvenile crime suddenly
triples and the prime time for juvenile crime begins.
On school days, the prime time for violent juvenile crime
is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The single most likely hour
of the school day for a juvenile to commit an assault
inflicting serious bodily injury, or an assault with
a weapon is between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. This also is the
peak hour for gang-related violence. · In a study conducted
in several U.S. cities, five housing projects without
Boys & Girls Clubs were compared to five receiving
new clubs. At the beginning, drug activity and vandalism
were the same. But by the time the study ended, the projects
without the programs had 50 percent more vandalism and
scored 37 percent worse on drug activity. · Children
and youth who regularly attend high-quality after school
programs have better grades and conduct in school; more
academic and enrichment opportunities; better peer relations
and emotional adjustment; and lower incidences of drug-use,
violence and pregnancy. (U.S. Department of Education.
21st Century Community Learning Centers: Providing Quality
After school Learning Opportunities for America's Families,
September 2000) · Participants in the Boys & Girls
Clubs of America's national educational enhancement program
Project Learn increased their grade average and showed
improved school attendance and study skills. (S. Schinke.
Evaluation of Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Educational
Enhancement Program, 1999) · Students who participate
in extracurricular activities achieve better grades,
have lower rates of truancy, attain higher levels of
achievement in college and feel more attached to their
schools, as documented by a 17-year study that followed
1,800 sixth-graders in 10 Michigan school districts through
high school and college. (Michelle Galley. "Extra Benefits
Tied to Extracurriculars," Education Week, Oct. 18, 2000)
Students who spend no time in extracurricular activities
are 49 percent more likely to have used drugs and 37
percent more likely to have become teen parents than
those who spend one to four hours per week in extracurricular
activities. (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Adolescent Time Use, Risky Behavior and Outcomes: An
Analysis of National Data, 1995) · A study of five housing
projects with new Boys & Girls clubs and five without
clubs showed that the housing projects without after
school programs had 50 percent more vandalism and had
30 percent more drug activity than those with after school
programs. (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. America's After-School
Choice: The Prime Time for Juvenile Crime Or Youth Enrichment
and Achievement, October 2000) · Every $1 invested in
the Quantum Opportunities after school program produced
$3 worth of benefits to youth and the general public.
This figure does not include the added savings from a
six-fold drop in crime by boys in the program. (Fight
Crime: Invest in Kids. America's After-School Choice:
The Prime Time for Juvenile Crime Or Youth Enrichment
and Achievement, 2000) · The depth of law enforcement
commitment to front-end solutions to crime was shown
in a national poll of police chiefs conducted by Professors
Scott Keeter and Stephen Mastrofski of George Mason University.
· Nine out of 10 of the chiefs agreed with the statement:
"If America does not make greater investments in after
school and educational child care programs to help children
and youth now, we will pay far more later in crime, welfare
and other costs." · Law enforcement leaders and researchers
agree: more of our nation's children, especially those
most at-risk, must have access to quality after-school
programs if crime is to be prevented. It is time to invest
in programs proven to help kids avoid crime and save
thousands of Americans from becoming victims of violence.
Need I say more? By the way, I proudly serve on the Board
of Directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Faulkner
County.
Is
your city or town a skateboard playground?
After
school activities pay off
Lonoke mayor
helps promote weatherizing homes
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