By Susan Gould
United Way of Racine County
Monday, June 22, 2009 12:37 AM CDT
Children spend 50 percent more time out of school than in it. Juvenile violence and crime are four times greater during the after-school hours, and youth are 37 percent more likely to become teen parents if they are not involved in structured after-school activities.
Racine has some major concerns regarding our youth, including a graduation rate of about 71 percent, the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the state and incidence of juvenile crime that results in more than 5,000 apprehensions each year.
What if we could keep kids safe, increase their reading and math scores, reduce childhood obesity and give them a positive sense of their own futures? What if there was a way to ensure job readiness, increase graduation rates and decrease juvenile crime or teen pregnancy? Well, “out-of-school time” programs that run after school, on weekends or during the summer give children and teens opportunities to learn and grow with positive, measurable results.
“Out-of-school time” refers to all the hours before school, after school, teacher workdays, school holidays, weekends and summers. These after-school opportunities generally refer to safe, structured programs that offer school-age children a range of activities or options for engagement. Most programs are designed to enhance learning and allow the youth to further develop academically, socially, emotionally and physically outside of the typical school day.
read more: http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/06/22/opinion/doc4a3f1843560b8808506934.txt
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