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An Ounce of Prevention
BGCA is the model of a well-run national organization. It relies on local boards that help raise the money and staff the clubs, while working under savvy national supervision (including shutting clubs that fail) from its Atlanta headquarters. The group's latest goal is to maintain 5,000 clubs by 2012, with most operating inside existing school buildings. Already several states have found that when they contract with BGCA for afterschool programs it costs them much less than it would to pay teachers overtime. (Not surprisingly, the teachers unions are resisting.) The clubs also work better than many unproven local programs.
Measuring the results is an inexact science, but according to a recent Harris survey, 28 percent of BGCA alumni said they would have dropped out of high school had it not been for the club; more than half said they achieved a higher level of education because of the experience. And three-quarters of African-American alumni surveyed agreed with the statement that the club "saved my life." The same cannot be said of your garden-variety "extended day" school program.
So you would think that getting money from the government would be a no-brainer. But BGCA receives only $80 million a year from Washington, less than 10 percent of its budget. Iraq, by contrast, costs $9 billion a month. But while state and local politicians seem to be on board, the feds have been slow on the uptake regarding BGCA's ambitious plans to move most of its new clubs directly into schools—one of the most important social reforms proposed anywhere by anyone in recent years. While the Democratic candidates all have proposals to fund afterschool programs (the Republicans by and large do not), they are leery of endorsing one model, even though that's the model that works.
Here's a statistic worth memorizing: it costs $70,000 a year to incarcerate a prisoner, and $1,000 a year to take care of a kid at a Boys and Girls Club. Failing to invest in prevention isn't just cruel to the kids, it's cruel to the country. As James Alan Fox, a noted criminologist, says, "You can pay for the programs now or pray for the victims later." That category of "victims" keeps growing. It now includes us all.
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: kbystrom @ 11/19/2007 4:54:14 PM
Comment: I supervise an after school program social/recreational/enrichment program for youth in grades 7-9 - not directly affiliated with BGC but a similar quality OST model. Attendance is growing - we have anywhere from 45-100 kids here most days. Most of our are kids on the fringe - they are clearly at a fork with two paths to choose from, and my staff and I are committed to ensuring they choose the right one. We offer transportation to a central site after school and activity bus service home. Youth get support they need from caring qualified adults, help with homework, and much needed physical exercise (known to improve not only physical but mental health). They can also choose from a variety of other modest offerings each day. We do not charge a participation fee, because most of our participants cannot afford it. With no revenue stream, we rely on community financial support. We KNOW what we do is making a dfference in this lives of these kids - it is evidenced by those who have been with us from the beginning who are now here as high schoolers in a volunteer capacity. It is evidenced by the sense of future they have...and a hopefulness for the future that wasn't present four or five years ago. Sounds like all is well, right? Well, think again. We are barely keeping our head above water financially. Although we have support from our generous business community, times our tough for them, and my program suffers indirectly as a result. It's not their fault - they have bills to pay too.
Interestingly, I can run a really good (not great like I'd like it to be) program for about $45,000 a school year - $45,000!!! That's all it would take to sustain what we have - not to grow mind you, but to simply sustain - to pay staff, to repair equipment, to purchase something new from time to time. With about 4000 kids passing through our doors annually, it doesn't take a genius to see what a good investment this is. We have just entered our fifth year - hanging on by a thread. Unfortunately these yearly financial struggles are wearing me down - it's getting harder and harder by the day.
What happened to our commitment to youth, families and communities? Why is is so difficult for our policymakers to see that it takes fewer resources to build capacity than it does to fund the alternatives (incarceration, public assistance etc. etc. etc.)? This is as important an investment as any I can think of, and the research is there to support it. Those of us in the trenches see it everyday...why does this have to be so hard?
Posted By: pbcfi @ 11/09/2007 10:32:14 PM
Comment: Great Article to call attention to all the good the Boys and Girls Clubs of America do.
As a board member of our local Club here in Wellington, Florida it makes me proud that my contribution is going in the right direction for all our Latch-Key kids in our midst. Maybe this story will stiimulate more local good citizens to join local club boards and contribute and get back more than they put in as I do.
Al Paglia
Wellington, Florida
Posted By: Pecos_Bill @ 11/02/2007 10:49:26 AM
Comment: The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have no place in Bush's America. We are at war, and for our own security we need to toss aside things like the Constitution AND the Bill of Rights, or the terrorists win!