OUT OF SCHOOL AND NO WHERE TO GO
Carrion Critical of New York City After School Programs

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion was joined by over 100 New York City High School students to release a bombshell study showing that both the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development are failing to provide adequate after-school programs for area youth. 

“We have a major crisis on our hands,” stated Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion. “Everyday over 150,000 High School Students do not have access to after school programs.”

Carrion also pointed out that youth crime is on the rise. From 2002 to 2006 the number of minors arrested between the ages of 13 to 18 has increased by approximately 20%. Robbery and assault crimes made up the bulk of violent crimes in those five years, accounting for 74% of all juvenile crimes. During that same time period, youth between the ages of 13 and 18 have committed 54, 396 felony robberies and 27,638 felony burglaries.

“This is a failure that we all must take responsibility for,” stated Carrion. “Keeping kids off the streets and in programs translates into better school performance. We must change the prime time for juvenile crime (out of school time) into golden hours of academic achievement.”

According to the report it costs $2,000 per high school student for the average NYC out-of-school time program while it costs an average of $170,000 to incarcerate a juvenile in a detention center in New York City.

“We spend $168,000 dollars more on punishing kids than we do on giving them positive opportunities. It is outrageous that we are focusing more on punishment than prevention.” stated Carrion.

City budget documents show that $65,895,731 was spent on out-of-school time programs (called before/ out-of-school time programs in the budget) in fiscal year 2007. Out of that amount, the 2007 adopted budget indicates that $53,968,273 was spent on elementary and middle out-of-school time programs; and that only 12 million was spent for high school programs.

“We can not simply give up on our high school students”, the Borough President stated. “These are the times that can make or break a child.”

Carrion offered a number of recommendations for both the Department of Education (DOE) and the Department of Youth and Community Development to correct the problems that were discovered in after-school programs.

“I understand both the Department of Education and the Department of Youth and Community Development have increased their funding however there needs to be coordination between these two agencies to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of funding and programs located throughout the city,” stated Carrion.

“Some neighborhoods have multiple after-school options while others have very few or none which is unacceptable.   Programs need to be offered in as many communities as possible.”

• DOE needs to accept the responsibility to hold out-of-school time programs in school facilities accountable for reasonable outcomes.

• DOE should create the position of Deputy Chancellor for Out-of-School Time Programs and create an Office of Out-of-School Time Programs to create greater oversight and management of out-of-school time programs that take place in school facilities. 

• DOE needs to accept the responsibility to hold out-of-school time programs in school facilities accountable for reasonable outcomes.

• The Department  of Youth and Community Development needs to proportionately increase the cost per student for high school youth (in comparison to elementary and middle school youth); and increase the funding for more slots for high youth age youth in the next OST RFP.

• More out-of-school time programs should be added in zip code areas in which students are currently being served by programs located outside of their targeted zip code areas for service.

• OST Online Tracking System has proved to be problematic to use and needs to be corrected.

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