After-school grants exceed $400 million

Juvenile Justice Digest, Jan 12, 2001

The Education Department will award $213 million in new grants to 386 school districts to establish high-quality, after-school community learning centers and open a new $200 million competition to provide after-school grants to an additional 400 communities.

Deadline is March 30.

The Justice Department credited the expanded availability of afterschool programs with helping to lower juvenile crime rates. Studies by the FBI and youth-advocacy groups have found that the peak hours for juvenile crime are from 2 to 8 p.m.-hours when youth are most often without supervision.

The grants help after-school centers, collaborating with community partners, including law enforcement, provide a safe environment for 300,000 children and 100,000 adults outside regular school hours.

More than 800 communities serving about 650,000 youths and 200,000 adults won funds in the previous two years.

The program helps schools stay open longer to provide drug and violence prevention counseling, supervised recreational opportunities, services for youth with disabilities, youth tutoring and other activities.

The C.S. Mott Foundation will help the Education Dept. host training sessions this spring to help applicants establish their programs.

Inf: Steve Balkcom, 202-260-2737; 800-872-5327; www.ed.gov/2lstcclc.