Community Learning Centers need help
Community groups need to step up to fill the gaps the city is leaving in the Community Learning Center initiative.
The programs provide a constructive, enriching environment and educational services during hours when too many children are without adult supervision because their parents are in the workforce.
Because of severe city budget shortfalls, Mayor Chris Beutler has announced that the city plans to end its role as a direct provider of services.
The city’s actions are understandable. Nonprofit agencies and other private groups can fill the role of direct service providers at less cost than the city, which usually has higher personnel costs.
The city plans to continue providing support for the CLC program in other ways, however. And it should.
The before- and after-school program benefits the community in many ways, especially in the inner city.
The 3-6 p.m. time slot is prime time for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol and sex.
Various studies have shown that students who participate in after-school programs are less likely to skip classes and drop out of school.
A 2007 report showed that on a national basis 43 percent of regular attendees at community learning centers improved their reading scores, and 49 percent increased their math scores.
In Lincoln, there are 23 centers — 18 at elementary schools and five at middle schools — that serve nearly 4,000 students.
Currently, city government pays the salaries of four of the 15 supervisors. The four employees oversee programs at six centers. The city also provides before- and after-school programs at an additional eight sites. City support totaled about $178,000.
Next school year the city wants to give up its role as lead agency at three school sites and to stop providing before- and after-school programs at four sites.
So far, Family Service is the only agency that has agreed to take over from the city. CLC officials are still looking for agencies to take over programs at Pershing Elementary, Norwood Park Elementary, Mickle Middle School and next year at Belmont Elementary.
The lead agencies that will be involved next year plan to spend $844,000 in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The sum is the necessary seed money that provides the organizational framework for the hundreds of hours that community volunteers put into the program, offering students the chance to participate in everything from learning photography to playing chess.
One reason that the program has grown so rapidly in Lincoln is because those involved recognize immediately that they are changing young lives for the better. The CLC initiative offers an opportunity for local private groups to have a positive and enduring impact in the community.
The programs provide a constructive, enriching environment and educational services during hours when too many children are without adult supervision because their parents are in the workforce.
Because of severe city budget shortfalls, Mayor Chris Beutler has announced that the city plans to end its role as a direct provider of services.
The city’s actions are understandable. Nonprofit agencies and other private groups can fill the role of direct service providers at less cost than the city, which usually has higher personnel costs.
The city plans to continue providing support for the CLC program in other ways, however. And it should.
The before- and after-school program benefits the community in many ways, especially in the inner city.
The 3-6 p.m. time slot is prime time for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol and sex.
Various studies have shown that students who participate in after-school programs are less likely to skip classes and drop out of school.
A 2007 report showed that on a national basis 43 percent of regular attendees at community learning centers improved their reading scores, and 49 percent increased their math scores.
In Lincoln, there are 23 centers — 18 at elementary schools and five at middle schools — that serve nearly 4,000 students.
Currently, city government pays the salaries of four of the 15 supervisors. The four employees oversee programs at six centers. The city also provides before- and after-school programs at an additional eight sites. City support totaled about $178,000.
Next school year the city wants to give up its role as lead agency at three school sites and to stop providing before- and after-school programs at four sites.
So far, Family Service is the only agency that has agreed to take over from the city. CLC officials are still looking for agencies to take over programs at Pershing Elementary, Norwood Park Elementary, Mickle Middle School and next year at Belmont Elementary.
The lead agencies that will be involved next year plan to spend $844,000 in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The sum is the necessary seed money that provides the organizational framework for the hundreds of hours that community volunteers put into the program, offering students the chance to participate in everything from learning photography to playing chess.
One reason that the program has grown so rapidly in Lincoln is because those involved recognize immediately that they are changing young lives for the better. The CLC initiative offers an opportunity for local private groups to have a positive and enduring impact in the community.
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