Montana State University |
Montana State University |
by Kirk Astroth
MSU 4-H Youth Development Specialist
04/02/98 BOZEMAN -- Late in the afternoon each day, while you’re still at work or running errands, something is going on in your community. Something that is putting your children at risk for harm to themselves or to others. What this situation means is that now, more than ever, young people need safe places and structured activities in which to learn and grow after school.
Why? Research clearly indicates that children and youth benefit from spending out-of-school time in community settings that provide both physical safety and a chance to develop useful skills. Yet far too many children, even in Montana, do not have access to this critical resource:
- About 60 percent of 6th to 12th grade youth spend two or more hours per school day at home without an adult.
- Research indicates that children unsupervised after school are at significantly higher risk of truancy, stress, receiving poor grades, early experimentation with sex and substance abuse.
- Juvenile crime increases 300 percent during the hours immediately after school.
- Nearly 25 percent of violent crime occurs between 2 and 6 pm on school days.
- Government studies say 24 million children, aged 5 to 14, are in need of care during out-of-school time, a population that is expected to grow with recent changes in welfare laws.
- FBI crime reports show that juvenile arrests for violent crimes increased by 50 percent in recent years, even while adult rates were dropping.
- National studies indicate that 20 percent of eighth graders are not involved in any extra-curricular activities after school. In Montana, that translates into thousands of youth who are not engaged in any structured activities in nonschool hours.
- In rural areas, about 23 percent of youth report that they have few options for structured activities after school. The need is even greater in urban areas.
Young people need safe places, community spaces where they can go before and after school for structured, stimulating, adult-supervised activities that are physically safe, emotionally supportive, developmentally challenging, accessible and affordable. The need for more safe places for children and youth is universal to all types of communities and all age groups.
The upcoming "Governors’ Summit on Youth: Montana’s Promise," will focus on how communities can provide such safe places. The Summit also will feature successful programs that are already working in some places in Montana to provide such safe havens for youth.
The goal of the Summit is to challenge communities to increase safe places and structured activities during non-school hours so that young people can study, play and receive the necessary guidance to reach their full potential in life. Parents who are working need to know that their children will be staying out of trouble between school and when they return home from work.
Unfortunately, safe places are not readily available to youth in most Montana communities. Without such places and structured activities, there are plenty of opportunities for kids to harm themselves or others.
The "Governors’ Summit on Youth: Montana’s Promise" will be in Billings June 14-16, 1998 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center and will challenge communities to provide our most vulnerable youth with access to five critical resources. Safe places is one of the five resources.
All funds for the Summit are being raised privately. If you would like to contribute to the Summit, contact Marilyn Frazier, finance director, at 406 444-4173. For more information on the Governors’ Summit, contact: Kirk Astroth, Summit Coordinator, at 406 994-3501 or visit our web site at: http://www.mt.gov/mcsn
Send questions or comments to carolf@montana.edu.
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