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After-School Programs

Programs that engage young people during the after-school hours have proven to be an effective way of making a community more safe. Such programs may operate on the school grounds, or at churches, boys-and-girls clubs, and parks. In the absence of productive activities, it is all too easy for youth to go astray. For information about state and local after school programs see:

• Afterschool Alliance -- a nationwide network to serve after school program activists
• After school learning and safe neighborhood partnership program of the State Department of Education.
• Resource guide for after-school program managers
• Programs to improve the capacity of coaches and other leaders to deal with young people.

Schools can serve as community centers and sites for youth violence prevention programs that intervene with young people who might be headed for involvement in gangs, in substance abuse, or in abusive relationships. Anti-violence programs can range from home nurse visits that guide families away from domestic violence, to family resource centers that give failing teens a chance to develop better personal relationships and useful job skills. Sometimes, a long-term mentor is all that a directionless youth needs to find positive values in life.

For examples of local and statewide projects to reduce youth offenses in California, see the FCL Education Fund's Inventory of Violence Prevention Programs

For background information on juvenile offender issues, see the sources consulted by the League of Women Voters in preparing their 1996 report, especially the Legislative Analyst's 1995 Report on Juvenile Crime.

For current legislation concerning after school programs, see FCL's bill status summary.

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