Our KIDS

By Sharlene Saria-Mansfield

City-Sponsored After-School Programs are Needed

As a professional working mom, with 2 school aged kids, I believe that children are everyone's business. When our children fail, it is not only the family that suffers. Under-privileged children can produce unfavorable outcomes for an entire community: decreased test scores, higher drop out rates, and increased gang and drug activity.

Working with the School Districts, our City has the opportunity to ensure that learning and enrichment DO NOT STOP when the child leaves the classroom. By offering expanded educational and after school programs, we can empower each student to become contributing and responsible members of our community.

I've heard from some members of the School District that there is NO NEED for expanded 0childcare and after school programs...and that is simply incorrect. To see that, all you have to do is examine the number of participants we had enrolled last year, before we changed to fee based programs.

We had over 600 children enrolled last year. This year, after fees were charged, that enrollment dropped to 40. The need still exists...we have to make sure we provide programs that are accessible to all of Newark's families.

There are hundreds of examples where School Districts and Cities that have partnered to engage and support our children. These partnerships make it easier to bear the cost of programs like the ones I've talked about.