* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Henry
At the request of: The Safe and Sound Campaign
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Increased Funding for After-School Programs
FOR the purpose of supporting the Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign in its call to double City funding for after-school programs in order to help secure Baltimore's future.
body
Recitals
The Education and Youth Committee of the Baltimore City Council held a roundtable discussion on January 19, 2012 that generated a number of ideas worth pursuing. One of the participants, the Baltimore Safe & Sound Campaign, presented the idea of doubling funding for after-school programs in Baltimore.
Doubling City funding for after-school programs to $8.4 million in the City's 2013 budget would significantly improve opportunities for Baltimore's young people. According to the Safe and Sound Campaign, these programs have been proven to increase academic success and school attendance. They have also proven to be effective in reducing crime in City neighborhoods.
Play is an essential developmental opportunity all children must experience to develop good social skills and respect for others. Unfortunately, though, too many of our neighborhoods lack safe places for children to play outside of school. City funded after-school programs have proven effective in filling this gap and carving out a space where children can engage one another in a structured environment that promotes growth and offers an alternative to the dangers of the streets.
Although the City is once again facing a difficult financial outlook, it must and can find ways to support programs that will contribute to its lasting success. In the short term, increased funding for after school programs will benefit the City by creating local jobs likely to be filled by City residents and lowering the costs associated with random youth crime. In the long term, these programs will improve the prospects for hundreds of young Baltimoreans by helping them to get the most out of school and to avoid the life altering bad decisions or inevitable trouble that idleness and lack of opportunities can lead to.
The presence or absence of these programs can be one factor that helps to determine whether our young people have the tools to thrive and succeed in their own lives and lift up their neighborhoods with them, or lacking these tools, perpetuate existing problems and drag down the City around them. Failing to invest in the children who are our City's future might save a few dollars today, but it will surely prove to be a mistake that Baltimore simply cannot afford in the long term.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That the Council supports the Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign in its call to double City funding for after-school programs in order to help secure Baltimore's future.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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