Joined by some 100 New York City high school students, Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion went downtown Sunday to admonish city agencies for not providing enough after-school options for youth.
He said more than 150,000 high school students don’t have access to after-school programs, according to a study conducted by his office.
“We have a major crisis on our hands,” Carrion told his audience at City Hall.
The former teacher linked the lack of after-school programs with a rise in youth crime, saying that, from 2002 to 2006, youth (ages 13 to 18) arrests jumped almost 20 percent.
“Keeping kids off the streets and in programs translates into better school performance,” Carrion said. “We must change the prime time for juvenile crime (out of school time) into golden hours of academic achievement.”
Carrion said the city spends a disproportionate amount of its after-school budget on elementary and middle school students, which leaves high school students out in the cold. He added that, according to the study, some communities are loaded with after school programs, while others are completely neglected – a common gripe of Bronx parents.
“Programs need to be offered in as many communities as possible,” he said.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.