A Windfall for After-School Programs

Arguing that after-school programs are the way to keep children out of trouble, President Clinton announced $40 million in grants for 315 rural and inner-city school systems and individual schools--to provide learning havens after school, on weekends and during the summer.

“For millions of Americans, ‘Home Alone’ is not a funny movie; it is a serious risk that children and parents undertake every day all across this country,” Clinton said Wednesday.

“These grants will now give thousands more children a safe place to go before and after school, and good things to do.”

He urged Congress to expand the grants in order to reach up to 500,000 children annually--still a fraction of the up to 15 million children left home alone after school, according to administration estimates.

The 315 schools in 36 states were selected by the Education Department from nearly 2,000 applicants for federal funds made available through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program. Clinton asked Congress to increase spending on the program from $40 million this fiscal year to $200 million in each of the next five years.

Young people are most likely to commit a crime or become a victim of crime between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.--after they leave school and before their parents get home, said First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who opened the Rose Garden ceremony.

To bolster the Clintons’ argument for expanding federally assisted after-school programs, the Justice and Education departments released a report showing “many communities that have adopted after-school initiatives have experienced lower juvenile crime rates and lower tobacco, drug and alcohol use among young people.”

The report also identified model initiatives, maintaining that quality programs improve academic performance, discourage dropouts, increase college aspirations and lower the number of students who must be held back at the end of each school year.

Thirteen school systems or individual schools in California were among the grant winners for three-year programs. Some of the programs deal in adult and literacy education, computerization of after-school classes, mentor programs, employment training, performing arts programs and creative writing. The grant winners and their three-year amounts:

Emeryville: Emery Middle School District CLC, $268,297.

Hayward: Hayward Unified School District, $1,043,019.

La Quinta: Desert Sands Unified School District, $591,814.

Modesto: Modesto City Schools, $1,027,332.

Oakland: Oakland Charter Academy, $511,143.

Oakland: Oakland Unified School District, $930,000.

Ontario: Ontario-Montclair School District, $351,000.

San Francisco: San Francisco Unified School District, $2,237,577.

San Joaquin: Golden Plains Unified School District, $760,839.

San Jose: Alum Rock Union Elementary School District, $671,475.

Santa Ana: Santa Ana Unified School District, $1.8 million.

Sausalito: Sausalito School District, $333,630.

Upper Lake: Lake County Office of Education, $829,214.