How After School Programs Can Save Lives

The last two years in the city of Boston have seen an increase in youth crime, leaving many people to wonder what should be done to prevent these offenses before they even begin. Many solutions have been offered, by parents, by teachers, and even by some of the young people in the city. The most common consensus that the three groups seem to come to is that there should be more after-school programs to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. But when this plea is taken to the mayor and other city officials, the answer is often the same: there is simply not enough money.

There may very well not be enough money in the city budget to fund more after-school programs, but there are other sources where it can be found. The schools should be able to hold fundraisers in order to implement a program if there isn't one already, or to extend one that is already in place. Parents and teachers who are worried about their children might find this to be a simple approach that may work very well towards keeping students out of trouble during the crucial after-school hours. In terms of how long these programs have to be in order to work, they needn't be more than a couple of hours. After-school programs typically run from 3 until 6 p.m., and statistics show that these are the hours that students are most likely to commit or be victims of crime. The most logical argument here, and possibly the one that will prove to be the most preventative, is that if students are given something to do during these hours, they will be less likely to fall prey to the detrimental nature of the streets.