Weekly News Roundup - March 17, 2010

Law Enforcement Group Wants More After-School Learning For Kids (Bakersfield Californian, California)
A report released this week by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California finds that California spends three times more on afterschool programs than the other 49 states combined, but there are still not enough programs to meet demand, particularly in low-income areas.
 
Staffers at Perth Amboy After-School Program Work Without Pay As State Funds Are Slashed (Courier News, New Jersey)
“A staff of about 30 people with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Perth Amboy, many of them employees of the school district, agreed to volunteer their after-school time through the end of the month after New Jersey After 3, the organization that runs the Boys & Girls Clubs of Perth Amboy, lost $5.2 million in funding for its statewide programs.”
 
Jacksonville's Communities in Schools Celebrating 20 Years of Helping Students (Florida Times-Union)
When Jason was two years old, he was injured by a bullet from the same gun that killed his mother.  Now, at age nine, Jason is playing the violin – and gaining better control of the right side of his body, which was impaired by the shooting – thanks to the Jump Start Strings afterschool program.  The program is one of many run by Communities in Schools Jacksonville, which is celebrating its 20th year of serving students in the area.
 
Report Gauges Level of Child Services (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, New York)
Five community partners in the Rochester area have commissioned a report, released this week, on afterschool programs and other youth-serving initiatives, in order to move forward with a plan for improving them.