Safe and Smart: Making After-School Hours Work for Kids - June 1998

A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Communities Meeting the Need for
After-School Activities


Beacon School-Based Community Centers
New York, New York
Contact: Jennie Soler-McIntosh, 212-676-8255, or
              Michelle Cahill, 212-925-6675

The Beacon Schools initiative formed based on recommendations of a task force charged with developing an anti-drug strategy for New York City. The intent was to create safe, drug-free havens where children, youth, and families would engage in a wide range of positive activities. Community-based organizations work collaboratively with community advisory councils and schools to develop and manage the 40 Beacon schools.

At least 75 percent of the Beacon Schools are open 13-14 hours a day, seven days a week; the rest are open at least 12 hours a day, six days a week. Typical ongoing participant enrollment at the Beacons averages 1,700 community residents. Beacons offer sports and recreation, arts and culture, educational opportunities, vocational training, health education, and the opportunity for community meetings and neighborhood social activities. The New York City Department of Youth and Community Development funds the program. Each Beacon receives $400,000 annually, along with $50,000 for custodial services. Several private foundations also provide funds to enhance Beacon programming.

At P.S. 194, a Beacon School, the Countee Cullen Community Center operates from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day of the week, serving 150 youth. A Teen Youth Council has launched a community beautification effort, sponsored workshops on job readiness and employment skills, and organized a peer mediation program to prevent youth violence. Narcotics Anonymous, the Boy Scouts, a meal program, cultural studies, and supervised sports also take place at the community center. Through the center's Family Development Program, case managers work with families to keep children out of the foster care system, to help students with remedial academics, and to support parents as the primary educators of their children. The Beacon Program has increased youth access to vocational arenas, therapeutic counseling, and academic enrichment. Students' performance on standardized reading tests has improved, and police report fewer juvenile felonies in the community.
-###-

[Bailey Gatzert Elementary School] [Table of Contents] [Carr Creek Family Resource and Youth Service Center]