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


KIDCO, Tucson Parks & Recreation Department
Tucson, Arizona
Contact: Peg Webber, 520-791-4873

The KIDCO initiative began in 1989 by providing free after-school and summer recreation programs for elementary school children. The after-school program runs 24 weeks a year at 31 sites, four days a week and two and a half hours a day, from school dismissal to 6 p.m. The after-school program enrolls more than 3,700 children, and the summer program serves almost 5,000 children at 47 locations. Following reports of drastically increasing juvenile crime and delinquency in 1992, the Mayor and Council of Tucson pledged to provide enhanced services for children, and in 1993, the City Council provided KIDCO with $500,000 in additional funding, which enabled the program to undergo a major expansion of services. Designating Tucson a "child-friendly community," the City Council continues to identify innovative mechanisms to raise funds to support KIDCO youth programs.

The KIDCO programs are usually located in neighborhood schools, and each is unique to the neighborhood and its particular partners, which include tribal village councils, Arizona Commission on the Arts, Tucson Audubon Society, University of Arizona, Pima Community College, a cable television corporation, school districts, private schools, malls, and community agencies, such as the YMCA, Girl Scouts, and Campfire Boys and Girls. Other city agencies and departments such as Police and Fire, Education, and Water helped in the development of materials and program options. The program is offered free of cost to families who participate. It provides varied recreational and leisure activities, including physical fitness, sports, arts, crafts, values, self-esteem building, self-respect, listening and caring skills, social skills, friendship, cooperation, free time, and creative expression. Participants also join in special events, such as the Safe Kid Bicycle Event, Bike Rodeos, and the On the Right Track drug prevention program.
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