[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 153 (Wednesday, November 3, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A SUCCESSFUL AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, after-school hours are the most 
vulnerable for school children to become involved with gangs, with drug 
abuse, with violence and with vandalism. Statistics demonstrate that 
between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., the immediate hour after most children 
are released from school, juvenile crime more than doubles from the 
preceding hour of 2:00 to 3:00.
  It has become evident that safe and healthy alternatives need to be 
found for latchkey school children and that concentrated efforts, ones 
that focus on literacy, on tutoring, on homework assistance, are 
becoming necessary, especially for our at-risk youth.
  YMCAs, like many after-school programs, have helped improve 
children's academic achievements, their school attendance, their 
behavior, their dropout rates and grade retention.
  Denis Espinosa, a young man who recently testified at a Children's 
Caucus event here in Washington, is evidence that an after-school 
program can guide children to becoming responsible and productive 
adults. I congratulate Denis for his exemplary outlook, as well as Anna 
Nechelles, executive director of the West Dade Branch of the YMCA, for 
her commitment to the future of south Florida's children.

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