Macon may have a solution on the horizon to its high rates of juvenile crime, drug abuse, unwed pregnancies, and violence. In fact, the possible answer for helping the area’s young, schooled generation has been in the works since 1998, when Communities in Schools (CIS) founded its After-school Program (ASP) in the Bibb County Schools system. Although no program is foolproof, the ASP offers a pattern of after-school care that could hold the key to keeping children off the streets and out of empty homes during the hours of the day when most juvenile crimes, substance abuse, and sexual behavior occur.

But children involved in the program are not only kept safe and out of trouble. The ASP goes beyond the superficial solution for changing the incidence of juvenile crime, pregnancy, and substance abuse rates, seeking instead to get closer to the root of the problems: In addition to basic safety and supervision, the ASP also provides these children and teens with the opportunity to develop one-on-one relationships with adults, whose encouragement and support spur the children on to graduate from high school with the self-esteem and intellectual preparation needed to succeed in life.

Children in the ASP are not just absent-mindedly babysat; rather, the program’s tutors – who are usually certified teachers, college or high school students, parents, or other volunteers or personnel – attempt to care for, nurture, mentor, and teach the children who take part in the program. In other words, those in charge of the children aren’t there for money; they are there to invest in the kids’ lives in a way that many at-risk children unfortunately never, or rarely, experience at home. Much research of the day shows that this need for one-on-one attention and influence from positive mentors and role models is one of the most important things lacking in children’s lives today. We adults often decide that we are too busy in our own lives to spend time investing in our children; however, just taking a look around you will tell you that this deprivation is having a devastating effect on today’s youth – and the ASP seeks to combat this trend.

The ASP also provides the children with a secure group of people with which they can identify themselves.

"The kids in ASP feel connected – they feel they belong to something – a positive connection," says Susan Milam, who has been the executive director of CIS for the Macon/Bibb County Schools for almost four years. "The gangs recruit by telling the students they will ‘belong,’ so we give them a positive group to belong to."

After beginning in 1998 with after-school programs at only two Bibb County Schools, the Bibb Count ASP has expanded rapidly, in response to the community’s needs, to 25 elementary, middle, and high schools in the county. The schools where CIS’s ASP currently takes place are shown in a separate list found in conjunction with this article.

Concretely, the ASP offers students extra school help – homework support, study techniques, and learning enrichment activities – plus it provides recreational opportunities, nutritious snacks, and activities designed to stimulate creativity, positive social interaction, and positive self-images. Children in the ASP – most of whom remain in their own school building for the program during after-school hours– may have the opportunity to experience a wide range of activities, from playing sports or doing arts and crafts, to learning musical instruments, sign language, cooking techniques, or public speaking. The children enjoy more attention from the teachers who oversee the program’s activities than they do during the regular school day, with a student/teacher ratio of 15:1 in the ASP.

At most schools, bus transportation is provided to take the children home at the after-school program’s end, which is 6:00 p.m. (At some schools, parents come to pick the children up instead.) Of course, the children who are transported home may still arrive at an empty house, since studies usually cite 7:30 p.m. as the cut-off time for the most at-risk hours of the day for juveniles, but at least most children will spend little to no time at home alone when taking part in the ASP.

Milam, who manages the day-to-day operations of the ASP, indicates that the ASP has been successful so far, evidenced by both raw data and individual success stories. For instance, statistics recorded about children both before and after taking part in the ASP show that increased attendance, improved behavior, and stronger academic performance in school all occurred in correlation with attending the program. Presumably, these results are directly caused by the program’s effects.

Statistics aren’t everything, but Milam indicates that the ASP’s success is real in the individual lives of children as well as in the stats.

"One second-grade student received all F’s on her first report card last year," Milam explains of one child. "She enrolled in the after-school program and by Christmas had brought all of her grades up to A’s and B’s."

In another instance, Milam discussed the impact of the ASP on a fifth-grade boy, who, before enrolling in the program, had been struggling with academics and behavior.

"[After he enrolled in the after-school program,] his attitude toward school changed . . . He became interested in science and worked on a project for the science fair, where he won first place," Milam said.

It is clear that CIS’s ASP has done wonders to improve many facets of children’s school lives in Bibb County. However, even Milam indicates that the program has a long way to go before accomplishing its goals across Bibb County’s spectrum of at-risk students.

Special attention has begun to be paid to the large need for after-school programs at inner-city Macon schools, where there is an even greater incidence rate of crime and poverty, particularly among children. However, according to a statement made by Milam, "A tremendous gap in services remains for our inner-city students and families, and as a result, academic and social failure endures for them."

In addition to this inner-city "gap," it is clear that not all students who need to be reached by the ASP are being reached. For example, according to an assessment done by United Way of Central Georgia in 1998, almost a third of all elementary children (about 6,300 out of just over 18,000) in Bibb County needed after-school care; however, only 1,621 licensed slots were available. When the ASP (also called Macon SEEDS, which stands for Success through Educational Enrichment Delivery Systems) began its work at that time, the CIS program was able to almost double the number of available after-school program slots for Macon students – but many students were still left in need.

At the end of the 2002-2003 school year, great inroads were made, with almost 2,000 elementary-aged students being served by CIS’s ASP alone. However, the need remains great. Currently, students able to pay to enroll in the fee-based ASP can only be accepted on a first-come basis, and other students get left out of the ASP due to a random-selection process deciding which lucky students get picked for the grant-based ASP.

"CIS would like to be able to serve every child in after-school who desires to attend," Milam said. "We need more community support and involvement."

Milam added that, in addition to more community volunteers, the ASP also needs more funding and qualified staff in order to serve all Bibb County children who want and need to attend this type of after-school program. Without these improvements, success will be limited by resources that are already scarce, due to lack of enough community support as well as federal and state funding cuts.

So it is up to us as a community. Do we really care about the young people in our area – Bibb County and beyond? (CIS also sponsors after-school programs in several nearby counties, as well as in specific locations across the United States.) A program like CIS’s ASP is only as good as the time and energies invested by the people who wish their children to be helped by it. With mediocre mentors and the framework of an after-school program in place, ASP can do something, but much more can be done for our community’s young people when we develop quality, caring relationships with them and commit to faithfully investing in their current lives and futures.

"Every child needs and deserves . . ."

1. Mentoring – a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult

2. Protection – a safe place to learn and grow

3. Nurturing – a healthy start and a healthy future

4. Teaching – a marketable skill to use upon graduation

5. Service – an opportunity to give back through service to peers and community