CIVIC CENTER ANTI-DRUG EFFORT FACES ELIMINATION OF FUNDING

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Cape Girardeau Civic Center's drug awareness program, aimed at keeping lower-income youths off drugs, may not receive the funding it expected from the Cape Girardeau public schools.

And Civic Center officials are calling it a "slap in the face."

"Obviously, they don't see the need to support the civic center's program. They don't feel it's important enough," said Fred Pennington, the center's assistant director.

Pennington was informed by district officials last week that the center would not get any funding this year.

The issue, however, may not yet be settled. Center officials are expected to meet with school officials on Friday in an attempt to secure funding.

School Superintendent Neyland Clark said Monday that he was unaware that the Civic Center was in jeopardy of losing its funding.

But Civic Center officials were informed that they would not receive any money for this school year because the center failed to meet a May proposal deadline, according to William Askew, the district's drug-free school program coordinator.

Civic Center officials say that they did not receive any notification of the deadline.

"The Civic Center never submitted a proposal. When we didn't see it, we just let it go," Askew said Tuesday.

Meeting the deadline is not the point, says Ed Slaughter, president of the Civic Center's board of directors.

"What they're saying is the paper work is more important than the kids," Slaughter said.

Last September, the Civic Center received $3,000 to fund its drug-free schools program. That was already more than $2,000 less than it received in 1991, the first year it was funded.

Each year, school districts nationwide receive state and federal grants that go toward combating drugs and alcohol among school children. Typically, the district will allocate the state funding to a dozen or so various school-based and community-wide programs aimed at keeping kids off drugs.

This year, the school district was awarded $40,000 in grants. But up to $27,000 of that go toward salaries, leaving less than $13,000 to disburse to groups, Askew said.

Nonetheless, Civic Center officials believe that their program should be getting additional money, not less or nothing at all.

"If that money is to keep kids off of drugs, let's put the money where it is most needed," Slaughter said. "Our kids are more susceptible."

In the last two years, the Civic Center's program has aided about 75 mostly lower-income students, many of whom reside in known drug areas.

"Some of them have dibbled and dabbled in drugs. We're trying to get to them. And I don't feel the schools are reaching these kids," said Calvin Bird, the Civic Center's executive director.

The 13-to-17-year-old children usually attend sessions twice a week that involve some form of counseling and activity. Frequently, the students will listen to former drug abusers recount how drugs negatively impacted their lives.

In addition to counseling, the students go on field trips and are enrolled in social activities. The students also are assigned "mentors" who are responsible for checking up on the students and offering them advice.

"It's been worthwhile. It benefits the kids that want to cooperate," says 14-year-old Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School student Kedra Dixon, who participated in the drug-free schools program. "It helps keep kids off drugs. It's not 100 percent, but it does help."

At the end of the school year, the students are taken on a field trip as a reward for staying with the program. Last year, about 17 students journeyed to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. That part of the program was not funded by state money; participants raised money for the trip.

Though the school district does have in-house programs designed to educate students about the dangers of drugs, Bird believes that such efforts are not as effective toward the students of lower-income families.

"We're reaching out to kids that are not getting anywhere through the schools. It's a shame that the schools are not willing to invest in the kids that we work with," Bird said.

If funding is not restored, parts of the program such as the use of mentors and the anti-drug literature and videos now available will have to be scaled back or cut entirely, Pennington said.

"It's going to cause major problems. It's going to be tough, but we've got to march forward," Pennington said.