Enrollment up at Boys and Girls Club after-school program

More children than ever before are filling their after-school time with activities and homework help provided by the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau.

Enrollment in the program offered by the club for students of public and private schools is at 172 this school year, up by 70 since the same time last year.

The Boys and Girls Club intentionally tried to add participants when it decided to offer its Rising Stars program at the Shawnee Park Center at the start of the school year, said Teresa Teague, the local not-for-profit organization's director.

The Family Resource Center closed last summer due to financial troubles, leaving around 25 children who lived in South Cape Girardeau neighborhoods without easily accessible after-school programming. The Boys and Girls Club planned to take those children and some of the center's staff for its Rising Stars program. Those children came, plus 50 children unaffiliated with the resource center. There are 71 attending after-school programming now at the Shawnee Park Center.

"We don't really know where they came from," Teague said.

Enrollment at the three other locations of the Boys and Girls Club -- Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church, Cape Girardeau Central Junior High and a location on Whitener Street -- has gone up as well, Teague said, prompting the organization to consider developing a centralized location for its programs.

The Boys and Girls Club offers services for its participants depending on their age. It reports the progress of those services weekly to its main funding source, Missouri Alliance. Services include activities to build academic, social and physical skills with a variety of programs for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Homework help is provided during Power Hour, a time each day where participants receive individual attention with schoolwork based on a partnership with schools that provides information from each participant's school.

Statistics provided by the club show academic improvements for participants in maintaining or increasing their grades in math and communication arts, but especially show improvements in social areas, like behavior. In the 2010-2011 school year, 85 percent of third- and fourth-grade participants showed appropriate behavior traits all school year.

Fifty-five percent of participants in the after-school programs come from a household making less than $16,000 per year.

"A lot of our children are considered at-risk," said Teague, who has been with the organization since 2008 and has served as executive director for the past 18 months. Since starting her job at the organization, enrollment numbers have gone up by around 20 participants per year. Many pre-enrollments for the after-school program come from the organization's summer camp, Teague said.

Stephanie Courter pays close attention to where the nickel matches the currency on her bingo card Tuesday at the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Girardeau.

They added a waiting list last year for after-school programs. This year after children on the list were well into the school year and parents likely had already made other after-school arrangements, the organization stopped the waiting list because it could not fill requests. Families enrolling children make a $20 donation, which goes into providing activities, a snack and transportation from schools to the Boys and Girls Club locations, Teague said.

Still, those donations combined with financial help from the United Way of Southeast Missouri and Missouri Alliance aren't enough to completely cover expenses for the organization's needs. Transportation costs have risen with the addition of more participants, and the number of staff needed for programs has climbed from 10 at the end of last year to 21 this year.

The Family Resource Center closure spurred the expansion to the Shawnee Center and partnership with the city, but it turned out to be needed, Teague said.

"I don't know where we would have put the kids or had these services available if the city hadn't stepped up and said they would become a partner," she said.

Heather Davis, the community center's manager, said city-provided staff help teach Boys and Girls Club curriculum because there ended up being so many participants at that location. The organization also receives use of space at the center at a discounted rate, and the city provides a bus and driver.

Davis said she anticipates the partnership will continue. They have already talked of plans for next year. Having the after-school programs in the center has benefited the city, she said, because participants tend to cause an increase in traffic, even on weekends.

Teague said she knows the increased enrollments are due to economic hard times for many families, and the organization is needed now more than ever to continue after-school programs for Cape Girardeau children. Parents with or without economic hardships are sending their children to the Boys and Girls Club, she said.

Christy Young sends her 7-year-old son Shain and 11-year-old daughter Kayla to the Boys and Girls Club programs and has for the past three years. She has another child in day care full-time, and said the organization's programming is a real financial benefit for her family. Her children already make good grades, she said, but benefit from after school activities and a sense of community they gain by doing things with the organization, she said.

While the organization has an eventual goal of moving to a large, centralized facility, Teague said the capital for such a project just isn't there. In February, the organization will begin a fundraising campaign called "It Takes Just One." Its goal will be to raise $25,000 in donations from the community to help fund the after school programs.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1913 Whitener St., Cape Girardeau, MO

835 S. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, MO

205 Caruthers St., Cape Girardeau, MO

2826 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO