The Action Center

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September 2007

Dear Family and Friends,
I am the mother of 2,500 children.
We need your help.

As you know, I’ve been the Executive Director at the Action Center for the last five years. During that time we have helped over 33,000 families and 2,500 children to better their lives. During that time my staff and I have become acutely aware that if we didn’t have our programs for the children between 3-6pm, they would literally die. Case in point; Six teens who were not our students, were gunned down in the Rockaway streets during that critical time period just last fall.

These children need a safe place to go. The Action Center has been providing it to them since 2001. Over 2,500 children have come to us every day after school to participate in programs that include music and dance, arts and crafts, computer literacy, school tutoring, cooking, and athletic, all of it free of charge. We have also provided a free and nutritious meal and transportation to and from the program for all the children. There are even college scholarships available to our participating high school seniors. And their parents have come, too, to learn about parenting skills, job placement, cooking classes and stress management.

Between 60-90% of the Action Center students have been evaluated to have better school attendance rates; and/or between 80-96% are less likely to be suspended from school, none have become pregnant, or gotten into trouble due to drugs and alcohol. We understand that we might not see in our life time the true impact or difference we have made.

But we are confident that some child somewhere will make a decision to not rob, beat or murder someone because we were there to help him or her when they were young.. Maybe the grandson of one of our students had a chance because their grandparents learned from us. Maybe that child would be the one to cure AIDS, or negotiate peace in the Middle East or give their life for our president. We might never know which act of ours saved the world, we just have to have faith that our well intentioned gestures will/or have had an impact.. leading us to that end.

Because any child, even in Far Rockaway in Queens, can grow into an adult who can make a difference in the world, even if only to their own children, who will then have their own chance to make a contribution. An investment in these children today is an investment in the future of our nation and our society. Research shows that an investment of $1 begets returns of $10.52 to society over 40 years.

TEEN CRIME STATISTICS!

Nation wide population of 301 million,
4 28.8% is youth under 20 yrs of age.
4 14 million unsupervised (latch-key children) from 3pm to 6pm i.e. not in after-school programs)

Unsupervised children are associated with:
4Drug use: 25% are more likely to use drugs
4Shoplifting and vandalism: 50% of young unsupervised people more likely to engage in these
4Assault: 32% of unsupervised youth more likely to get involved in serious criminal activity and assault
4 Alcohol: 25% of the 14 million unsupervised youth more likely to use drugs
4 Murder: 8% of all murders involved a juvenile offender
4 Pregnancy: 37% of 14 million unsupervised youth likely to become teen parents

The cost and impact of not having these programs is great:
4 Teen pregnancy (750 000 a year i.e. 31% of teens) cost society $38 billion a year to support families started by teen pregnancy and
4 $138 million to prevent teen pregnancies
4 Housing teen inmates (105 000 teens are held in custody every year) costs $80,000 to $104,000 per teen a year

Let's Right the Wrongs!

AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM ATTENDANCE IMPROVES THE ECONOMY OF OUR NATION:

4Young people in ASPs are 2.5 times more likely to complete school and go on to higher education; those that complete school positively impact society by
4 17% of total income in tax contribution;
4 23% in personal savings and
4 60% of income in consumption.
4 Total contributions to society is a minimum of: $1,329,260 over 40 years of continuous employment.

Return on Investment:
An investment of $2.55/hour for 1,200 hours a year returns $10.51 for every dollar invested.

I am asking you to help us in our efforts:

Two critical events are happening at the Action Center. Due to massive governmental budget cuts funds for thousands of afterschool programs have been cut. The cuts eliminate 600 Action Center student slots. The cuts also come at a time when the Action Center is going national bringing our program to hundreds of children in GA, PA, TX, Fla, NJ, Ala and Maryland. We are asking you to help us in our efforts to offset the cuts.

For as little as $25, you can help buy enough art supplies to keep two children busy after school all year long. For $50 you can help four students do the same, as well as buy books and musical instruments. For $75 you’ll fund half of an entire class in a variety of artistic and physical activities. For only $100, you can fund a full class of 15 participants, including helping to send them on field trips that would otherwise never be possible for them to experience.

It is such a small investment with such significant stakes.


	By Donating you will help us:
	By Donating you will help us:

	4 Go national and service an additional 2,500 children

	4 Help to start an Education Corps, which will train tutors, mentors, and volunteers to help the 38% of 4th graders who cannot read or write.

It’s good to help save a life when you can.

It’s also good to change a life, and that’s what I’m asking you to help the Action Center to do. Help us protect and change these young lives, and that of their families. Please pass this along to those you know and ask them to help save a life as well. Together we can do this….