Oct 27, 2008 11:19 pm US/Eastern
Parents Oppose Cuts For After-School Programs
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Hundreds of parents and students are uniting in their opposition to cuts in after-school programs.
CBS
Hundreds of parents and students are uniting in their opposition to cuts in after-school programs.
Dennis Edwards has more on the fight to save Child First programs.
Child First is an after-school program active in 13 Baltimore City elementary schools. State and local budget cuts are reducing funding in two of Child First's four programs affected by funding cuts.
"We think there are about 300-500 students who are affected and it's interesting because this year, several of our programs have enrolled more children in Child First than ever before," said Carol Recklang.
About 300 parents and teachers packed the auditorium of Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School to stand up for at-risk and low income children.
Dr. Andres Alonso, Baltimore City Schools CEO, is promising another $117,000 in school system funding.
"They are one of those organizations that I go to for advice in terms of how to approach certain issues that are of importance to the community," he said.
Parents and community leaders plan to continue to rally to make sure each school is properly funded.
Child First has helped about 12,000 students since its founding 12 years ago. There are 1,000 students currently in the program.
"It gave my daughter an opportunity to learn how to dance, how to sing. My son learned how to play soccer and he won first place in a chess tournament," said Tanika Rucker.
"It's fun because when you do a lot of work in school, you can have fun after school," said Deasia Johnson.
So far, Child First has raised $4 million in support of its programs.
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