A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

THE WHITE HOUSE  Office of the Vice President ____________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release				Contact: Thursday, December 3, 1998			(202) 456-7035 

VICE PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW STEPS IN ADMINISTRATION?S AFTER-SCHOOL INITIATIVE

Brooklyn Schools Awarded Nearly $1 Million in After-School Grants Today

Washington, DC -- Vice President Gore announced today that Brooklyn schools will receive nearly $1 million in after-school grants, out of the $5.9 million that New York State will receive under the Administration's after-school initiative -- a program to keep public schools open longer and to keep children safe and well-educated.

"After-school programs are not only essential to providing our children with a quality education, they also keep them safe during the critical hours of 3-7 p.m." the Vice President said at an education forum with parents, teachers, students, and community leaders where they discussed the need for quality after-school programs.

Brooklyn schools are receiving today three after-school grants worth $871,000 under the Education Department's 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program. Schools across New York State will receive $5.9 million under this program. Funding for all of these grants comes from additional $200 million in after-school grants won by the Clinton-Gore Administration in the 1999 budget agreement.

The Vice President also announced the next phase of the Administration?s after-school initiative -- a new competition for $100 million in funds also secured in the budget for after-school programs. Interested schools and community organizations can find out more information on the web (http://www.ed.gov), from the Federal Register later this week, or by calling 800-USA-LEARN. Applications are due March 1.

The $871,000 in funds will support or expand after-school programs at eight schools in Brooklyn:

• Community School District 13 is receiving 2 grants:
  • 1) JHS 265's after-school program will focus on improving math, science and literacy, and provide adult basic education services to parents and professional development services to staff at the school;
  • 2) Placed at Promise for the 21st Century (PAP-21) will continue creating academic and recreational opportunities for adolescents in three middle schools and the surrounding Bedford-Stuyvesant community, which will operate at JHS 113, JHS 117, JHS 258.

• Community School District 19's Cypress Hills Community Learning Center is designed to increase literacy and academic achievement in the critical after-school hours as well as reduce violence and strengthen local communities.

Earlier this year, the Education Department awarded a grant to Brooklyn's Project BOSS (Building on Students? Strengths) in Community School District 18. Through this program, the school will collaborate with the Jackie Robinson Center for Physical Culture to provide after-school and summer academic, sports, counseling and cultural activities to students in IS 252 and PS 219.

FBI statistics showing that most juvenile crime (youth ages 12 to 17) takes place between the hours of 3-7 p.m. Over 28 million school-age children have both parents or their only parent in the workforce, and as many as 15 million children are left home alone each week. Unfortunately, only 1.7 million children from kindergarten through eighth grade were enrolled in formal before-and-after-school programs of any type.

-###-