Health & Fitness
Better Educational and Job Opportunities for Kids = Safer Streets
Ensuring that young people in Boston have high-quality programs -- from jobs to academic enrichment -- during afternoon, evening and weekend hours is not only the right thing to do if we want them to succeed in school and in life, it’s also the smart thing to do to build safe and healthy neighborhoods.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, violent crime among young people peaks during weekday afternoon hours, after school lets out but while many parents are still at work. As part of a comprehensive plan to reduce crime and violence and build safe and healthy neighborhoods, I will work with our schools, employers, clergy, and community-based organizations to make sure that every student has access to high-quality programs during afternoons, evenings, and weekends.
As mayor, I will:
- Connect the Boston Public Schools with great community organizations that provide high-quality academic help and tutoring, arts, sports, hands-on STEM programs, and other enrichment activities that have been proven to be successful; and strengthen community-based learning models and that connect schools with health centers, libraries, community centers, and other community-based organizations to work together with families to surround children with the support and resources they need.
- Through my Hubs of Opportunity initiative, partner each Boston public high school with employers, colleges and universities, and community organizations to turn summer jobs into year-round jobs andcreate college and vocational pathways. Partners would agree to offer admission, scholarships, employment and/or job training to those students who graduate and satisfy established criteria.
- Extend the school day so that every student has regular instruction in critically important subjects like art, music, science, humanities, and physical education.
- Work with parents and school leaders to keep young people in school. Truancy is a warning sign for dropping out and criminal activity, so parents and school leaders must be partners in getting children and teens to school. I recently testified at the State House in favor of legislation to keep kids in school, including raising the dropout age from 16 to 18. A key part of this is supporting comprehensive sex and wellness education in our schools, since pregnant or parenting teens are among those most likely to drop out.
We must end the school to prison pipeline, which disproportionately affects young people of color. The fact is that high-quality education, safe and healthy neighborhoods, and good jobs are the keys to reducing crime and violence and incarceration rates.
