Schatz Highlights After-School Programs For Hawai‘i Students with Schwarzenneger, Leader Reid
Senator Schatz Meets with Leader Reid, Governor Schwarzenegger, Senate Colleagues on After-School Programs
Washington, DC—Today, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz highlighted the important role after-school programs play in Hawai‘i at a meeting with former Governor Schwarzenegger and Leader Harry Reid. Senator Schatz also spoke today at the launch of the DC After-School All-Stars chapter, a sister chapter of Hawai‘i’s After School All-Stars program.
“I have seen first-hand the difference after-school programs make for our children and their families,” said U.S. Senator Brian Schatz. “After-school programs help kids do better in class and give them a place to go. After-School All-Stars and the 21stCentury Community Learning Centers have helped thousands of children in Hawai‘i, and I’ll keep fighting to protect these programs for our kids. That’s why I was glad to discuss the importance and future of after-school programs in Hawai‘i with Governor Schwarzenegger and Leader Reid, and help launch the DC chapter of After-School All-Stars.”
Schatz is a co-sponsor of the After School for America’s Children Act, which will extend and improve the 21stCentury Community Learning Centers after school program. Currently, over 5,600 children in Hawai‘i participate in after school activities through 21stCentury Learning Centers, over 1,500 of which participate in the After-School All-Stars programs. The benefits of after-school programs are tangible. Students in after school programs not only do better in school, but are 30 percent less likely to engage in criminal activity, 49 percent less likely to use drugs, and 37 percent less likely to become teen parents.
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