Pennsylvania is home to more YMCAs than any other state in the nation — more than 700,000 Pennsylvanians are members of their local YMCA, and an additional 180,000 people participate in YMCA programs each year. It is hard to overstate the positive impact a YMCA has on a community — and in communities big and small, rural and urban, YMCAs are helping to create a better quality of life and build safer communities by providing activities and places to go for our students.

Over the last year, we’ve been able to expand our afterschool programming and violence prevention work, thanks to a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD)’s Building Opportunity Out of School Time (BOOST) program. With this funding, the Pennsylvania State Alliance of YMCAs can build out even more afterschool and summer programming for more than 15,000 at-risk youth that inspire learning, provide enriching activities and meet kids’ specialized needs. By funding this project, YMCAs are helping to reduce crime, boost academic outcomes for our kids, improve behavior, and lead to healthier decisions and habits.

It’s critical that our kids have other safe places outside of school, where they can grow and learn and have a positive experience — no matter what their income level is or what area of the state they live in. For example, the Carlisle Family YMCA is creating a girls gamer club that combines STEM education with social connections. The River Valley Regional YMCA will expand its Brickhouse Afterschool Teen Mentorship Program in a rural community with a large population that is economically disadvantaged. The YMCA of the Roses is expanding its Temple Guard Drill Teams in York and Lancaster. Temple Guard has been in existence for nearly 25 years and has benefited over 600 youth, with a success rate of over 95% graduating from high school.

BOOST funding will also support the expansion of the State YMCA’s Youth and Government Program. The statewide program provides service-learning, youth advocacy and civics education for more than 700 youth from 30 communities in Pennsylvania.

The hours after school are crucial for a child’s safety, as violent crime among young people peaks in the late afternoon, usually just after the end of the school day. Here in Pennsylvania and across the country, the No. 1 cause of death for young people isn’t cancer or car accidents — it’s firearms. If we can provide our kids with more structure and more mentorship opportunities, we will keep more kids safe during those critical hours after the school bell rings and over the summer months.

The demand for these programs is high. The Afterschool Alliance estimates that for every Pennsylvania child enrolled in an afterschool program, there are four more waiting for an available spot. The return on investment is high, too. A June 2021 report by the Joint State Government Commission calculated that each $1 invested in out-of-school time programs saves the state more than $6.

With so much unmet need, now is not the time to reduce our investments in programs like BOOST. We support Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal to increase funding for PCCD’s BOOST program by another $10 million, nearly doubling the amount of money available. We need the state support to keep up the work we’re currently doing and expand successful programming to support our kids and our families — and give every student a safe and nurturing environment which will allow them to succeed.

Alisa E. Harris is vice president of legislative affairs for the Pennsylvania State Alliance of YMCAs.

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