Blunt Visit Promotes After-School Programs
Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 15:01 CDT
By Josh Flory, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.
Oct. 27--Making his second visit to Columbia this week, Gov. Matt Blunt yesterday encouraged local business leaders to get involved in after-school programs for children.
In a discussion at Dave Griggs' Flooring America, Blunt said a third of young Missourians are unsupervised between 3 and 6 in the afternoon, including 40 percent of middle school students.
While the governor cited a funding increase for K-12 schools in this year's state budget, he said, "We need the private sector's involvement."
Blunt said it's important to promote after-school programs to protect children from crime, prepare tomorrow's work force and help working families.
"When you're at work and you're worried about what your child might be up to or what you're going to do with your kid after school," he said, "you're just not going to be as productive as you could be."
Blunt has made similar stops across the state in conjunction with the Missouri Afterschool Network, an organization that works to coordinate after-school efforts in communities throughout the state.
Representatives of a variety of after-school programs were on hand yesterday, including The Intersection, El Centro Latino and 4-H.
Mark Farnen explained how his work for advertising firm Woodruff Sweitzer helped children at The Intersection learn video production skills, and he played a video the participants had produced.
Farnen, who is now an independent marketing and public relations consultant, said that when it comes to community programs, organizers often think first about big businesses. But he cited his continued involvement with The Intersection as a model.
"That's what a little business can do," he said.
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Source: Columbia Daily Tribune
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