Programs offering cross-country leagues, swim clubs, organized hikes and wilderness training have received a new infusion of cash from New York’s child welfare agency — with a goal of combatting youth crime and alienation in low-income communities statewide.
Building on a 2023 policy, this year the Office of Children and Family Services distributed a total of $12.5 million to counties statewide to support youth development. The programs that received the Youth Sports and Education Opportunity Funding began this month and will continue until September, with each program receiving up to $50,000.
The state agency gives priority to counties with high rates of homelessness, crime and under-performing schools. The community centers and nonprofits that received this funding serve kids aged 6 to 17 and have programs aimed at violence prevention initiatives, offering a chance to build relationships with mentors, participate in team sports, or simply have a place to go in the afternoons and let off steam when parents are at work.
In Poughkeepsie, roughly 10 kids and teens have joined one of the state-funded ventures in the past few weeks. Allaiyh Brown, 16, liked the hiking and wilderness club she’s joined, a big improvement from “just staying inside all day.”
Brown said she started opening up a bit more after she joined the club. The staff are supportive and willing to sit with her whenever she needs to talk.
“It changed me a lot,” she said. “It kept me out of trouble and kept my mind away from all the negativity.”
“Walking, hiking and spending time outdoors in nature is a healthy alternative that a lot of youth may not feel is accessible to them. These programs help to provide our youth with safe opportunities to grow and learn.”
— Jennifer Rubbo, the Environmental Cooperative at Vassar College
The Alex Eligh Community Center in Newark, a small village in Wayne County, plans to use their recently awarded $22,500 grant to create new sports programs next spring, including soccer, track and field and girls’ flag football teams.
The center’s director, Braxton Guy, said schools in Newark and surrounding villages have recently scaled back their athletic afterschool programs due to barriers around funding and transportation. Among those benefiting most from the program are children from single-parent households in need of back-up care and a safe place to spend the afternoon before a parent returns home from work, he added.
The community center kicked off its first cross-country league this month.
One of the goals of the state-sponsored sports grant is to reduce youth violence. Guy pointed to other successful programs in the country that he wants to use as a model in Newark County — in particular, the Summer Youth Engagement Strategy in Baltimore, which was launched in 2023. The program, bolstered by citywide summertime youth curfews, focused on bringing down crime by creating activities for children during school breaks. Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott reported that after its implementation, the number of shooting victims decreased by 66%, and the number of aggravated assault victims dropped by 31%.
“When you’re putting positive role models in front of young people and keeping them engaged, and building community with them, building trust with them, they’re not outside doing things that they shouldn’t be doing,” Guy said.
In Dutchess county, five athletics and education programs were awarded more than $121,000 under the Youth Team Sports grant, another stream of related funding from the state agency. These included the Boys & Girls Club and Mid-Hudson Aquatics, both in Poughkeepsie.
“Mental health isn’t always treated by a therapist. Sometimes it’s treated by being in an environment where they can be themselves.”
— L’Quette Taylor, Community Matters 2
Jennifer Rubbo, director of the Environmental Cooperative at Vassar College, used the state’s funding to create a new outdoor recreation club for local youth to use. Through the club, children receive proper outdoor equipment, go on guided hikes around the wetlands and forests in the 525-acre Vassar preserve, get CPR training and learn about plant and wildlife identification in the Hudson Valley.
“Walking, hiking and spending time outdoors in nature is a healthy alternative that a lot of youth may not feel is accessible to them,” Rubbo said. “These programs help to provide our youth with safe opportunities to grow and learn.”
Such grants from the Office of Children and Family Services play a critical role in supporting youth organizations, Rubbo added. She pointed to the gap in opportunities in Poughkeepsie, including a lack of efficient transportation to after-school activities for kids of low-income families and the need for a centralized youth community center.
Rubbo has partnered with Community Matters 2 — a Poughkeepsie-based organization that focuses on youth development programs — to run the club.
Community Matters 2 founder L’Quette Taylor said programs like the Outing club help build confidence and give children an outlet away from what can often be a restrictive school or home environment.
“It helps with preventing exposure to alcohol and drugs and different things like that, but it also gives them a place to improve their mental health,” Taylor said. “Mental health isn’t always treated by a therapist. Sometimes it’s treated by being in an environment where they can be themselves, and this gives them someone to talk to and a chance to learn how to express themselves and get rid of whatever anger they might have.”
