Message From Co-Chairs

Children and youth across the Commonwealth need our help and support to become caring and productive members of our society. As Co-Chairs of this Special Commission, we welcome your input as we work together with our 36 members to craft recommendations on how best to support the healthy development of children and youth when they are in and out of school. In addition to the Commission meetings about this critical issue, we intend to hold at least nine public hearings across the Commonwealth. We are aware that not everyone will be able to attend and and invite you to use this blog to communicate with us about your issues and concerns. We look forward to your comments.

Posting Rules and Etiquette

We welcome and value your feedback and ask that you do the following in order to post your comments to this blog. 1. To provide your first and last name and the town or city in which you live to help us track the feedback statewide. 2. To label your comments so we can direct your feedback to the right Commission Work Group. The Commission's three Work Groups are: 1) Information and Access; 2) Quality, Workforce and Professional Development and 3) Sustainability. If your comments cut across all three Work Groups, please label that as "Crosscutting Issue". 3. To add constructive and professional comments - rude or profane comments will be deleted. Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Third Public Hearing Successfully Held

The Massachusetts Special Commission on After School and Out of School Time held its third public hearing at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester on Tuesday, May 8.

Led by Senator Thomas McGee and Representative Marie St. Fleur, 14 other Commission members heard testimony from 25 people during a three hour period. There was powerful testimony from a broad range of people including youth, community-based providers, educators, police officers, and funders - all of whom talked about the vital role afterschool programming has upon the young people in their communities. In all, 38 people attended the hearing.

Prior to the hearing, several Commission members were able to visit the Boys and Girls Club of Worcester at their new state of the art facility on Tainter Street in Worcester where 150 children ages 8 - 18 enjoy a range of club sponsored activities including basketball, swimming, boxing, access to state of the art computer labs, a homework center equipped with wireless internet services, and a music recording studio. They also serve 35 children in the school aged child care program. Due to extensive fundraising and other partnerships they have formed in the community, they only charge $10 a year for their services.

The hearing was taped and so we have it as part of the Special Commission's public record.

In addition to the Co-Chairs, the following Commission members and their representatives attended the hearing:

Rep. Alice Wolf - Cambridge
Rep. Pam Richardson - Framingham
Donna Avery-Cohen - Department of Early Education and Care
Fran Barrett - Department of Early Education and Care
Karyl Resnick - Department of Education
Cathy O'Connor - Department of Public Health
Debbie Kneeland - MADCA
Berna Mann - PACE
Ed Madaus - St. Agnes Guild
Michael Cahill - YMCA's of MA
Kathleen McDermott - MASS CAP
Gwynn Hughes - Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership
Rick Metters - Massachusetts Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs
Susan O'Connor - WestMOST Network

The next public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29, 2007 in Framingham at a location yet to be announced.

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