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...President’s
Message
Fred
Schott, President/CEO
 ....
Progress!
But Much Left to Do for Our Kids
Scott Anderson and I had the privilege recently of attending a Boys & Girls
Clubs of America conference for the CEOs and Board Presidents of Boys & Girls
Clubs located in major urban areas whose annual budgets are in the millions
of dollars.
At the conference Scott and I heard a fascinating report from Kristin
Anderson Moore, PhD. Dr. Moore is the President of a research group called
Child Trends
(www. childtrends.org). Located in Washington D.C., Child Trends monitors
all trends related to children with the goal of helping policy makers
in areas of needs assessment, goal setting, increased accountability
and evaluation of public and private children’s programs and initiatives.
Good News It was a wide ranging and fascinating presentation. Contrary
to prevailing negative public sentiment about kids and especially toward
our teenagers, Dr. Moore reported some good news for all of us who care
about children. For example, over the last decade, motor vehicle deaths
among children have been declining and the numbers of children who report
being substance free have gone up. She also reported that birth rates
among teenagers are going down; primarily because of increased condom
use, but also because our children are slightly less likely to engage
in sexual activity.
Disturbing Trends Of course there are disturbing trends as well. Teen
obesity has grown three times since 1970. Asthma is worse and, no surprise,
ADHD diagnosis, especially among our boys is way up. While teen birth
rates are down overall, still one in three of our girls will become pregnant
before age 20. Youth violence is down, but it has come at the heavy cost
to society of putting record numbers of our kids, especially minority
children, in jail. 11% of our black children are incarcerated, while
only 3% of Hispanic and 1% of white children are in jail. While overall
drug use is down, it is still much too high and binge drinking among
our white children is up. 32.4% of white 12th graders report having participated
in binge drinking.
In short, according to Dr. Moore and her colleagues at Child Trends,
much real progress in addressing youth problems has been made, demonstrating
that progress is indeed possible. But the level of problems remains high
and there are large disparities in both opportunity and problems among
our children.
This Much We Know Dr. Moore spent some time talking about the importance
of research and evaluation and the difficulty that social scientists
have in evaluating the results of youth development programs. Quality
social science research is also expensive. But, some things have become
clear and based on things known to be effective, Boys & Girls Clubs,
when managed and run well have opportunities to really make a difference
in the lives of children. This we know according to Dr. Moore and her
colleagues . . .
Effective youth development programs:
• Buffer children from risk, while teaching them life skills and tools.
• Provide both safety and structure.
• Offer caring and supportive relationships with both adults and peers.
• Create high expectations and standards for children to live up to.
• Challenge children educationally.
• Open doors for children to make genuine and positive contributions to
their world.
Effective Youth Development is Our Business! I was encouraged!! Quality
scientists like Dr. Moore encourage us to keep at it, to get better,
to deliver our programs even more effectively and efficiently. And, we
are compelled by such research, but also by our convictions and values
to do what we do for more children – our children.
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