This action alert just popped into my inbox from MomsRising.com:
Right now, more than 40,000 kindergarteners are home alone each day afterschool, with a total of more than 14,000,000 school-age kids on their own afterschool. Surprised? The reality is that most parents work now, and there are too few affordable and accessible afterschool programs available to handle the number of children and families who need a safe place to go after the school day ends.
When I read that I reread it a zillion times. FORTY THOUSAND? For real? My first thought wasn't what kind of parent would do that? But how do these lil ones get home? Living in the big ole city of Chicago, I can't imagine a kindergartener making it all the way home without a police officer pulling up to her. That is unless they lived directly across the street. Which in this era of "school choice" is most likely rarer than when I was a kid. When I went to the Afterschool Alliance's website to find out more about this statistic and see what we could do about it, I quickly saw many articles about rural kids.
In rural Maine, one of the biggest challenges facing afterschool programs is transportation. "If we don't have buses to move children, we don't have children," Charles Harrington, Director of Maine Sea Coast Mission/The EdGE, told Congressional staffers.
Considering that one of my favorite grrls lives in Maine, I was floored. In my head, I know that rural America is hurting. I know it, but I also don't realize to what extent it is. When the CTA funding was passed in Springfield it included money for public transportation in other parts of the state but the tax burden was on the Chicagoland area. "You're welcome downstate!" I yelled during one WBEZ broadcast. It wasn't as in your face as it sounds...I know that Chicago & the suburbs put in a lot more money than downstate because well, there's more money here. I could move downstate to pay less taxes, but I'm not.
I've also heard, as I'm sure many of you have, complaints from downstate elected officials & residents that inner city kids get more than farm kids. I have no idea how true it is, but somehow I think it is. And this inequity extends to afterschool activities apparently.
The fact that kindergarteners are being left alone due to a lack of afterschool activities is insane, just plain insane. We hear politicians on all sides say time and again that this country cherishes children. Barack Obama won't mandate health insurance except for kids. "What about the children?" is a constant cry.
But how serious can we be about cherishing children if we allow anyone, George W. Bush, or the next president to cut funding for afterschool programs? I could go into a rant about how this is just a way to push us women out of the workforce and back into the kitchen, but I have to do some homework for the office.
Seriously 40,000?
Veronica also blogs at Viva La Feminista, Chicago Moms Blog and Work it, Mom!
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