Council Approves More Funding for After-School Activities

The City Council appropriated about $6,300 to fund after-school activities in the city's youth centers at Monday night's meeting, but that figure was child's play compared to talk of future grants.

The funding was approved by a unanimous roll-call vote and many councillors said they hoped the upcoming budget would include future funding so the city's youth centers could hire more part-time workers and full-time directors. Preliminary steps are being taken for construction of a new youth center--the city's fourth in West Cambridge.

"The centers need the addition of a full-time assistant director," said Councillor Timothy J. Toomey. "We have part-time assistant directors who work under 20 hours a week. I don't think that is adequate."

Toomey said the youth centers' budgets were written with the expectation that the centers would service a maximum of 400 high school-age students. The centers currently report a membership of 487.

"We need additional part-timers as well" to meet the children's needs, Toomey said. "I hope that the manager finds the appropriation in the budget."

The city employs one full-time director for each of its three centers and a part-time staff that keeps about five people working at each center at most times.

Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 said programming at the centers would improve as staffing concerns were addressed.

He said more full-time staff would be necessary to bring the centers "to the next level."

"I thought we had changed in our notion of substantive programming," Reeves said. "We'd like to beef up what [the teens] do there...make it more educational."

Reeves said higher salaries for directors and new full-time staff was the key to improving the centers.

"In recruiting good people salary is a major issue," he said. "They can't work in the low 20s. If we could pay in the 30 to 35 level, we could add better people to the pool of applicants."

Vice-mayor Anthony D. Galluccio said large previous investments in the youth centers coupled with the outstanding job done by the directors warranted further expenditure on their behalf.

"If you look at the amount of money we spent for these great, grand, beautiful buildings," the salaries for directors pale in comparison he said.

"The directors are involved with building aspects, curricular aspects," Galluccio added. "The role of that director position is so important, unless that position is paid well we're going to have large turnovers."

Galluccio also advocated educational reimbursements for college student volunteers who help out in the centers.

"The more people we have, the better for the children," he said.

Deputy City Manager Richard C. Rossi said the center has agreements with several Harvard houses that let students volunteer their services by working with Cambridge teens.

But Reeves said the student volunteer programs were not a permanent resolution to the youth center staffing issue.

"Harvard kids are not twelve months a year of programming," he said. "I think it's good that we contract outside of the part-time funded staff, but a lot of young people simply need to be with adults who care about them."

Reeves summed up for all the councillors the importance of the youth centers.

"Our teens are a precious resource," he said. "These programs don't reach all 1,800 students in our high schools, but the 487 students who go to the centers are a group that we could absolutely assist in the most significant wonderful ways."