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FOLLOWING
ARE EXCERPTS FROM
"SAFE HAVENS, SAFE CHILDREN"
BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS
AND THE FIGHT AGAINST JUVENILE CRIME
A REPORT BY U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
OCTOBER, 2002
INTRODUCTION
Eight years ago, our nation’s children were in trouble. Crime
rates were soaring, and our kids were in the crossfire. What was
most disturbing was that children were becoming victims of crime
and being arrested as perpetrators in record numbers, and many people
were saying that there was nothing the government could do about
it.
Much has changed since then. Juvenile crime rates have fallen from
record highs to record lows. Children are less likely to be the
victims of crime, and the gangs and drug dealers that held our cities
and towns hostage in the early 1990s retreated when faced with the
unrelenting determination of police and community members to take
back their streets. All of this happened under the aegis of a crime
bill, the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1996 (“Crime
Law”) that I wrote and worked for five years to get passed.
To date we have funded more than 114,000 new police officers and
instituted a community policing initiative that strengthened the
bonds between local residents and law enforcement. We also directed
an unprecedented amount of federal funding into programs designed
to prevent crime from occurring in the first place, often by intervening
in the lives of at-risk youth to turn them away from a life of drugs,
crime and violence. Some of the most successful programs that received
Crime Law funding were initiatives sponsored by the Boys and Girls
Clubs of America.
I have long been a supporter of the Boys and Girls Clubs because
Boys and Girls Clubs make a tremendous difference in the lives of
young people across this nation. They do so in a multitude of ways.
First, they provide invaluable programs and services that are virtually
free for most children and that help young people develop into productive
and caring citizens. Furthermore, they very simply provide a safe
place for children to go after school, on weekends and during the
summer, which keeps them off the streets and lessens the chance
that they will become the victims or perpetrators of crime.
Over the past year, my staff has contacted hundreds of Boys and
Girls Clubs that have opened or expanded their operations since
1994 thanks to the $270 million in federal funds that have been
dedicated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. This report collects
quantitative data and anecdotal evidence to prove what common sense
tells us: when we invest in programs that keep kids off the streets
and occupied with productive activities that teach them to resist
peer pressure and the lure of crime and drugs, juvenile crime decreases.
In virtually every case, juvenile crime rates in the areas surrounding
Boys and Girls Clubs sharply declined in the late 1990s, and did
so even as control rates rose, stayed the same, or declined at a
lesser rate. Furthermore, dedicating money to programs like those
offered at the Boys and Girls Club is perhaps the most effective
way of preventing crime, and is certainly far more cost-efficient
than incarcerating juveniles for long periods after they have already
committed crimes. In short, Boys and Girls Clubs work.
Among the things that sometimes get lost in all of the statistics
and graphs, however, are the personal stories of how Boys and Girls
Clubs have made a difference in the lives of real people. For this
reason, this report presents anecdotal evidence in addition to quantitative
evidence as further support for its findings. The reader will discover
that, even in communities where hard data is not available, the
impact of the Boys and Girls Club on juvenile crime is real, substantial
and positive. There are two stories, however, that I find particularly
compelling, and I would like to take this opportunity to share them
with you. Allow me to introduce you to Larry Lambert and Alan Creech.
Larry Lambert is an alumnus of the Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington,
Delaware who I’ve known personally for several years. His
is a story of extraordinary personal strength, perseverance, and
generosity.
Larry could have been one of those stories you read about in the
newspaper, watch on the evening news, or hear from a friend or coworker.
We all know these sad tales: a young man killed in a drive-by shooting,
a girl lost to heroin and crack addiction, a high school drop-out
joining a gang so he can feel like he belongs. Larry’s tale
could have fit right in with these. Larry was born and raised in
a poverty-stricken household in Claymont, Delaware. The environment
was dangerous, and it would seem as though the conditions were ripe
for him to become another statistic. In 1991, when Larry was only
10 years old, his mother passed away due to a massive heart attack.
The loss of his mother was devastating, and in school he faced the
social stigma of being motherless. A few years later his brother
was killed in an automobile accident. Larry was alone, without support
or guidance.
But there is one difference between what happened to Larry and what
happened to those kids you read about in the paper: Larry’s
story didn’t end the same way. Despite having all odds stacked
against him, Larry managed to break free from the vicious cycle
of lost lives and squandered opportunities. How did he do this?
Because somebody was there for him. Someone believed that a young
boy like Larry mattered. It was the Clarence Fraim Boys and Girls
Club in Wilmington, Delaware that saved Larry’s life.
At the Boys and Girls Club, disadvantaged youths such as Larry were,
in his own words, “treated like people.” It was an oasis
from the problems he faced elsewhere. “No matter what happened
at home or at school, the Boys and Girls Club was always there.”
The Club had such an impact on the young Larry that he immediately
wanted to give back. He started volunteering for the Club at age
14, and shared his deep passion for art with the other kids by teaching
art classes. Larry was so successful that in 1997 he became the
director of the art program at his Boys and Girls Club. He has won
eight national art awards-now that’s something.
But Larry’s accomplishments don’t stop there. In 1998,
Larry was named Delaware’s “State Youth of the Year,”
and was the first youth in the fifty-one-year history of Delaware’s
Boys and Girls Clubs to compete for the title of “National
Youth of the Year”, where he was named a finalist in the competition.
He was so successful that he was invited, along with other Finalists,
to appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where he received a $25,000
scholarship. Meanwhile, Larry’s academic accomplishments were
exemplary, and he was named a member of the National Honor Society.
He graduated from Temple University with a major in film. He then
returned to the Club that helped so much, applying what he learned
at Temple to make a film for the Delaware Boys and Girls Club Capital
Campaign. The happiness of the children with whom he works is his
overriding, driving passion.
Larry has truly come a long way since becoming involved in the Boys
and Girls Clubs. He is intelligent, talented, and valuable. Many
underprivileged kids do not take Larry’s path, however. They
do not realize their intelligence, their talent, and their value.
They need support from caring adults who are committed to helping
them realize their full potential. They need people like Alan Creech.
Alan Creech was one of the best friends the children of Nampa, Idaho
ever had. As an officer with the Nampa Police Department since 1974,
Assistant Chief since 1995 and the Chief of Police since January
2000, Alan tirelessly promoted his community. When juvenile crime
rates began to rise in Nampa, he responded by working with other
community leaders to figure out what could be done to prevent such
crime in the first place. Out of these discussions came the Nampa
Suspension School collaboration between the police department and
the local school district that provides remedial help and promotes
restitution among students serving out-of-school suspensions) and
the Boys and Girls Club. As Alan himself told me in a letter, the
Club “was built on a shoestring with primarily donated funds.
It opened faster than anyone predicted. And it become an immediate
success” with over 900 children enrolled (an impressive number
for a city of only 50,000 people).
Why did it become such a success? A major reason was the involvement
of Chief Creech and his police department. Alan helped secure funding
to build the Club, joined its Board of Directors, and made sure
that the Club shared a building with a full police substation so
that officers could interact with children on a daily basis and
serve as mentors, teachers, and friends. Under Alan’s leadership,
10% of Nampa’s police officers were assigned to schools and
youth programs, and he helped secure federal funding to pay for
these projects. Steve Toronto, the Executive Director of the Nampa
Boys and Girls Club, summed up Alan’s contribution nicely:
“Alan had a heart for kids. Without him, the Club would never
have been built.”
The results were impressive. Juvenile arrests plummeted, even as
Nampa’s population experienced unprecedented growth. By working
together, the Boys and Girls Club and the Nampa Police, led by Chief
Creech, helped save Nampa’s children from the downward spiral
of drugs, crime and violence.
When my staff and I began collecting information for this report,
we sent letters to scores of police departments across the country,
and we received scores of responses. Each of these responses was
greatly appreciated, and provided valuable information and insight
into the effect of Boys and Girls Clubs on juvenile crime across
the nation. Chief Creech’s response, in particular, demonstrated
a remarkable level of excitement, commitment and love for his community.
His letter described, in detail, the many wonderful things happening
in Nampa, and he introduced me, through his writings and enclosed
newspaper articles, to some of the special people who have worked
with the Nampa police and the Boys and Girls Clubs to make their
community better. Alan’s obvious excitement and pride in his
community made an impression. In my office in Wilmington, 2,500
miles from Nampa, hangs a Nampa police shield as a symbol of service
to the community.
Alan was serving his community and its children on June 21, 2002,
when he and his friend Mark Hupe flew a small plane out into the
country to aerially survey campsites for their church. They were
trying to find a safe place so Nampa’s families could enjoy
the beauty of the Idaho wilderness. But on that day something went
terribly wrong: there was an accident, and the plane went down.
Alan and Mark didn’t make it.
The loss of Alan Creech was not only devastating to his family and
friends. It was also a tremendous loss for the community. Yet because
Alan dedicated his life to helping others, he lives on. He lives
on in the Boys and Girls Club he helped to start. He lives on in
the 900 children who benefit from the Club daily, and the many generations
of children who will benefit in the future. He lives on in the citizens
of Nampa whose lives are better and safer because fewer juveniles
are committing crime. The people of Nampa can say with confidence
that their world is a better place because Alan lived in it, and
that is a fitting memorial to his love for the children and adults
he was privileged to serve. There are many things we do not need
more of in this world. We do not need more drugs, more crime, or
more gangs. We do not need more children coming home to empty houses,
and thus more children wandering the streets. One thing we do need
more of is people like Larry Lambert and Alan Creech. We need more
people who are willing to devote themselves to the service of their
community and its children, who work hard to make their world better,
and who take advantage of the endless opportunities that are available
to them in this country. It is to these people, in Wilmington, Nampa,
and across the United States, that this report is dedicated.
In closing, I want to thank the hundreds of Boys and Girls Club
directors and Police organizations who responded to my office’s
repeated telephone calls and requests for information over the past
year. I also want to thank the dedicated staff at the headquarters
of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and in particular the helpful
people at their Offices of Government Relations. Finally, I owe
a special note of thanks to four of the hardest-working interns
in my office: Herc Grigos, Jason Smith, Robert Parker and Michael
Stat. I hope that you find this report informative, and encourage
you to share it with your colleagues and friends.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
United States Senator
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II. FINDING SOLUTIONS:
THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA
A. PAST AND PRESENT
In 1860, three women in Hartford, Connecticut became concerned at
the growing number of young boys roaming the streets, causing trouble
and wasting their potential to be productive members of the community.
The women decided that if the boys only had a place to go, a positive
environment that would nurture them and give them structure, then
the boys, their families and their neighborhoods would be better
off. The women began inviting the boys into their home to eat cake,
drink tea, and talk. The invitations proved immensely popular, and
as more and more boys began to attend, the first Boys Club was born.
24
Today, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America are the leading youth
service organization in the United States, with 3,103 Club locations
in all fifty states, as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,
and domestic and international military bases. Together, these clubs
serve 3.3 million boys and girls of all ages, races, religions and
ethnic groups. Almost half of these children come from single-parent
homes, and 63% are minorities. The Boys and Girls Clubs of America
employ more than 11,300 full-time youth professionals and more than
22,500 part-time youth professionals nationwide in service of these
children. 25
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24 History of Boys and Girls Clubs, available at
http://www.bgca.org/whoweare/history.asp
25 Boys and Girls Club Facts, available at http://www.bgca.org/whoweare/facts/asp
V. COSTS AND BENEFITS
Boys and Girls Clubs nationwide have demonstrated that they know
how to use their financial resources efficiently and effectively.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has rated the Boys and Girls Clubs
of America number one among youth organizations for the eighth consecutive
year and number eleven among all non-profit organizations, and Newsweek
magazine has called it "the largest and arguably most effective
youth organization in the country." 44 In December 2001, Worth
magazine ranked the Boys and Girls Clubs as one of the "100
Best Charities in America" based on financial efficiency, strength
of reputation and program effectiveness. These accolades are borne
out by the actual practice of Boys and Girls Clubs across the country.
In Delaware, for example, the Boys and Girls Club devotes 89% of
its funding to programs, instead of to administration and fund raising.
This money goes directly to the children the Clubs serve, and is
a higher percentage than any other charity organization in Delaware.
These acknowledgements of the cost-effectiveness of the Boys and
Girls Club are but a drop in the bucket of thousands of accolades
the organization has received over the years. This is not surprising,
given the Boys and Girls Club’s success at improving the lives
of children and preventing juvenile crime and delinquency. It is
clear that Boys and Girls Clubs are a resource that must be utilized
and supported. We must each do our part to make sure that they are
well positioned for even greater success in the future.
44 Jonathan Alter, “Think Before You Give:
A Smarter Guide to Charity,” Newsweek, p.38 (Sept. 29, 1997).
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Anyone interested in obtaining a complete copy of this report may
contact the Boys & Girls Club of Hawthorne at (973)427-7777
or via e-mail to request a copy.
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