Leahy Pushes To Boost Funding For Boys & Girls Clubs

… bill would open 1,500 clubs nationwide

WASHINGTON (Thursday, April 29) – U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and others introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday that would help communities combat the influence of drugs and gangs over youth by paving the way for more Boys & Girls Clubs around the country and in Vermont.

The bill, cosponsored by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mike DeWine (R-Oh.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.), and Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), extends annual grants from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Boys & Girls Club of America through 2010.  As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and the ranking Democratic member on the Judiciary Committee, Leahy has been a long-time supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America successfully convincing Congress to increase federal support for the nonprofit youth service organization from $20 million in 1998 to $80 million this year.

“These are not solely Democratic or Republican ideas; they are simply good sense ideas.  We need safe havens where our youth can learn and grow up free from the menace of drugs, gangs and crime,” said Leahy. “In Vermont, our rural and urban communities have experienced a frightening rise in heroin use in recent years and the Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the state have offered our youth a safe haven from that threat.”   

Under the bill (S. 2363), the annual DOJ grants would increase each year.  The bill proposes $80 million for FY 2006, $85 million for FY 2007, $90 million for FY 2008, $95 million for FY 2009 and $100 million for FY 2010.  The funds would be used to help establish 1,500 additional Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation with the goal of having 5,000 Boys & Girls Clubs in operation by December 31, 2010.

A former prosecutor, Leahy said:  “If we had these clubs in every community, prosecutors would have a lot less work to do because of the values that are being instilled in children through their involvement with Boys & Girls Clubs.”

In Vermont, Boys & Girls Clubs have succeeded in preventing crime and supporting children, Leahy said.  The first Club was established in Burlington 62 years ago.  Now the state has 22 club sites operating throughout the state, including seven clubs in Brattleboro, one club in Springfield, two clubs in Burlington, one club in Winooski, two clubs in Montpelier, five clubs in Randolph, one club in Rutland, two clubs in Vergennes and one club in Bristol.

Through the $1 million in funds that Leahy has already secured in this year alone for Vermont’s Boys & Girls Clubs there are 10 additional project sites that will be up and running and serving kids by the end of 2005: one club in Bennington, two clubs in Burlington, one club in Duxbury, one club in St. Johnsbury, one club in Hardwick, three clubs in Randolph and one club in Ludlow.  With these additions, the clubs will serve well over 10,000 Vermont youths statewide.

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