Parents who rely on free after-school programs and communities that benefit from keeping unsupervised teens off the street could lose out if New York lawmakers approve $11 million in program cuts proposed by Gov. David Paterson.

With less than two months before the state budget is due, advocacy groups are raising their voices and holding out their hats, pleading “not me.”

The “Advantage After School Program” would be cut to $17 million under Paterson’s proposal, and advocates said Wednesday that would force 79 of the 303 program sites to close when their contracts expire this year.

Paterson has said he doesn’t like having to plan for deep cuts, but he’s trying to close an estimated $8.2 billion budget deficit.

The after-school program, along with one designed to help youth secure summer jobs, was partially funded with money left over from the state’s welfare program. Now with the struggling economy, a recent increase in the welfare grant and rising demand, there simply isn’t Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money left over.

The closures would eliminate after-school programs, which are operated through YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs and other groups, for more than 6,000 children and eliminate thousands of jobs, said John Albert, a spokesman for The After-School Corporation.

“These activities help provide our youth with the resources they need to grow into healthy adults,” said Brendan Cox, assistant chief of the Albany Police Department. “They also deter the youth from getting involved in self destructive activities such as juvenile delinquency and gang activity … These activities help our youth to act like children, like the kids that they are.”

The Advantage budget was already cut by $2.4 million earlier this year from $30.5 million in the original budget.

Advocates argued Wednesday at a press conference in Albany that the program for children, ages 6 to 18, should be restored to its 2009 levels. The programs help the community by keeping kids off the streets, and it helps students by offering tutorial and other academic support programs, they said.

Advantage also makes it possible for many parents to work because it gives them a childcare option between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Advocates and many Democratic legislative leaders also have objected to a proposed $35 million cut to the state’s summer jobs program.

Advocates say federal, state, and city money combined to put about 52,000 young people to work last summer in the city. Almost 140,000 applied for jobs. Earlier this month, several young people at a rally supporting the jobs program said it provided their first jobs, helping them acquire basic skills, make money and stay out of trouble.

Source: AP