Mayor Rybak Honored as ‘Afterschool Champion’ by National Organization
Afterschool Alliance recognizes results of Minneapolis Promise, Youth Congress, Youth Violence Prevention
May 17, 2011 (MINNEAPOLIS) Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was honored today as an "Afterschool Champion" by the national Afterschool Alliance at a breakfast in Washington, D.C. Mayor Rybak was honored for championing the Minneapolis Promise, engaging with the Minneapolis Youth Congress and spearheading Minneapolis’ Youth Violence Prevention initiative. He was one of just nine state champions from around the country honored for supporting and working on behalf of afterschool programs.
"Mayor Rybak has been a tireless and true champion for the city’s youth," said Laura LaCroix-Dalluhn, Executive Director of Youth Community Connections: Minnesota’s Statewide Afterschool Alliance, who nominated Mayor Rybak for the Afterschool Champion honor. "He knows that we must work on multiple fronts to help ensure a righter future for young people and he has dedicated himself and the city to achieving that goal."
"The real champions are the thousands of volunteers in our community of keep working in big and small ways to make sure we don’t stop caring about our youth once the school bell rings," said Mayor Rybak.
Mayor Rybak was honored as an Afterschool Champion for his work with:
The Minneapolis Promise, an innovative cluster of coordinated efforts that eliminate barriers to college for Minneapolis students. The Minneapolis Promise provides young people with high-quality summer jobs, privately-funded College and Career Centers in every public high school that help them plan a vision for their future, and financial assistance to attend college.
The Minneapolis Youth Congress, an organization of 55 teens in 8 th through 12 th grade from neighborhoods across Minneapolis who collaborate with elected officials to create and influence public policies that positively affect local youth.
Minneapolis’ Youth Violence Prevention initiative, a multi-year collaboration in 22 Minneapolis neighborhoods that treats youth violence as a public-health epidemic that requires a holistic, multi-faceted response. The four goals of the initiative’s Blueprint for Action are to connect every youth to a trusted adult, intervene at the first sign that youth are at risk of violence, restore youth who have gone down the wrong path, and unlearn the culture of violence in the community. Since 2006, the number of youth suspects in violent crime has declined 62%, and the number of youth arrested for violent crime has declined 52%.
"Afterschool programs are lifeline for working families, they keep kids safe and — most important — inspire them to learn," said Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant. "Today, we are proud to honor the state champions who have dedicated themselves to ensuring that children have access to these crucial programs."
The "Breakfast of Champions" is part of the 10 th-annual Afterschool for All Challenge, sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance, which brings together hundreds of parents, educators, children, program directors and advocates from around the country for a series of events and meetings with members of Congress. Following the breakfast, participants fanned out across Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress about the importance of afterschool programs and expanding opportunities for kids to engage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer and Math) activities in those programs. 2011 is the Year of Science in Afterschool.
Published May. 17, 2011