When the Hollister School District faced a severe financial crisis in the 2010-11 budget, trustees cut the stipends for afterschool sports and the YMCA offered fee-based programming.
This school year will be the first in several that the district – which restored its stipends for afterschool sports last year – runs its own athletics programs while the YMCA continues to run grant- and fee-based afterschool recreational programming.
“To be able to have a child in the afterschool program is benefiting not only to that child but I think to their families, the school community and the community as a whole because, what the child is going to gain, they’re going to give back in such a large way to everyone involved,” said Nicole Hartshorn, the regional senior program director for the YMCA of San Benito County.
About 24 percent of the children in California are unsupervised after 3 p.m. and do not participate in afterschool programs, according to Afterschool Alliance, a nonprofit public awareness advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
“I think that (there) might be even more than that even – when I look in our community – but it’s definitely a high number,” Hartshorn said.
Three of the YMCA-run afterschool programs in San Benito County are funded by Proposition 49, a voter-approved initiative from 2002, which established funding for After School Education and Safety programs that provide students with places to go after school, homework assistance and learning opportunities until at least 6 p.m. each day. The YMCA runs ASES programs at Sunnyslope and Gabilan Hills elementary schools in the Hollister School District and one at San Juan School in the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District. Participants of the programs must attend every day they go to school and have to stay the full amount of time, until the program ends at 6 p.m.
The YMCA also offers fee-based YMCA recreational programming at five of the eight Hollister School District elementary schools including the Hollister Dual Language Academy, Sunnyslope, Gabilan Hills, Ladd Lane and Cerra Vista. The program curriculum is almost the same as the ASES program except that it ends at 5 p.m. and parents can choose how often and how long their children participate in the program by signing them up for participation at full-time, part-time, weekly or daily rates.
During a typical day, students in the grant-based and fee-based YMCA recreational programming engage in at least 30 minutes of physical activity, learn mental health practices such as journaling, and engage in a daily craft project, science experiment or math activity.
“Certainly, we want to make sure our kids are able to live longer and have a better quality of life,” Hartshorn said.
The health benefits of at least 30 minutes of a blood-pumping exercises can help reduce the chances of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and even osteoporosis later in life, she said.
The focus of the program is not just exercise, but getting students off the streets when the school day ends. Since the YMCA also emphasizes serving the community, students participate in a community service-orientated project with a different theme each month. In August, students will participate in a campus clean-up. In October, they will trick or treat for toiletries going to the local homeless shelter.
Afterschool, fee-based YMCA program participation costs range from $25 for a single day pass to $270 for a full month. Financial assistance is available for those who qualify. For more information about the afterschool programs, visit the YMCA of San Benito County’s website: centralcoastymca.org/programs/after-school or call (831) 637-8600.
