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 The fact that more than 50 percent of DCPS 9th graders will not graduate from high school is alarming. The fact that the biggest dropoff occurs during the ninth grade year is more alarming still. What is happening to these kids? Where are they going? Are they becoming the children we fear when we walk home alone at night?
The Mayor has formed a task force called “Reconnecting Disconnected Youth.” This summer, the Department of Employment Services created 14,000 jobs for any youth who wanted one. The Department of Parks and Recreation provided continuous summer camp activities for thousands more. The Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp., funded summer programming and countless private organizations provided activities for even more.
 One of the most impressive facilities the staff of the Human Services Committee has visited this year is THEARC, which stands for The Town Hall Education, Arts & Recreation Campus, located east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8.
The ARC is a beautiful, $27 million, 110,000 square-foot complex that was built by Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR), a nonprofit organization (founded by William C. Smith & Co.) formed to develop, construct and manage the facility. The Washington Ballet is currently housed there.
On the day we visited, the Boys and Girls Club at THEARC, was bustling with young people doing what young people do -- laughing and having fun, but also learning. Some had their hands sloppy making paper-mache eggs. Others were having an afternoon school lesson, just to get a jump on the new school year, which is coming up soon. The afternoon snack of honey doughnuts was being passed out as we arrived for our 4:30 p.m. tour. The computer lab instructor showed us her state of the art facility, donated by Intel, and the director and receptionist welcomed us warmly.
 The atmosphere at THEARC was not unlike the atmosphere we experienced at another sanctuary for at-risk youth in the District, the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) on Columbia Road in NW. There we saw rooms full of deeply engaged youngsters, working with art teachers, and music teachers, and computer whiz kids, on their next project – painting a mural, composing a song, defining themselves, first as individuals and then as artists.
And it dawned on us that these places, like THEARC and the LAYC, with their strong sense of community and of purpose, had no problem keeping kids engaged – the kids wanted to be there, as Daniel Conner on our staff put it so succinctly. Could it be that the fact that they wanted to be there is the key to “Reconnecting Disconnected Youth,” to re-engaging those kids that have disengaged?
To paraphrase what Barack Obama said in his recent policy address on poverty at THEARC last week, if the question is, how can we allow more than 50 percent of our ninth graders to drop out of school, how can we allow so many to become “disconnected,” the answer is simply, “We can’t.”
Photo Credits: THEARC & Latin American Youth Center
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2007-08-06 23:00:10 THEARC is indeed a beautiful facility, but it seems to have consolidated arts programs that have existed East of the River for over a decade. The area needs an arts incubator to help jump-start new programs, including studio space for performing and visual arts to create new work. |
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