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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Council Renews Youth Program

Aaron McKinnon says it’s helped keep him out of juvenile detention.

Damecca Knight says it’s helped her find self-respect and a place to spend her evenings.

Heartfelt pleas from teenagers helped convince Spokane City Council members on Monday to find a way to pay for a program that somehow slipped through the 1995 budgeting cracks.

“The fact is this is coming at a very bad time for us,” said Mayor Jack Geraghty, referring to the call for money after the budget’s passage. “But that’s like crying over spilt milk.”

“I’m going to support this program.”

The council voted 5-1 to secure the $53,281 needed to pay for the Neighborhood Specific Summer Youth Program - a program sponsored by Spokane’s four community centers that offers summertime activities to at-risk teenagers.

“It’s a little thing,” said 18-year-old Emmanuel Grubbs, “but it makes a big difference.”

Councilman Mike Brewer voted against the proposal, and Councilman Joel Crosby abstained, saying he’d like to know more about where the money would go.

Although community center directors said they included it in their proposed 1995 budgets, the 3-yearold program somehow didn’t make the final version passed by the council in December.

Councilman Chris Anderson, who sits on the Community Center Advisory Board, blamed himself for not following the line item through the budget process. Center directors say city staff members mistakenly dropped it from the final draft.

Regardless of who’s at fault, the money wasn’t there.

Now that the council’s committed to finding the cash, Spokane teenagers can count on seeing videos that stress leadership and responsibility, said Don Higgins, director of the West Central Community Center. The kids also learn how to avoid drugs, alcohol and gangs.

“It’s a highly structured program that focuses on building values,” Higgins said.

George McGrath, a frequent critic of city spending, urged the council to pay for this program

“For a change, spend some money,” McGrath said. “I don’t know if you could invest money any more wisely than you could with the kids of Spokane.”

The city’s finance committee will look for ways to pay for the program and present them to the council.

Anderson has suggested taking half the money from the police department’s overtime budget and half from the city’s new public relations program.