Building Community No Boundaries On Helping Kids

It doesn’t matter to Spokane’s Chase Youth Commission if some low-income kids who get scholarships to play in Hoopfest live outside the city limits.

It didn’t matter, either, that some youngsters who got free running shoes for Bloomsday were not city residents.

The commission is a city entity, established in the Spokane city charter and operated in conjunction with the city Youth Department.

But it doesn’t let an irrelevancy like artificial political boundaries thwart its mission of making life better for Spokane-area youth.

Therefore it is both logical and laudable that Spokane County commissioners are prepared to expand the Chase Youth Commission to a city-county program.

The commissioners agreed, following a recent presentation by city Youth Department representatives, to work the commission into the 1998 budget when it is written at the end of this year.

It’s “a done deal,” according to Commissioner John Roskelley, board chairman.

The collective attitude of the current board is an important breakthrough. A previous board turned down a similar invitation to be a partner in the youth commission.

As the current Courthouse regime recognizes, however, kids who live east of Havana or north of Francis - or along other routes that officially bound the city of Spokane - wrestle with the same issues as their neighbors across the street. Countywide attention to their needs makes sense.

Widely known for the annual Chase Youth Awards, the commission also facilitates innovative programs like the Hoopfest and Bloomsday examples cited above.

It enables youngsters to engage in community service and to gain knowledge and experience as citizens.

Increasingly, the Chase Youth Commission is the bridge between the youngsters and resources that make their lives more secure.

Those youngsters and those resources often are separated by distances or political boundaries. Such considerations should not interfere with meeting children’s needs.

As much as possible, the city’s Chase Youth Commission has reached around political obstacles to embrace non-city youngsters’ needs.

A city-county commission will be even more effective.

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