Jeff Gilbride's March 5 article about proposed cuts to the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers budget focused on the impact funding cuts would have on the Mall Mania program core. It is worthwhile to think about the broader picture.
Mall Mania, an after-school program offered free of charge to all Waltham middle school youth, is a collaborative program with the Waltham Public Schools as lead. The Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, the Greater Waltham ARC, the Recreation Department, the Police Department, the Public Library, Bentley College, Brandeis University, and Regis College all partner. The private sector, including IBM, Foster-Miller, American Consumer Credit Counseling, Middlesex Savings Bank and others, provide support. In addition to offering hands-on, project-based programs that support academic growth, Mall Mania is about strengthening a network of community programs so that young people have a broad variety of worthwhile programs during non-school hours.
Through student and staff assessments, we know that regular participation in such programs makes a positive difference in student performance. Mall Mania is available Monday through Thursday afternoons September through June, and for four weeks in the summer.
A number of people have asked, why the name Mall Mania? Before the program started, the Partnership for Youth worked with a Brandeis team to survey middle school youth. When asked what they wanted to do after school, middle school students responded that they wanted to hang out at the mall.
Waltham youth service providers did not think that daily hanging out at a mall was the best choice for middle school youth, but designed the after school program using a mall theme. Just as there are many shopping choices at a mall, there are many program options for young people at Mall Mania; the students get to shop, and select, the programs they want.
MARINA PAIGE BARTLEY, executive director, Waltham Partnership for Youth, Inc.
