MILTON — Milton City Council members have voted in favor of allowing Camp Fire, a nonprofit youth development organization, to use the community’s portable facilities. The next goal is to start an after-school program for middle school aged children by January.
The city’s Leadership Education Activities and Programs, or LEAP, committee will seek funding options for the program.
“Through the LEAP committee, we have been looking for a way to deal with middle (school) aged youth after school,” City Manager Brian Watkins said during the Nov. 17 committee as a whole meeting.
Tammy Byrer — Camp Fire Gulf Wind Inc.’s Santa Rosa District director, who plans to speak before the LEAP committee next month — said the organization offered to provide a middle school program called Inter ACTION.
“I believe we can work with 20 to 30 students in an after-school (program), pending funding,” she said.
Byrer said with enough community support, the program could provide a full scholarship to each of the first students who register. Each eight-week session can cost around $10,000 to make it available for 30 kids, Byrer said. The program will also seek funding from government and private sources, she said.
Byrer said the program could be the answer the LEAP committee seeks.
“(We can) give some sort of creative and organized activity that the kids find enjoyable as well as the parents and the schools find productive,” she said.
Camp Fire’s program could help students boost communication skills and problem-solving techniques, she said. In addition, volunteers could tutor students finishing homework, and the program offers field trips along with the chance to participate in hands-on workshops and talk with guest speakers.
LEAP Chairwoman Mary Ellen Johnson said she likes the idea of this program since it offers the same English Common Core curriculum taught in the Santa Rosa County School District.
Byrer said Camp Fire plans to offer other educational programs to select groups at a couple of area middle schools in Santa Rosa County, reaching 700 students in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. In addition to offering an educational purpose, Byrer said the program would allow students to be active in the community, through festivals or parades.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: City eyes after-school program