Investing in Youth Recreation Reduces Crime

Youth Programming and Crime Prevention

Before I became a college instructor, I used to work in municipal recreation. One area of recreation programming I felt received very little consideration from the Federal or Provincial government, was youth programming, in particular youth ages 12-18 years of age. I have seen many community groups organize and fundraise to start a teen center, but due to the lack of sustainable funding, ended up closing their doors. From my experience working with the former Kensington Teen Center, which closed as a result of lack of support we received from the Province of Prince Edward Island, I know first hand the challenges these centers go through to keep their doors open. Recreation helps reduce crime in a community and can save an adolescents life by providing positive activities for them to participate in. Generation XX provides a valuable service to Summerside. The City of Summerside provides an annual operating grant to this innovative youth activity center and I believe that the Province and Federal government needs to invest in such endeavors as well. By investing in sustainable funding for Summerside youth, we can hopefully reduce crime and hopefully save our youth from getting involved in delinquent behaviour.