by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
A UNM sports program for financially disadvantaged children has no money for the summer.
The National Youth Sports Program, which provides federally funded sports training for 10- to 15-year-olds, lost more than half its funding in 2006.
The funding was completely cut this year.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"We can think of all the reasons, whether it's the war or all the other things that are going on," said Gary Sanchez, the activities coordinator for UNM's program. "You look at the political atmosphere, and you can see what's going to be cut."
Before 2006, the program got about $96,000 per year of federal money. In 2006, that dropped to $40,000.
"This was a program where all the buses used to come in, and we'd see lines of kids waiting to participate," Sanchez said. "They'd all be sitting around the Duck Pond eating lunch. They were maybe a little loud, but they were having a good time."
When the program received federal funding, about 380 children attended daily.
The program ran for about one month in the summer.
The students took classes in sports, including soccer, rugby and basketball.
"This was not a roll-out-the-ball kind of program," Chavez said. "Kids were taught skill in the sports."
David Scott, director of UNM's program, said he hopes local donations can keep the program alive for the summer.
"There's some support, but it's very unclear what the future is going to be," he said. "I would really be disappointed to see us not be able to offer the program."
The program was important for New Mexico, he said.
"Since we're one of the leading states with childhood obesity and diabetes, it's really important to provide an opportunity for them to have an opportunity to be healthy," he said. "To a certain extent, we are providing a program where kids would otherwise just be sitting in front of the TV."
Rochelle Taylor, president of the corporation that manages the program, said the program provided more than something to do.
"These are kids that are at or below the poverty level," she said. "It's not just about teaching sports. It's also about teaching life lessons."
Besides providing sports training, the program gives the students at least one free meal per day, and counselors teach classes on drug abuse and general health.
The program also encourages children to attend college, Sanchez said.
"For those young kids, it's probably one of their first looks at a major institution," he said. "Hopefully, they can see what the University has to offer, and they can see that it's to their benefit to try to be a part of that."
Even if UNM finds local funding for the program, it will still suffer, Taylor said.
"They're going to have to reduce the program in some way," she said.
About 60 programs across the country have found enough money to run the program for the summer, she said.
About 50,000 children who had to stop participating in the program nationwide because of the funding cuts may have nowhere else to go, she said.
"We've had no documentation that these kids were able to be involved in any other structured programs," she said. "Every year this program doesn't operate, there's going to be kids out on the street because of it."
