by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
A UNM program for children of low-income families is no longer in jeopardy after one dean and the University's president found funding to help it survive.
The National Youth Sports Program provides sports training for 10- to 15-year-olds, but it lost more than half its funding to federal budget cuts in 2006.
The funding was completely cut this year.
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President David Harris and Viola Florez,
dean of the College of Education, found $50,000 to keep the program going this summer.
"UNM has really come to the rescue of these kids," said Gary Sanchez, activities coordinator for UNM's program.
Florez said she approached Harris about the program because she wanted to be able to continue it, despite the cuts.
Florez trimmed budgets for some of the college's programs to get money together, and Harris matched those funds with money from the University's general fund, Harris said.
"Her essential message was that if we didn't figure out a way to help the program, it would hurt a lot of kids," Harris said.
Children who participated in the past have come back to UNM as students and gone on to help their communities, Florez said.
"It's kind of like an investment for the future in a sense," she said. "In 36 years, we have made a major impact."
Florez said the program gives children much more than exercise and includes classes on health and nutrition.
"It really provides students with a sense of discipline," she said. "It brings them on to a safe and active environment and helps them to learn things they probably wouldn't have an opportunity to learn."
With the University's funding, about 250 children will be able to participate in the program, which includes breakfast and lunch, Sanchez said.
The average daily attendance before the cuts was 380, but money is not the only issue,
Sanchez said.
"When we had cuts last year, we couldn't take as many," he said. "If we were able to get enough space and then enough people to help, we could hold 500 kids."
Parents need options like the sports program because it gets children active, said David Scott, director of UNM's program.
"We're at a time right now when you have as many of the issues that we have with things like diabetes and obesity," he said. "Anything that gives kids an opportunity to participate in something other than watching television is very important."
Florez said children keep the lessons they learn from the program for the rest of their lives.
"It's kind of like a summer camp," she said. "When they come here to the University, it introduces them, probably for the first time, to a college campus, and they learn the values that will stay with them forever."
