03/30/2003
Reprinted with permission from The Beaufort Gazette

By OMAR FORD - The Beaufort Gazette staff writer

A casual drive through Beaufort County's rural areas is eye opening for Sam Burke, the unit director for the Beaufort Boys & Girls Club of the Lowcountry.

It is a place desolate in its opportunities for youth, he said.

"There are so many pockets of poverty," Burke said. "So much youth in Beaufort is lost because there are no opportunities for them. It hurts. If we don't do something soon, then we're going to loose the next generation."

Nearly 20 percent of the children in Beaufort County live in poverty, according to U.S. Census data.

On Saturday, a handful of parents and youth workers gathered in Penn Center's cafeteria to hear the results of a study on providing better activities for Lowcountry youth -- to keep them from becoming part of this statistic.

The study of youth ages 6-19 from diverse economic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in Beaufort, Jasper, Hampton and Colleton counties shows the need for better and more affordable youth programs.

Lynda Bell, a consultant who worked on the study, presented the audience with a detailed report showing:

• After-school programs for local youth don't receive enough money.
• Youth often don't have transportation to available programs.
• Racial inequalities in the Lowcountry remain pronounced and evidence of racial tension is everywhere, but seldom talked about in the open.
• Long commutes to service jobs in resort areas limit the hours rural parents can spend at home with children, so a growing number of area youth are left unsupervised and are exposed to negative social behavior.
• There is little or no communication between after school programs.
• The programs and jobs open to the area's older children are limited.

Lack of opportunity is a problem Emery Wright, director of the Nia Project, said he has faced since beginning to work with local youth three years ago. The Boston-based Nia Project, a youth empowerment program, sends Wright to St. Helena Island every summer.

"The kids want more job opportunities," Wright said. "They're leaving the area to go to bigger cities like Columbia, Atlanta and Savannah for these better opportunities."

The report also offers solutions, including:

• Creating a network called School's Out Lowcountry to coordinate and support the region's youth programming.
• Creating a regional web site listing after-school activities for youth.
• Sponsoring staff development for groups working with area youth.

The $89,500 study, done by the Cornerstone Consulting Group, was paid for by the Arthur M. Blank Foundation, Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, Heritage Classic Foundation and Hilton Head Island Foundation.

The forum united Walter Mack, the head of Penn Center's youth program, with Burke, of the Boys and Girls Club. The two had planned to sit down and talk about coordinating their efforts but didn't get the chance until Saturday.

"This is long overdue," Burke said, shaking Mack's hand at the end of the meeting.