City’s first center for reducing and preventing truancy

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly have announced the creation of the first Center for Truancy Reduction and Prevention in New York City. Organizers say that chronically absent students who become mentored by the program are 52 percent more likely to stay in school. They add that the center will give children the opportunity to participate in programs meant to improve success and engagement, and is already in 100 of New York’s schools. [[ED: WHAT IS ALREADY IN 100 SCHOOLS?]]

“We’ve taken major steps in the last three years to reduce chronic absenteeism by developing innovative strategies that have proven highly effective,” revealed Bloomberg at the announcement of the program at the West Harlem Police Athletic League. “The opening of this engagement center is the next step in ensuring our children are provided with the support they need to stay in school and off the streets—for their safety and their academic futures.”

“There is no more important responsibility we bear than to protect every child’s right to a safe, high-quality education,” said Kelly.

Within the center, which is located in the Police Athletic League, is staff from the DOE, the district attorney’s office and social workers. The center will provide academic tutors and other programs like mental health counseling and school-run success mentors who are assigned based on the individual needs of the child.

“In order to keep kids out of the courtroom, we need to keep them in the classroom,” said Vance. “Since 2010, my office and our partners in the NYPD have taken 13 violent gangs off our city’s streets. Working with my office’s Advocate to Graduate program, the new Youth Truancy Engagement Center [[ED: WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE CENTER? FIRST PARAGRAPH CALLS IT SOMETHING ELSE]] will prevent at-risk children and teens from falling into this way of life by identifying their needs early and matching them with the appropriate academic tutoring and resources.”