Published on: Wednesday, August 05, 2009

By Nancy Royden

Because of the Safe Summer program at William Wirt Middle School in Riverdale, Jerome Jenkins has a place that’s fun, wholesome and not far from home.

“The Safe Summer program is an invaluable community resource because it provides young people with safe places to learn, play and stay engaged over summer break during late-night hours when constructive activities are not normally available to them,” said Sara McElroy, youth marketing specialist with The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission Department of Parks and Recreation.

“More than 20,000 of the county’s young people have participated so far,” said McElroy.

The M-NCPPC Department of Parks and Recreation provides Safe Summer Participants with an extensive variety of recreation opportunities ranging from creative writing sessions to fashion design workshops to sports leagues. This means the children have a chance to explore something new they might not experience otherwise, McElroy said.

“Giving Prince George’s County youth access to enriching recreational outlets in a safe, fun environment is what Safe Summer is all about,” she said.

Stephen Makle, 42, youth coordinator with the M-NCPPC, said he took part in the county’s youth programs when he was a child. Today he enjoys planning fun activities for the children in Safe Summer, such as skate boarding, graffiti art, good nutrition seminars, a dodge ball-like game called “torpedo,” laser tag, hip-hop poet performances, video games, arts and crafts and dancing. These activities are in addition to the plethora of events held during the day throughout the county.

“We have had park naturalists and park rangers. They bring in different types of animals,” he said.

Business leaders have also come to share information with the students about their enterprises, Makle said.

“Entrepreneurial people come in talking about business and marketing,” he said.

Makle works with Kelli Beavers to coordinate the program for the entire county. He said Safe Summer started last year with five sites and is the brainchild of District 8 County Council Member Tony Knotts.

The program started with five sites, including the Glassmanor Community Center in Oxon Hill, the Temple Hills Community Center, and the Indian Queen Recreation Center, the Potomac Landing Elementary School Community Center and the YMCA, all in Fort Washington, Knotts said.

Knotts said even after he is no longer a member of the county council, he would like to see the Safe Summer program continued because of its value to the youth.

“The importance of it has always been an idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” he said. “We serve for a period of time (on the council), but it’s what I consider a legacy program.”

Coming up with a plan to fill the gap of time left during the summer, when school is out of session takes coordination, but is worth it.

“We needed mind-enhancing activities for young people in that time frame. We had to find the resources to provide it,” Knotts said. “It just felt it was unbelievable as a government we couldn’t come up with a plan to keep them moving, if you will, for the summer.”

Knotts said the county council members will receive a report concerning crime statistics and the Safe Summer program later this year, possibly around the winter holidays.

Makle said the program kicked off June 22 this summer and will end Aug. 22. Altogether, there are 27 sites, three of them at schools. He said the program receives support from law enforcement officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department and the Maryland-National Capital Park Police.

Twenty-five of the sites are designated for children ages 12 to 17, and two of them are for 18 to 24-year olds. Many of them operate Monday through Saturday and some are open only on the weekend, he said.

Even though the doors open at a specific time, the children often wait outside to get inside the facility.

“The kids are really excited about the programs and they show up at 7:30 or 8 o’clock,” Makle said.

Inclusion staff member Jessica Amey said giving all the children opportunities to experience new things is valuable.

“A Mary Kay consultant came to include the girls. There were facials and we did nails,” she said.

Performers, including a drummer, a guitar player and Zumba dancer have all provided fun learning experiences for the children.

Mayah Sheldon, 10, said she likes the games and movie night during Safe Summer. Plus, she enjoys the food, and mentioned hamburgers and hotdogs.

JoAnn Martinez is coordinator of the program at William Wirt Middle School. She said the program is necessary because it definitely offers a safe place for kids to hang out.

“They love the program. You know where the kids are until midnight,” she said.