 |
Recreation
|
City of Roswell
P.O. Drawer 1838
Roswell, NM 88202-1838
(505) 624-6700
Fax: 624-6889 |
THE LEISURE INCIDENT
Chapter Five - Economic Benefits - Part 2
By Kim Elliott, CLP
Recreation Director
City of Roswell
When Sharp James, the former president of the National League of Cities, said, "We
are going to recreate or we are going to incarcerate" and cited that in 1992,
21.8 million youth under the age of 21 were arrested and the cost of incarcerating these
youth was $2.3 billion annually as reported in Healing America’s Cities, 1994,
he was talking economics. Leisure professionals constantly deal with the economics of our
communities.
Let’s use an example from New Mexico. Albuquerque’s mayor, Martin Chavez was
recently heard to say during the opening session of the New Mexico Recreation and Park
Association Annual Conference, that several years ago sport and music programs were cut
from Albuquerque schools. When this happened, an increase in crime and vandalism was the
result. When they began to put sport and music programs back into the system, crime and
vandalism decreased.
That should make a community rethink it’s values and the importance of wholesome
leisure activities! There is an economic benefit to reducing crime in our community. In
Albuquerque, the funds "saved" on the sport and music programs had to be spent
in the areas of crime prevention and incarceration.
Where was the savings, and, at what expense?
One of the questions to be asked has to do with choices. Do we want to try and provide
programs with a positive image and prevent future negative acts, or, do we want to provide
programs with a negative image that are a response to negative acts?
An excerpt from the 1992 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Act says, "The
incidence of juvenile delinquency can be reduced through public recreation programs and
activities designed to provide youth with social skills, enhance self-esteem, and
encourage the constructive uses of discretionary time." Minnesota Congressman
Bruce Vento adds to the argument for constructive programs for youth when he said, "Urban
recreation and sports programs are proven, commonsense, and cost-effective means of
preventing crime and delinquency. I wonder if our urban youth crime rate would have been
different if these programs had not been neglected in the past."
There is a cost to this choice of either providing positive programs for our youth, or,
not providing positive programs. The cost is much more than the cost of the programming.
It is the cost of a persons life as we try to help them function in our society.
It is easier to initially teach good habits than to have to extinguish bad.
The question is not in providing programs. We will have to provide the programs. The
questions are, "at what cost", and, "what type of programs will be
offered?"
There is a cost in our community to providing preventative programming for youth. That
cost can be seen in the budgets of the Recreation Department and other agencies that
provide programming for youth like the Roswell Boys and Girls Club. There is also a cost
to keep a youth incarcerated. In other words, we can work toward an effectual cure of the
disease or continue to just treat the symptoms. The cure is known and can be administered
in the community by those agencies that provide positive programming for youth. Why do we
continue to treat the symptoms?
An average cost to incarcerate one youth for one year is $28,000 - $38,000 depending on
where in the nation you are looking. The Roswell Recreation Department provided services
to the Roswell community in 1996 for under $25.00 per person with many youth activities
being offered for free or at cost.
What would happen in Roswell, if the community decided to provide additional needed
funds for modern leisure facilities and programming for youth? Current statistics indicate
that crime and vandalism would decrease resulting in a significant decrease in arrest and
incarceration rates, if positive programming can be provided in a community.
The economic value of providing programs that strengthen the family and that provides
good role models for our youth can be difficult to define at times. Maybe it is time we
began.
Parks and Recreation - The Benefits are Endless...TM
