welcome beyond the headlines i'm cheryl jennings. every week we focus on a different topic affecting people that live and work in the bay area. today we're going to look how summertime can be dangerous to the physical and academic health of our low income young people. they lack the fundamental

resources and trilgs opportunities most families associate with this time of year. according to partnership for children of youth, 27% participate in summer learning programs. 48% of parents that make less than $35,000 do not enroll their children in any summer program. many low income young people just don't have the opportunity to go to summer camp. t shows report shows that lack f access is putting them even further behind in school. here is a report from lyanne melendez. >> summer camps are meant to help keep kids engaged but not every parent can accord them. in fact, partnership for children at youth found that the majority of low income youth don't attend a summer school or

program. >> the summer learning is having an enormous effect on lower and middle income students. >> a good number of inner city kids are taking care of themselves without any adult supervision while both parents are working. >> spending a lot of time in front of television and video games and not only is it affecting their academic achievement but their health. >> they want to change that. they want to provide a free summer camp for kids in west oakland. this weekend, 6 hads volunteers help build sand boxes and helped clean up the parks owned by the city of oakland. we'll have sports. we're trying to add a little educational twist to it so they don't get far behind over the summer. >> the school district donated this portable which will serve as a clubhouse and library. breakfast and lunch are also free.

the money to build the facility was donated by local and national nonprofits along with the oakland school police department. across town in east oakland, there is youth up uprising providing programs for teens and helping them find jobs over the summer. >> they want activities and they want programs that they can have leadership positions. so it's really important to make them feel like they are part of something. >> the challenge for nonprofits is try to find the funds in these tough economic times. in oakland, lyanne melendez, "abc 7 news." joining us in the studio from the partnership for children and youth is katy brackenridge, the director of school initiatives. and this summertime being dangerous for kids? >> yeah. think a lot of us think about summer as this great time for

kids, they get to play with their friends, get time outside and take trips with the family. that is true for a lot of kids but it's not always true for low income kids where they may live in dangerous neighborhoods where it's not so safe to go outside and parents may work, one, two, three jobs. so they are not home to be with their kids. so kids are stuck inside and they do a lot of tv watching. they eat unhealthy food. >> let me start with a lot of time on their hands and a step back in learning. summertime is when they actually lose information. >> what is incredible the research is very clear. what they looked at is middle income and low income kids may advance at the same levels as they go through the school year but when they get to the summer, middle income kids that might have access to camps and time

with their family stay about the same or they progress a little bit during the summer. low income kids, what they find, they may up to lose two months of reading and math ability. they are starting school behind but also by the time they get to fifth grade, cumulative learning loss is more than two years. so they are really at a disadvantage. >> is there one particular grade that is impacted by that? >> no. it's throughout their time. it's a struggle. by the time they get to high school. it's very intense. they are significantly behind and that relates to their opportunities obviously for graduating from high school, the possibility of going to college and all the options that brings in later life. this is really big issue and it's important that we start looking at it pro actively. which the partnership for children and youth is excited to do. on the flip side is the

challenge and the opportunity to be working with kids and to help them learn over the summer and set up a system across the state. that can help kids and help schools. >> and some of the summer cans that might be available to kids as well? >> there is a lot of stuff. one of the things we do is work with eight communities across california in helping them build their summer programs. the yoon youth center in oakland is very specifically looking atg skills. working with them on that but not just worksheets but more school time but really engaging them in interesting activities related to their health and well-being and encouraging them and writing opportunities so by the end of the year they are able to write a very coherent

paragraph or essay what they've learned. that translated in being more prepared. >> so they have fun and learning and don't even know it? >> we want kids to be proud of all the learning they are able to do with fun activities. that is the difference between summer learning and intervention summer school, we would love to see those things, academic support in the summer and they need to have fun. i think there is so many opportunities to do that through private based learning and interactions with the state parks and libraries just to help put that altogether. >> and watching tv and eating food we an obesity problem. >> they are finding in the research, as well, that kids are prone to gain weight, gain

weight guess twice as fast in the summer. this that is because they are not supervised and they are gaining a lot of weight. the interesting flip side, food is security because kids may not have access or don't have access to reduced priced meals they get during the school year. that is another way summer learning programs can help because it can give kids access to that food and that is absolutely critical, as well. anybody with questions, we'll put information for you on our website. >> when we come back, what is happening in oakland. stay with us. don't go away.

welcome back to beyond the headlines. we've been talking about the dangers of summer learning and why it's so important to keep your kids engaged in the summer months. joins us from oakland unified school district is jane o'brien and she is involved with the complimentary learning department. >> it's a department composed of resources and we recognize it's the district that really takes place in many different contexts in beyond the traditional school

days. we provide support services such as after school programming, mental health services as well as nurse services. >> that is a lot. >> yes, it is. then we have summer programs. summer is a critical time, a platform for the district to provide support and have activities for students. we're working to expand the programs so it includes enrichment, as well. >> you talked about the research you were talking about the previous segment, you've done your own research? >> yes. it was one thing about to read about national research that documents the summer learning loss that happens but this past year we had the opportunity of following 150 students and look at their benchmarks, spring and fall and we found that in spring

the students were at 36% at or above benchmark. in the fall, 52 of were performing at or above benchmark. we really were excited to really see the fruits of our labor. >> tell me about summer programs. how can oakland provide summer programs? >> three years ago, our district recognized that summer was a platform that needed to be taken advantage of. they created an infrastructure that supported schools and using title one money and going right through the summer months. these support services provided schools where an opportunity to set up academic supported that are in most of need. as a result of developing this infrastructure we've been able to participate with other agencies to provide enrichment or to focus on certain areas. >> how do you sign up for the programs? >> parents need to check with

their own school to see what is available. we also know the schools can't do it all. with the support of the packard foundation and east bay community foundation we were able to make a resource guide which we are encouraging parents to take advantage of to find programs for their kids during the summer. >> and in spanish as well? >> we have it available in spanish. >> and there is a screening program? >> as years gone by, your department does vision screening where all the students finishing the third grade to ensure that they have no issues that would affect their reading. >> because if you can't see. >> they can't read. >> we're going to put this information about this program guide on our website. this is invaluable. >> thank you for being with us. >> we do have to take a break

but we're going see and look how programs in san francisco is keeping kids engaged for summer. we'll be right back.

welcome back to beyond the headlines. we've been learning about the importance of keeping our children engaged during the summer. the program is called new day for learning. here is lyanne melendez with a story from last june. >> 50,000 san francisco kids living in low income neighborhoods are keeping their minds occupied. >> we're talking about making learning fun. so hopefully kids will come back not only not having lost ground but even being more excited about learning. >> they will be required to

exercise five days a week and go on educational field trips and read once a day. here is utah how it will work. 45 community based programs, like the ymca and boys and girls clubs will share learning resources. they will have a chance to visit educational institutions, like museums, the conservatory of flowers to enhance their learning. for example the first few thousands kids from the family who come to the academy of sciences get in for free. and the kids will need a way to get around when going on these field trips. transportation on muni will be free. packard association and the moss foundation is major contributors.

>> so this can help me by keeping my grades up. i don't want to be somebody that doesn't have a job. i want to be somebody one day. >> nancy pelosi and congressman george miller kicked off the program. >> are your going tell barack obama about the children you saw. >> we're going to president obama about the children and about the programs and excitement. >> in it works here, citither cities will likely follow. >> the energy is so infectious but shear is sheryl davis, called mo' magic.' magic. >> he is one of our partners and mo magic and what does it stand for. >> mo magic, is a magic program out of the public defender's

program. magic is mobilization of adolescent growth in our communities. they launched it in 2004 at hunters point. and they wanted to see it in the western addition. the area has been referred to the harlem of the west or the fillmore or the mo' -- so it became mo magic. >> how does it help? >> we meet with community members and city departments around issues and challenges within the community. specifically towards summer we started in 2006 and june of 2007 there were a series of shootings in the neighborhood. it became the catalyst for the community to come together, we've got to do something this summer so initial trust was to keep kids safe during the summer. >> i've heard you had great success and numbers are down,

right? >> i spoke with the local captain and what do did d we look like for the last few years. we've gone from five, four, three, two, one homicide for the last few years and we are hoping to decreasing but it's everybody working together to be engaged and learning. >> and you have a lot of activities to keep them out of trouble? >> one of the things we do first off we create a summer resource guide for our community, these are the opportunities k-12 available. we do a literacy program making sure that everyone whether they are in a formal program or hanging out with their grandmother has access to learning and reading. we're doing a magic mentor series so every afternoon, 150 to 300 will come together for

lunch. people talking about what is the preparation. we are fortunate to work with staurts hall along with usf for reading programs. it's an intensive program that kids are getting the support to address it will are last during the summer. >> we actually purchase the books and we are fortunate to have groonts get money from the san francisco foundation to partner with the city and county of san francisco. we buy the books and develop a curriculum for all the programs. >> no charge to the kids? >> right. to go mo magic.org and get all the information on the activities that is free and open to the public. get access to the western addition and you can sign up for

books there, as well. >> is there a waiting list? >> we have been fortunate if we can't serve the students we find a place for them to go. we go through our list and find someplace for tow go. we want to make sure that everybody has equal opportunity to learn during the summer. >> and you have a benefit coming up? >> june 21, last year, pelosi came, congressman george miller and we'll do it again so everybody knows about it. >> we do have to take a break. when we come back, we are going hear from a family about their exciting adventure last summer.. exciting adventure last summer.. don't go away.

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star williams and their mom tina collins. beautiful family. so the mo magic programs and tell me how long you've been involved. >> since they started the mo magic program, that was in 2006. >> and how does it work? >> i starred taking my kids to the program because they have done good work in the community flew sacred heart before. my oldest daughter is 16. she is still involved with the mo magic program. >> have you seen a difference in the girls? >> yes, a lot of differences. >> what sort of differences? >> more focused my kids like to go places. they just don't like to hang out. when i go home, parents let

their kids go outside but the kids like to go go outside because i take them places. >> how does it on work? >> i drop them off to say kretd hard for the program. i also volunteer and i pick them up and a group of kids like 12:00 to 5:00. sometimes we're doing different things, activities, reading. i got reading materials, so reading programs. it wasn't just they were doing the reading programs but able to work in these work books. >> and aliya, are you a volunteer? do you like the program? >> yeah. >> what do you like about it?

>> different things. >> how about you. >> these young ladies have been working on a little song.e song. can we have you do that. here we go. ready, one, two, three. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ] >> how long did it take them to learn this? >> they learned it last summer.

>> that was the theme song. there is team mo magic and the collaboration, the other organizations that meets up on tuesdays and they learned the song. >> and it helps them so much. i really appreciate the fact you came here today. you did a great job on the song. you got the words out. >> we are out of time. that is this weeks edition of beyond the headlines. for more information go to our website at abc7news.com dial 211 for community resources in your neighborhood for help. i'm cheryl jennings. bye-bye for now.