A Plan to Steer Clear Of Summer Doldrums

Pr. George's Offers Night Recreation for Youths

Twenty-three years ago, G. Van Standifer, then the town manager in Glenarden, noticed that crime was up in his small community and most of it was being committed by young men between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Hoping to keep them off the streets at night, Standifer created the nation's first midnight basketball league, a program that would be copied in cities and towns across the United States and recognized by President George H.W. Bush in 1990 as a "Daily Point of Light."

The once-thriving program, which at its peak had nearly 10,000 young male participants across the country, subsequently fell on hard times, the victim of government budget cuts and the loss of private funding. Even the founding chapter in Glenarden stopped offering games about five years ago.

But now, with school ending and high unemployment leaving many teens on the street, the Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation is reviving Standifer's idea, with a twist. The county will keep more than two dozen recreation centers, schools and community centers open until midnight this summer, allowing people ages 12 to 24 to play basketball, laser tag and pool, and participate in Wii tournaments and cultural programs. The centers will be open Monday through Friday, or Fridays and Saturdays, depending on location.

"We know young people will congregate for positive reasons; we just need a mechanism for them," said County Council member Tony Knotts (D-Temple Hills). Knotts suggested creation of the Safe Summer program, which will cost $1 million.

The county ran a pilot program last year in Knotts's southern Prince George's County district. About 7,000 people participated at five locations during July and August.

County officials expect at least 25,000 young people to take part in the program, which will start June 22 and run until school reopens. To participate, young people must obtain an identification badge from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which is funding the program.

Sherrita Hall, 18, learned about Safe Summer last year from friends in her Temple Hills neighborhood, who told her the recreation center would stay open until midnight.

Hall said she spent hours on end playing basketball. Without Safe Summer, she said, she probably would have been home sleeping. But some of her friends who don't have curfews undoubtedly would have gotten into trouble, she said. They start out "just hanging out, doing nothing," and eventually are egging people's houses, vandalizing cars and breaking windows, she said.

"Our young people become idle," said Larry Brownlee, chief of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police. "They become bored when the community center closes, and they hang in the street, and that has a tendency to create problems."

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, juveniles accounted for 16 percent of all violent crime arrests and 26 percent of all property crime arrests in 2007, the most recent data available. In 2007, there were an estimated 300,300 juvenile arrests for theft. Young women accounted for 17 percent of juvenile violent crime arrests.

"This is about preventing illegal activity," Brownlee said. "This way, they have a place to go and divert the energy they have."

Jacquelyn Smith of Oxon Hill said her son, Terrell, 14, participated in the program last year. "All of the coaches and counselors know him," Smith said. "It's like a big family."

About 30 officers from the Maryland-National Capital Park Police and Prince George's County police will be paid overtime to supervise the program.

Martha Standifer, the program founder's widow, said the Midnight Basketball League in Glenarden shut down because it ran out of money. According to the Association of Midnight Basketball Leagues Programs, there are 22 active and pending chapters across the United States.

Lawrence Gray Jr., the association's president, said some other leagues are not affiliated with the association. The Prince George's County program will not be formally affiliated with Gray's association, but officer Kenny Richardson of the Glenarden Police Department said he hopes to restart the Glenarden chapter next year after the city reopens its community center and he obtains private funding.

Andrea Davey, a spokesman for the commission, said Safe Summer will complement some of the programs the recreation department offers. Young people will be able to participate in cooking classes, safety classes, poetry slams and nature programs, along with swimming and weightlifting at some locations. County officials say the program also is designed to improve young people's self-image and give them a greater sense of responsibility. They will be asked to sign a "Change Starts With Me" pledge to "stay healthy and respect myself by not engaging in violent activity or using drugs, alcohol or tobacco."

Ronnie Gathers, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, said county officials would be hiding their heads in the sand if they think that young people are home and out of harm's way late at night.

"Our experience has been that they are not," he said. "And if they are not at home, we'd prefer to have them engaged in productive activities."