October 6, - November 3, 2003

Kids and Cops in Kansas City Become PALs
By Meghan Mandeville, News Research Reporter

It's flag football season in Kansas City, Mo. and each week police officers and school children team up to play ball. This pairing of law enforcement and local youth happens as a result of the city's Police Athletic League (PAL), a program that aims to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble after school. 

"The kids needed a place to go after school where they would be safe," said Sgt. Darren Ivey of PAL. "I can't stress [the importance of that] enough, especially when you're dealing with the youth of the urban core."

Children between the ages of eight and 18 can pass their time after school at one of PAL's three centers, which are open Monday through Friday from 3 to 8 p.m., when [children] are typically unsupervised, said Ivey. Studies show that it is during those after school hours that juveniles are most likely to commit a crime or become a victim of one, he said. "That's where PAL fits the need."

PAL offers kids the opportunity to play sports like football, basketball, softball and soccer, but it also involves children in educational programming, including tutoring, life skills classes and computer courses.

"For kids, the big draw to the program is athletics. Then, we hit them with all the other stuff," said Ivey.

Athletics draws many of PAL's 850 kids to the program, especially in January when its most popular sport, boys' basketball, begins. "We're probably talking about 400 kids involved in that," Ivey said. 

Flag football, which runs from September 23rd to November 1st is also popular and PAL sponsors a league, which is made up of 60 PAL kids and 200 other children, who were all asked to enroll in PAL when they joined the league. 

"Hopefully they'll stay involved with PAL afterwards," said Ivey. The kids can then take advantage of all PAL has to offer, he said.

PAL Programming

Each PAL facility has a gym, a computer lab and game rooms with pool and ping-pong tables, but some of the activities offered at different centers vary. For example, PAL's Blue Valley location, which was formerly a parks and recreation center, has a large boxing area, while the Clymer location offers adolescents the opportunity to participate in drumming.

"We also now have a drill team [at Clymer], which is a big draw for the kids," Ivey said.

Life skills classes are offered at the East Hills facility to teach kids how to write resumes and search for jobs. Other activities engaging PAL children include cooking, sewing, art and crafts and gardening.

PAL also has a computer club that kids can join, a course in which kids build computers and design web pages.

"Because it's such an intensive program, we have to limit it to 10 [kids] at a time," said Ivey about the club sessions that typically last from eight to 10 weeks. Once they are done working on the computers, which are donated by Bank Midwest, "they get a computer to take home with them," said Ivey. Over 45 kids have already received computers since the club began last February, he added.

While PAL is fortunate to have one of its nine, law police department staff members who is qualified to teach a course in technology, volunteers with other areas of expertise are also important.

"Volunteers are always in need for the program," said Ivey, noting that most people volunteer to coach one of PAL's many athletic teams rather than to teach an activity or a class. "I'd like to see more on the non-athletic side of it."

Participating in PAL

PAL is designed to allow participation by all regardless of their economic situation.

To enroll in PAL, children fill out an entry form and pay a $10 fee per year. 

"We don't turn anybody away for money reasons," said Ivey about the fee that PAL will waive if a child wants to participate but can not afford it. "It's no really a budgetary offset," he added. "It's more of a buy-in for the kids and the parents."

In order to remain a member of PAL, children must keep a 2.0 GPA in school, but PAL is flexible with kids who don't meet that requirement as well. "Just because they fall below, that doesn't mean we kick them out," Ivey said. They do have to go to mandatory tutoring sessions at their center, he said.

Teachers are hired to tutor students and they are paid through the grants and donations that fund the entire PAL program.

"The police department doesn't provide funding for the program, they provide the man power for the program," Ivey said. 

PAL staff members meet every day to discuss what is going on in the centers and the sports leagues and schedule the educational programming.

"We look for the ones that are most popular with the kids," said Ivey about the programs the staff chooses for the PAL centers. "We constantly evaluate what we are offering."

The Importance of PAL

While Kansas City's PAL is successful, so are the other 370 chapters of PAL that exist throughout the United States. At the national level, though, these local chapters have The National Association of Police Athletic Leagues in Palm Beach, Fla. to lean on for guidance and assistance.

"We provide programs and resources to our membership," said Brad Hart, Executive Director of the National Association of Police Leagues. "We offer our thoughts, our recommendations, but it's about those local chapters knowing the needs of the community," Hart said.

And Kansas City knows that its kids need a program like PAL to enhance their educational studies and keep them out of trouble after school. An added benefit is the relationship that these kids, many of whom come from single-parent families, develop with the police officers who serve as mentors to them, said Ivey.

"It's an incredible tie to them," Ivey said of the relationships between the PAL officers and the kids. "For many of these kids, the only contact they've had with police has been on a negative basis," he said, noting the importance of the positive interaction that takes place between the youth and law enforcement.

"I think the most important thing is that we are offering a safe place for the kids to go at basically little or no cost to the family," Ivey said. "The kids love the program."

Resources

To learn more about the Kansas City chapter of PAL, go to www.kcpal.org or contact Sgt. Darren Ivey at (816) 482-8707

To learn more about The National Association of Police Leagues, go to www.nationalpal.org or contact Brad Hart at (561)844-1823