Active Youth, Safe Neighborhoods
Safe after-school environments
"An engaged teenager is a safe teenager. By heavily investing in our Parks and Recreation programs, we aren't just funding sports, but rather we are proactively funding the future safety of our city."
The Critical Hours Gap
Ask any law enforcement officer, and they will tell you that the vast majority of juvenile crime and behavioral incidents do not happen at midnight; they happen between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM, immediately after the school bell rings.
Right now, Lynchburg lacks sufficient, highly accessible after-school programming and structured athletic opportunities for its at-risk youth. Furthermore, "pay-to-play" models in youth sports often price out the exact working-class families who need these programs the most. When a city fails to provide structured, supervised, and engaging activities for its teenagers, it leaves them to the streets. This isn't just a recreational failure; it is a direct pipeline to behavioral issues, juvenile delinquency, and an overburdened police force.
Critical Gap Hours
The hours between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM represent a critical supervision gap when juvenile offenses and delinquency spike due to a lack of safe, structured neighborhood activities.
Dave's Keep Kids Busy Plan
Infrastructure for Evening Play
A park that goes dark at 5:00 PM in the winter is a wasted asset. Dave will champion strategic infrastructure upgrades, such as modern field lighting installations, to extend the usable hours of our city parks. By keeping the lights on, we allow local soccer clubs, little leagues, and neighborhood pickup games to safely operate year-round, keeping kids engaged well into the evening.
Why Youth Activities Are Critical
After-School Crime Spike
Data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) confirms that violent juvenile crime peaks on school days during the afternoon, specifically between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. This makes structured, supervised after-school programming a highly effective tool for both crime prevention and keeping youth safe during these vulnerable hours.