Citing the statistic that children ages 12-19 are more at risk for drug use, involvement in crime and gangs, and other potentially harmful activities from the time school ends until their parents return from work then they are at any other time, Cicilline made the building of a Providence after school program one of his top priorities.

The program was launched with an intensive 18 month study, focusing research on the best forms of after school programs across the country with aid from Rhode Island Kids Count, various focus groups, Rhode Island’s Education Partnership, and donors such as the Wallace Foundation and Bank of America.

Providence and Rhode Island’s Education Partnership merged to create PASA, the Providence After School Alliance, to establish more opportunity for the city’s children and to form a stronger, more consistent availability of city clubs and activities. The donors contributed nearly $6 million to get PASA off its feet, commencing with the establishment of five “AfterZones,” associations of neighborhood-based schools, libraries, transportation services, recreation centers, and volunteer groups.

PASA offers over 50 educational, cultural and athletic activities to 6,000 Providence middle school kids, including lessons from professional dancers from the Festival Ballet Company.

The Providence After School Alliance also works with youthservices.net to track student attendance, participation and overall success of the program. Based on the success of the program, Cicilline is looking to extend the opportunities to high school students through working with leaders from the top ten youth groups in Providence to provide a career-focused network for students. PASA has offered over $300,000 “innovator grants” to after-school coordinators for the development to more extensive and improved programs and alliances.

The site praises Cicilline for his achievement:

Mayor Cicilline’s outstanding commitment to the youth of his city, and his ability to unify disparate entities into an effective organization, underscores some key elements for mayoral success: the vision was clear and was stated early, innovation and venture capital came in part from the foundation world, and creative approaches to leveraging partnerships pervaded the model. All of these elements came from Cicilline’s determined and focused mayoral leadership.

For more information, please visit the “America’s Innovative Mayors” article at http://www.governing.com/articles/mayors-dc.htm.

Here’s NBC 10’s coverage of Sen. Juan Pichardo’s efforts to protect renters in his district (an idea also supported by General Treasurer Frank Caprio).

Channel 12 has the story on Rep. Jan Malik’s legislation to toughen penalties on high schoolers who get caught with drugs or alcohol.

And finally, here’s more from NBC 10 on Mayor David Cicilline’s new initiative to provide city residents with carbon monoxide dioxide detectors.