Teen Services hit by funding cuts
Three teachers at Teen Services have been laid off, and the charity has been forced to suspend its Continuation School this September.Teen Service’s board of directors said its decades-old alternative education service had been hit by funding cuts.Government funding was slashed by 47 percent, or $180,000, in the 2011/12 Budget.The Continuation School offers parenting courses and Bermuda Secondary School Certificate classes to students who have dropped out of high school.The programme has been almost exclusively used by teen mothers who would otherwise have been unable to continue their studies, although it was recently opened to males.Last month, a total of 14 students graduated from the programme.Staff were this week advised the school will not reopen in September and is to remain closed until at least December 31.One full-time and two part-time teachers received letters stating there was no alternative but to lay them off for at least four months.Staff are hopeful of being rehired, but not certain.Family Centre executive director Martha Dismont said charities across Bermuda were struggling with funding cuts.“Across the board, they are being impacted by these cuts, because demand is going up at the same time that funds are going down. It places a huge burden on the ones that are left standing.”Ms Dismont said that one of Teen Service’s challenges may have been the issue of teen pregnancy itself.“It’s possible that it’s not as popular in terms of donors,” she said. “Teen pregnancy is something people might tend to be more in judgment about. It’s like donors giving to seniors as opposed to issues involving young people.“It’s still an issue that the community needs to be consciously thinking about. Children who have children are at even more risk if they’re not able to get a proper education.”Shadow Youth, Sports and Community Minister Donte Hunt blamed Government debt for the cutbacks.Mr Hunt called the school “the latest casualty of the Government’s multi-year spending spree that left the Island more than $1 billion in debt”.The One Bermuda Alliance MP said that Bermuda’s debt was costing roughly $190,000 a day in interest charges alone.“This fact is driving the cutbacks in social support services that meet needs across the Island.”He added: “With unemployment at an all-time high and an economy generating fewer opportunities, the cancellation of education support for some of our most vulnerable citizens is not acceptable.“We therefore urge Teen Services and the Government to work out a solution that keeps at-risk girls in the classroom.”The charity’s board said its Continuation School has struggled for funding for the past five years, with costs and finances a persistent challenge.The programme was almost shut down in 2002, when students were being turned away due to high demand.It has received an annual grant from the Ministry of Education since 2004.The charity’s executive director Michelle Wade said the initial assistance of $204,000 has declined year by year, and was down to $78,000 in the most recent Budget.A statement from the board of directors said: “Teen Services, like many other social service agencies, has been deeply affected by the difficult economic climate.”It later continued: “Teen Services is currently engaged in a strategic plan, in which strategies are being developed with a dedicated focus on teen girls at risk. These strategies will include an education component involving the Continuation School.“To enable review and reorganisation of the school, no students will be accepted from September 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011. Other services like the Teen Haven residential programme and counselling and support services have not been affected. Therefore, those teens in need of counselling and support will be provided these services, in order to ensure healthy development and stability.”Ms Wade said Teen Services expects to continue registering and testing students for the General Educational Development (GED) exams.l Were you taught at Teen Services? Is your charity suffering from cutbacks? E-mail jbell[AT]rg.bm.Useful website: www.gov.bm.
Teen Services saw Government funding reduced by 47 percent ($180,000) from the previous year.
It is one of several charities and social programmes now forced into difficult adjustments after Premier Paula Cox's round of sweeping budget cuts in February.
The most prominent casualty of Government's grant reductions has been the Sunshine League, which saw its funding halved by $100,000.
The Island's oldest charity announced last month it would be closing its children's home, citing “excessively high” running costs. Government intervened with a two-month reprieve, but the future of the charity's residential foster care remains in doubt.
Other cuts to Government's charitable grants include:
l 54 percent ($216,000) from Focus Counselling Services, a drug and alcohol counselling service;
l 40 percent ($32,000) from Age Concern, a seniors' advocacy group;
l 34 percent ($870,000) from Mirrors, a youth mentoring programme;
Some charities had their Government funding revoked completely. The Family Centre, a charity which aids children “suffering from family-based problems such as abuse, neglect and other emotional challenges”, had its annual grant of $150,000 cut to zero.
The Menuhin Foundation also suffered a 100 percent cut to its funding and is now relying in part on donations from Capital G bank to make up the shortfall.
