For the Town of Ithaca, after school programs are a must. They provide a place for kids to grow socially and as individuals while receiving an education more valuable than one earned in a classroom. The staff of the Greater Ithaca Activity Center is committed to providing these opportunities to the children but has had to work around recent budget cuts.

After the original Tompkins County YMCA burnt down, there was still a need for after school programming by the downtown youth in Ithaca. GIAC has been around for about 27 years now providing quality services to youth and adults in Ithaca.

But because of the recent budget cuts, GIAC has experienced some major reductions in programs as well as both full-time and part-time staff members.

Travis Brooks, youth and pre-teen program administrator for GIAC, said that since the Ithaca Youth Bureau administered the budget cuts many programs have been cut, reduced or moved around.

"We have lost four or five roster staff over the past two years," Brooks said. "We've had to reduce the amount of kids that can come everyday, reduce activities and raise fees."

GIAC is a non-profit organization, but they receive funding from the city of Ithaca, the United Way and sometimes from private donors. It is because of contributions like those that GIAC was able to offer a wide variety of services not only to the downtown youth, but adults as well, Brooks said.

GIAC offers after school programming for youth, pre-teens and teens, a seniors program called the Adult Program, a boxing program and many other recreational and educational activities. But all of these programs have been subjected to some major reductions.

Program supplies are roughly a quarter of what they used to be, Brooks said. He has lost about half of the money allocated to GIAC for the part time and seasonal staff by the city. As a result, Brooks has been forced to hire less staff and accept a smaller amount of children into the summer camp and after school programs.

"We can really only accommodate about 100 kids per day but knowing that they don't all come each day. I allow more to register so they can come on different days," Brooks said.

Before the budget cuts GIAC had an average of 150 youth and 160 pre-teens registered in the after school program but now they can allow only 130 kids to register. The situation is similar for the summer camp as well. This year Brooks said he could only open 140 spaces for kids to register for summer programming.

Books said he would like to someday get a bigger building for GIAC to occupy. The current building is dilapidated and small causing the different programs to conflict when seeking places to hold their activities.

"I don't have enough space in the building to run all the programs that we have," Brooks said. "Me and Cassandra, she runs the teen program, are always butting heads over program space."

Staff members like Jenna Cooper and Desiree Jenkins are dedicated to providing the children with educational and social opportunities regardless of the limited space and program availability they have to work with.

Cooper, who runs the pre-kindergarten program, treats her time with her four and five-year-old charges as an extension to their school day by encouraging monthly themes and activities centered on promoting an awareness of cultural diversity.

"I basically try to match what's going on in their classrooms with what's going on here at GIAC," Cooper said.
Jenkins is the recreation program assistant at GIAC. Jenkins designed and implemented the kindergarten through first grade program. She is in the process of earning a degree in teaching from SUNY Cortland.

"Working at GIAC gives me the chance to gain experience as a soon to be teacher," Jenkins said. "Working here definitely fosters that goal."

Both women said the kids respond really well to field trips to the Science Center, the movies and Chuck E. Cheese.

"The kids love field trips and good snack days. They're pretty much into anything I plan," Jenkins said. "Choice Friday is their favorite because they get to choose anything they want to do within limits."

Even though Brooks, Cooper and Jenkins agree that they would somehow like to work with the city to regain at least some of the funding they have recently lost, they continue to work hard, remaining positive that they will be able to provide the best programs and activities they can.

"GIAC has survived through all kinds of stuff," Brooks said. "So with all the people who care about GIAC, with the things that GIAC does and as creative as the staff, past members of GIAC and the community are, I think that GIAC will continue to grow and prosper in many areas and continue to provide service to youth."