News Release

Contact: Robert Lee Long
DeSoto Times Today

Moore's office working to bring Boys & Girls Clubs here

Southaven, Apr 23, 2003 - Attorney General Mike Moore met with representatives of the cities of Hernando, Horn Lake, Olive Branch and Southaven at Community Bank on Tuesday to discuss bringing Boys and Girls Clubs of America to DeSoto County.
The Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi has spearheaded the effort to bring Boys and Girls Clubs to the area. The Foundation's goal is to start a club in each of the four major cities in DeSoto County. The members of the meeting discussed forming a board of directors in which representatives from the cities jointly govern four clubs within the county, in addition to searching for affordable locations and raising $25,000 to start each club.

An example of the program's effectiveness on youth crime is in Picayune in south Mississippi, which has seen youth crime drop 42 percent after the establishment of a Boys and Girls Club there.
The Maddox Foundation recently gave potential supporters a large incentive to help raise money for clubs in each of the four major DeSoto County cities by agreeing to match every local dollar raised for Boys and Girls Clubs. Once the initial $25,000 is raised, the attorney general's office will also contribute $25,000, and Boys and Girls Clubs will also give between $25,000 and $40,000 per club. The Hernando Optimist Club has already donated $5,000 toward the effort starting a club in Hernando.
Moore said tying the clubs into local schools has proved to be extremely successful in other clubs in the state, as well as busing children straight to the club site after school.
"The principals, the teachers, the parents love it," Moore said. "They say the crime goes down because the children are spending time doing something positive and not something negative. It makes more sense to pay $300 to $400 a year per child than $15,000 to $20,000 a year to put them up in a jail cell somewhere."
Moore promised his office would do whatever possible to help the board raise money, from bringing in speakers from the national board - which includes General Colin Powell and baseball player Hank Aaron - to talking to county officials.
Moore said the future of every segment of the community can be positively affected by bringing children into the programs.
"It's a quality of life issue," Moore said. "It affects the overall quality of life. Your car doesn't get stolen, your house doesn't get broken into, you don't get raped. It becomes a safer community to live in."