Posted on November 7, 2011

STAR Program To Go On Hiatus

After a great, uninterrupted run of eight years, Five Town Communities That Care (CTC) is saddened to announce that the organization will be unable to provide their award-winning STAR after-school program for the remainder of the 2011-12 school year. Despite intensive efforts, Five Town CTC was not successful in securing necessary funding to continue STAR this winter, but will pursue all options to allow reinstatement of the program in the fall of 2012. The current cycle will end  November 8th.

For the past four years, the majority of the funding for STAR came from federal funds administered by the state. STAR, the flagship program of Five Town CTC, has had a positive influence on hundreds of local adolescents since it began in 2004. Over 75 percent of this year’s incoming freshmen at CHRHS have participated in at least one STAR cycle.

“We know that STAR works,” said Ken Gardiner, Chair of Five Town CTC’s Funding Workgroup. “Community recognition for positive youth involvement in the community has risen since we began the program. In 2004, just before we began STAR, only 38% of grade 8 students here said that adults noticed when they were doing good things in the community.  That number had risen to over 52% as of 2010. When kids feel that adults value their contributions, they are less likely to get involved in substance abuse, violence, delinquency, and other problem behaviors.  Knowing that STAR has a measureable, positive effect on the community makes this situation even more heartbreaking.”

To support prevention programming in the face of evaporating public funds, Five Town CTC will increase its efforts to secure support from the community it serves. The goal will be to raise sufficient funds to offer STAR for the entire 2012-2013 school year, rather than attempting to run the program cycle by cycle. “It would take a significant gift received by February 1^st to bring back STAR in time for a spring 2012 cycle,” Gardiner said. “In these times, we know that everyone has tightened their belts.  But we’ll never rule out the generosity of this community.”

STAR (Skills Training and Recognition) is an after school program for students in grades 5 – 8 in Appleton, Camden, Hope, Lincolnville, and Rockport. The STAR program focuses on skill development, recognizing youth as they learn these skills, and connecting youth with opportunities to give back by using these skills in the larger community. Five Town Communities That Care has offered STAR at no cost for participants for three cycles a year since it was implemented in the spring of 2004.  The program has won national, state, and local awards.

For more information on contributing to Five Town Communities That Care, or to get involved in the campaign to raise funds to reinstate the STAR Program, email alex@fivetownctc.org or call 236-9800.

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