Save Austin C-Club
January 30th, 2012 | Published in Family, The Economy
I recently attended a meeting with several parents, kids, teachers, and other supporters of the Austin Parks Department – Dougherty Arts Center C-Club.
We received notice that our beloved C-Club program may be closed next year or perhaps at best turned into a program at some of the area rec centers.
C-Club teaches K-5 kids art and theater in an on-site after-school program. It’s a community-based, highly creative, affordable, safe, uniquely effective and engaging program that is universally loved by parents, teachers, and kids.
As it turns out, the funding for the program has largely disappeared due to city-wide budget issues. Although the C-Club program is a money-maker for the city, and by all accounts wildly successful, the money paid into the program goes into the City’s general fund. The money returned to the program through the city’s budget process is not enough to sustain it. At this point, it looks like there is a deficit of about $200k to keep the program afloat.
So, what do we do now? We need to make some noise and explain why this cost-effective, revenue-generating program is great for our kids, great for working parents, great for our teacher/artists, and great for the community at large.
- Email Mayor Leffingwell & the City Council: (Chris Riley, Mike Martinez, Kathie Tovo , Laura Morrison, Bill Spelman, Sheryl Cole)
http://www.austintexas.gov/government - Contact the City Manager Marc Ott: 512-974-2200
- Contact the City Chief Financial Officer Leslie Browder: 512-974-3344
- Attend a City Council Meeting and let them know you care about the program: Council Meeting Information Center
I purchased saveaustincclub.org and dsaveaustincclub.com, and will soon point these addresses to a C-Club specific blog.
Visit the “Save Austin C-Club” facebook page for more information.
–Andrea Richeson
Gullett Elementary mother of 2
aricheson@gmail.com



