Poor Kids Not Hurt

To the Editor:

An article in your Sept. 22 issue suggests that the transition to the Out of School Time (OST) Initiative is compromising the quality and accessibility of after-school services for low-income children. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Not only does OST have space for every child who was enrolled in the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) school-age child-care program, the economically streamlined program model launched by Mayor Bloomberg last year now serves more than 65,000 young people. This total includes 22,000 elementary-school-aged children, which represents a 131-percent increase in capacity compared to the ACS system.

In fact, OST is now the nation's largest municipally funded after-school program, with more than 550 comprehensive and high-quality programs located in 139 of the city's zip codes and targeted to many of our most underserved communities.

JEANNE B. MULLGRAV, Commissioner, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development