George Miller: “I rise to offer this important amendment to the Interior appropriations bill which will provide urgently needed…”

“I rise to offer this important amendment to the Interior appropriations bill which will provide urgently needed recreation and after-school opportunities for our Nation's youth. This amendment will rejuvenate the Urban Park Recreation and Recovery Program, or UPARR program which has languished for the last couple of years. The UPARR program, the Urban Park Recreation and Recovery Program, provides competitive matching grants of up to $200,000 to local communities to help them design programs to meet youth recreation needs. Research shows that many of our most serious youth-related problems, including juvenile crime, drug use, gang activity and teenage sexual activity occur most frequently during the hours immediately after the end of school when 5 to 7 million children go home alone every afternoon. The Urban Parks Program helps local communities to fund programs to reduce juvenile crime, to provide safe havens for our youth and to offer constructive academic or recreational opportunities after school.”