WE CAN DO SO MUCH MORE.

The Wayne Barton Study Center provides the students with a safe, conducive environment for studying and doing homework. Although the study center has enjoyed some monumental successes we still have not scratched the surface. For most of the kids in the neighborhood it’s a very tough road to their teen years and into adulthood when just everyday living conditions are a constant hurdle; single parent homes, overcrowded bedrooms, no one at home to help with homework or care if homework is being done and worse of all, parent(s) addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Without the help of the people in this community these kids have nowhere to turn. The role models do not exist, the mentoring is lacking and the guidance is absent. That’s the fundamental approach to Barton’s Boosters, to provide what is deficient and so desperately needed.

Although it’s a hard road, Barton’s Boosters is trying to incorporate as many proactive programs to deter the behavior and misfortune that are so evident in underprivileged communities. Florida has one of the highest dropout rates in the country, violent crime numbers are staggering and teen offenders grow every day. Currently, Florida’s prison population is one of the largest in the country. In ten years it’s estimated that three times as many juveniles will go through the criminal justice system in South Florida.

The schools do what they can for kids but with harsh budget cuts each year and overcrowded classrooms someone has to pick up the pieces. These children need help and guidance and all of them are limited with resources in which to succeed. We as a community need to provide these resources in order to have a better tomorrow. What we are going to do is build on the programs and successes that provide the foundation for our proactive approach to lessening the disturbing crime and educational shortfalls that plague our society today. That is why Barton’s Boosters’ proactive approach for helping our community is so important. We need to create a foundation to build on, we need to harvest the leaders of tomorrow, develop role models and begin reversing the cycles of destitution. The Wayne Barton Study Center is a big step in that direction.