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Children's Trust Budget Cut Not As Severe As Feared

That means more children in Miami-Dade County will have a place to go after school, get extra help with homework and have more time just to be kids.

After being told in January to scale back its budget by up to 20 percent, the Children's Trust planned for the worst-case scenario.

''The warning signs that were being sent to us were to prepare for deeper losses of revenue, so that's what we did,'' said Emily Cardenas, senior communications manager for the Children's Trust. ``We prepared ourselves for that loss of revenue.''

But that reduction turned out to be 9 percent, giving the Trust about $12 million more than it had expected.

One of the programs saved: the South Florida After School All Stars, a free after-school program for 2,200 at-risk middle-schoolers throughout Miami.

''I feel great,'' said Raul Diaz, president and CEO of the program. ``The parents will be extremely happy that the program will be here.''

Last year the South Florida After School All Stars received more than $650,000. Their contract has been renewed at just over $500,000.

Other programs that will continue to get funding from the Children's Trust: the Dominican American National Foundation, an after-school program that provides tutoring and martial arts instruction; Team Row, a rowing program, and the city of Miami's Heart of Our Parks program, a program that provides after-school care and academic help to more than 600 kids.

However, not all programs formerly supported by the Children's Trust will be saved: 21 organizations, such as Belafonte Tacolcy, a youth service program in Liberty City, won't get Trust money for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

NOT AS MUCH

And even those that will continue to get funding won't get as much as they have in years past.

''You're never happy when you have to make reductions and cutbacks to programs that are serving children,'' said Children's Trust President Modesto Abety. ``We had already gone through cuts last year, and because we do such an intense job with monitoring performances, we had already eliminated a bunch of programs.''

$100 MILLION

Miami-Dade voters approved the Trust in 2002. County homeowners pay about 50 cents per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value toward the trust -- a total of about $61 a year for a median-value home. The money has generated about $100 million a year for after-school and summer camps, health education and a 24-hour hot line for parent counseling, benefiting tens of thousands of children.