TALLAHASSEE, FL—Tuesday kicked off Children's Day at the Capitol, with the Progidy Cultural Arts Program for at-risk youth visiting Tallahassee in hopes of earning $3.5 million to continue diversion programs for low-income and struggling families.
Partnered with Aetna Health, the Progidy Cultural Arts Program has been around for 23 years and serves eight counties. It's a diversion, intervention, and prevention program providing a safe space for children between 5-17. According to their website, these kids learn effective communication, problem-solving, and conflict-resolution skills through visual and performing cultural arts.
"We're up here with our Prodigy Cultural Arts students fighting for funding to ensure that our Prodigy Cultural Arts program continues to be funded," University Area Corporation Development Corporation CEO Sarah Combs told The Floridian Tuesday morning. In a partnership with Aetna, they're seeking an additional half million to their recurring $1.5 million state funding to keep their programs up and running.
Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson is doing that and more, asking for $3.5 million for the Progidy Cultural Arts Program. This is part of a huge fiscal package from the Senator, where he is asking for nearly $78 million in funding for local projects in the next fiscal year.
"We enroll kids in different artistic ways to let out their creative side, through dance, music, drumming, and all kinds of different opportunities. We tout a 99% non-recidivism rate, and one of the ways that we're engaging with Aetna right now is talking about how important the conversations around mental health are, especially in our low-income communities of color," Combs continued.
Combs traveled from Hillsborough County with nine of the program's student ambassadors, explaining that this was the first time some of these students had stayed in a hotel. The Floridian talked to two of these Tampa students, 17-year-old Edwin and 11-year-old Diana, who told us about the different opportunities the Progidy Program has opened up for them.
"It gives me the opportunity to do things after school. It offers programs that are art, music, and physical related like sports. It lets students choose what they want, and specialize in what they want, and helps with communication, creativity, and anger management," Edwin said.
Diana is part of the program's breakdancing group and is set to perform her dance Tuesday afternoon in the Capitol courtyard, telling us that the program "allows me to express myself in ways that I like, and it allows me to meet new people."
Diana's dance teacher Carrie Harmon told us how in her 13 years with Progidy, she has seen kids transform into leaders. "I've seen kids change in this program—numerous times. The program is so beneficial, and the arts are so important for expression. Even if they don't become dancers, they will learn a lot of skills that they can apply to whatever they want to do."
