Two Lynn groups net United Way funds

A top Massachusetts charity is heeding the warnings and recommendations of state legislators studying teenagers’ after school needs and giving money to youth organizations including Girls Incorporated.Girls Inc. and Lynn based Raw Art Works will split $1.2 million in United Way money along with 43 other Massachusetts organizations.The organizations will spend the money on enhancing projects like Odyssey, a Girls Inc. after school program oriented to teenage girls, and Eureka, a summer program aimed at helping girls excel in mathematics, sciences and sports.United Way Community Impact Director Bithiah Carter said the agency decided to hand out money to teen leadership programs after research in Boston indicated girls represent half the city’s youth population, but only 39 percent of the teenagers attend local after school programs.”United Way’s Today’s Girls?Tomorrow’s Leaders’ aims to surround girls and young women with a network of nurturing relationships and positive outlets so they can overcome obstacles and find a path toward academic and personal success,” Carter said.State Sen. Thomas M. McGee and other legislators held public hearings across the state earlier this year in an effort to identify obstacles keeping children from attending after school programs and determine the best ways to spend tax dollars to improve after school programs.McGee and other members of the Massachusetts After School and Out of School Time Commission plan to make specific recommendations for providing parents with more information on after school programs and for improving programs.Principal providers of local after school activities include Gregg House, the Greater Lynn YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, Girls Incorporated, Raw Art Works and Camp Fire Boys and Girls.Raw Arts offers to programs aimed at helping girls gain a sense of achievement by creating and showing art they have created. It also tries to provide girls with strong women role models.United Way began funding its leadership and healthy living program for girls in 1996 and has contributed $8 million to organizations working with over 200,000 girls.