TNDC's After School Program (TASP) is a beehive of positively charged youthful energy. About 65 kids, ages 5 to 17, come to TASP at 225 Eddy St. daily with more than 250 attending over the course of a year.

There is a playroom for the little kids and a separate room for older teenagers to do their homework and use computers. The main room is home to all kinds of activities from computer stations for games and the Internet to dancing and art expression to tables for homework. Students from Hastings Law School and others come to tutor and some students go to the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals for their tutoring.

Other features of TNDC's program including baseball, basketball, and volleyball games, weekend photography workshops, and creative writing courses. There are weekly dance and judo classes, and field trips to beaches, museums, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, parks like Muir Woods and various cultural institutions. There is even a weekend snow trip where more than 60 kids and parents enjoy a day of snowboarding and sledding. Last year, a group of TASP youth went to Philadelphia to see historic sights and scout out schools for college.

Given the diverse ethnic background of our kids, TASP places great emphasis on cultural diversity in its program. For example, TASP joins forces annually with Boedekker Park, Tenderloin Children's Playground, and the Central YMCA to host a mini-African American Festival, and Cinco de Mayo and Juneteenth celebrations.

When kids reach their teens they often want to find employment, particularly during the holidays. A TASP Youth Employment Program offers training for resume writing as well as mastering the job search and interview process. Teens are also referred to neighborhood computer and website design workshops.

TASP was started with the help of parents in one of TNDC’s buildings. The current center was opened in 1993 and doubled in size in 2001. As with all TNDC activities, it is the result of community effort. The success of the program is due to generous individual and foundation donors, a host of volunteers, and partnering with companies including Barclay's Global Investors, Hotel Nikko, Escape from N.Y. Pizza, Macy's West, and Joie de Vivre Hospitality to name a few.

TNDC is proud of its TASP program but mindful that many kids in the neighborhood don't yet have a place to go. Many organizations in the Tenderloin offer programs for kids, but the need is great. The number of families living in the neighborhood has doubled since 1980 and more than 4,000 kids are estimated to live in the area. We are pleased to serve the kids who come to TASP and look forward to working with other organizations to bring more resources and programs to the kids of the Tenderloin.