RICHMOND – Lawmakers representing Petersburg and Roanoke will ask their colleagues to let school systems in those cities establish a program aimed at steering eighth-graders away from gun violence by engaging them in community activities and starting them on the path to job skills and college.

Senate and House bills introduced in the opening days of the 2024 Virginia General Assembly create the Community Builders Pilot Program and Fund. Under the direction of each city’s school boards, the program would offer students opportunities to get engaged within their communities, teach them job skills and/or get them ready for college, and help them develop socio-emotional behaviors. The goal is to give the kids alternatives to activities that trend toward potential violence.

After-class sessions would be held during the school year, and one session would be held during the summers. Up to 100 students would be selected for the programs through application and referral processes administered by the school system.

In addition, the Petersburg and Roanoke school systems would be required to collect data on the progress of their programs and report that data by Nov. 1 annually through 2026 to the governor’s office, the House Education Committee and the Senate Education & Health Committee. It is tentatively scheduled to run through July 2027.

A special fund would be set aside in the state treasury to pay for the programs. Unused money would stay in the fund at the end of each fiscal year rather than converting to Virginia’s general fund.

The bill’s sponsors are Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, and Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg, Roanoke lawmakers push for special after-school programs