Eighty-one percent of the school age children remain at home alone during the after school hours. The ACE Project focuses on issues of improvement and development of life skills and parenting skills, developing after school care and activities for youth, youth and adult mentoring, financial management and increasing the employability of residents. Program Strategies -ACE Advisory committee, this committee assists in planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and activities, the committee also is involved in the needs assessments of the community. The ACE Project is supported by 4-H and Youth Development, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Horticulture program areas of the Franklin County Cooperative Extension Service. Collaborators include the Louisburg Town Council, the Louisburg Police Department, and the Department of Social Services.
Many local businesses are supportive in making contributions of supplies and professional expertise.
The percentage of children not supervised in the after school hours has been positively impacted as fifty-eight percent of the youth in the community participate regularly in community based after school activities. Since the beginning of this program the youth have become more active in community development efforts as well as more responsible to their fellow residents and community area. Community As demonstrated by citizen initiated community meetings, citizen participation is on the rise. The residents and management opinion is that ACE has given the community a renewed sense of security and pride. Additionally, they report improvement in overall community appearance.