The YMCA of Honolulu and the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i are teaming up to establish the state's largest after-school program for middle school students, which will bring services to small, underserved communities on O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands.

The two agencies will split financing and responsibilities tied to a two-year, $6 million federal juvenile crime prevention grant secured by U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

"The purpose of the rural youth crime prevention program is for staff to go out to the communities, on the streets and at schools to create a relationship between trained adults and kids just hanging out," said Tony Pfaltzgraff, co-executive director of the Kalihi YMCA. "In rural communities, fewer options are available to kids."

There are about 35,000 middle school students on O'ahu and few after-school programs for them other than athletics, Pfaltzgraff said, adding, "This gives us an opportunity to apply proven ways to intervene."

The crime prevention program will target youths ages 10 to 14 because research over the past 15 years shows that unsupervised youths who do not participate in activities in the hours after school lets out, 3 to 6 p.m., are more likely to experiment with alcohol, drugs and sex, and perform poorly in school, Pfaltzgraff said.

"It's a time when parents exercise less focus on how their kids spend time and young people have less contact with adult role models," he said. "So their decision-making process is being influenced much more by peers than their parents. The tendency is to engage in negative risk-taking behavior, like climbing up three floors of a building to graffiti a wall."

Inouye, D-Hawai'i, pursued the grant as a means to step up drug prevention efforts amid Hawai'i's ongoing crystal methamphetamine troubles, said Jennifer Goto Sabas, chief of staff for the senator's Honolulu office.

The YMCA is developing elements of the crime prevention program with input from school administrators at Wahiawa Middle School, Waialua High & Intermediate, Waipahu High and Waipahu Middle School, and yet-to-be identified schools in Wai'anae.

Boys & Girls Club, meanwhile, has purchased three custom vehicles to bring after-school activities to rural areas on Kaua'i and Maui. The bookmobilelike units, which cost between $85,000 and $90,000 each, are equipped with computers and athletic equipment and feature a foldout panel that can be used as a performing stage or movie screen.

On Kaua'i, where the Boys & Girls Club has building sites in Lihu'e, Kapa'a and Waimea, two mobile units will be used to bring activities to underserved communities such as Koloa and Kekaha. Youths served by the mobiles will be bused once a month to Boys & Girls Clubs to experience on-site activities.

The other mobile will be on the Big Island, where the independent Boys & Girls Club of Hilo is subcontracted to extend services to Honoka'a.

The Boys & Girls Club of Maui, also an independent, is contracted to expand services to Paukukalo Housing in Wailuku. Other plans include a mobile unit for Maui and expansion of programs to Lana'i and Moloka'i.

"Transportation is a huge issue on the Neighbor Islands. We can't build buildings every time we want to reach out and serve a community that's underserved, said David Nakada, Boys & Girls Club of Hawai'i's executive director. "What we are going to do would be impossible without the mobile units."

The mobiles will be available in late March or early April. Outreach efforts on Kaua'i began last month with leased vehicles.

Some ongoing programs, such as Boys & Girls Club's "Smart Moves," which helps young people make wise decisions, cannot stand alone, Nakada said. "You have to make programs around it attractive, like sports or computers, to make them want to come."

Last year, The YMCA enrolled about 225 youths in substance-abuse programs in Wahiawa alone.

As part of the crime prevention program, YMCA staff and Wahiawa Middle School principal Carol White are now preparing to kick off a 12-week challenge that uses a ropes course featuring 35- to 40-foot towers as a tool for lessons in honesty, caring, respect and responsibilities. The challenge starts at ground level, with youths strapped together finding their way out of a maze or taking a blind walk to learn trust. The challenge then moves above ground level, and involves tackling fears.

"The program has great potential," White said of the challenge, which will take place at O'ahu's Camp Erdman.

Both the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club are hiring staff to help implement various parts of the rural youth crime prevention program.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.