Schwarzenegger visits System Center at Dallas

Schwarzenegger spoke as the chairman of the nonprofit foundation that provides after-school activities for underprivileged children and adolescents in Dallas and other cities across the country.

The Inner-city Games Foundation currently offers extracurricular programs in technology, education, life skills and sports to more than 250,000 children ages seven to 17 in more than 400 schools.

The program operates from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Law enforcement studies show most instances of teen pregnancy, drug use and gang violence occur between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the time following school hours.

Statistics show that more than 50 percent of children today have a single parent or parents who both work.

These children are home alone, Schwarzenegger said.

"When we talk about children who are home alone we are basically saying that they are out there," he said.

"They're at home or they are drifting around in neighborhoods, video arcades and shopping malls. I think the law enforcement community knows where they are and the kind of trouble they get into."

Schwarzenegger said after-school activities are a way to help youths who lack parenting and prevent them from engaging in unlawful behavior.

Youths who attend the after-school games can choose from a variety of activities including running, boxing, book club, stained glass art and others.

Burt Conlisk, stained glass art teacher, said he feels rewarded by helping teenagers and children to stay out of trouble.

"When they're there you are influencing [them] in a cultural, physical or athletic way; it has a great impact."

Russ Toates, director of the foundation's Dallas division, said he hopes to continue expanding the program in the near future to encompass more activities and institutions.

The foundation now works with the YMCA and the Boys & Girls club in its effort to help children, Toates said.

Todd Wagner, chief executive officer of the Todd R. Wagner Foundation, started the Inner-city Games program in Dallas in June 2001.

Wagner said having a world-renowned celebrity such as Schwarzenegger as the program's spokesman has aided immensely in its success.

Wagner said he considers Swcharzenegger a personal friend because of the actor's previous philanthropic efforts.

In the early 1990s Schwarzenegger traveled the country to promote physical health as Chairman of the President's Council on Fitness and Sports.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center gave him its National Leadership Award in 1991 and 1997 for his support of the organization's holocaust studies.

In 1991 he started his involvement with the Inner-city Games program in Los Angeles, Calif.

Schwarzenegger said he has often thought of pursuing politics but has no plans to announce himself as a candidate for office.

He said political leaders in California are not doing the best they can to improve the economic and social environment in the state. "I think that people deserve better than that," he said.

"That's why someone like myself or other people think about running for office. I think I can do better than that. I think I can point them in the right direction."