Loss of funding for after school programs in Luzerne County
WILKES-BARRE LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— Important after-school programs are in danger of losing funding impacting hundreds of students in northeastern Pennsylvania.
On Thursday, lawmakers and community advocates joined together to voice their concerns and opposition to that decision.
“This is terrible news for the students that really need these afterschool programs. It’s terrible news for their parents if these kids aren’t getting these kind of services it then means their parents can’t stay at work and so it’s just bad news all around,” stated (R) Senator Dave Argall of the 29th district.
Legislators, school administrators, and parents are extremely upset after shine and achieve programs were denied critical funding for the first time. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant is essential to their operations.
Some programs that will be impacted are homework help, meal assistance, and after-school care for students of working parents.
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“I’m so grateful for the shine program because they are able to study after they’re done with school,” said a concerned mother.
Those concerns were highlighted during a media conference at the Maple Manor Elementary School in Hazleton, a site of one of the shine afterschool programs. Lawmakers and educators agree these programs are important for young students, warning that without supervised programs and mentorship programs like SHINE and Achieve, youngsters may navigate to gangs.
They used words like “catastrophic” and “student delinquency” to demonstrate the impact of losing the grant money.
“Actually hard to believe the services we provide to the students in our county are just so valuable, but not only to the students but the families too. Shine has allowed students to succeed has allowed them to gain skills that they can’t gain in their daily school also lets parents work,” explained Carol Nichols, Executive Director of the SHINE program.
They also believe there’s regional inequality because a lot of the funding from this grant went to major cities and their surrounding area versus northeastern Pennsylvania.
“I mean, I understand certainly students all across the commonwealth need access, but I do think there should be some equity in terms of geographic location, and the students that we serve,” stated Shannon.
And say they might seek private funding to help generate some funds to keep the programs alive.
“We have a successful that is in place that is in our districts and is a shame to see it go away we are committed to trying to find a solution,” said Nichols.
Both Shine and Achieve have already appealed the decision.
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