Every school day, when the bell rings at Shields Elementary School, more than 100 kindergarten to fourth grade students head to the after-school program inside the Brighton Park school, where they can find homework help, a warm meal and activities ranging from Zumba to Lego club.
Run by the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council for the past decade, the program provides Shields families a safe haven, according to the staff. Yet, the program is one of around 250 across Illinois facing the prospect of closure when grants administered by the Illinois State Board of Education expire at the end of June 2024, according to advocates.
Serving an estimated 42,000 primarily low-income students, the programs need $50 million annually from the state to stay open — and to remedy an accounting error by ISBE that’s already resulted in closures, according to Susan Stanton, executive director of the statewide Act Now coalition of after-school program advocates.
Among its five programs, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council provides 2,000 students daily with access to sports, educational and workforce development programs and counseling and mental health services, said Executive Director Patrick Brosnan. The nonprofit is one of nearly 70 organizations with grants expiring in June, according to Act Now.
Of 33 after-school programs that already lost funding in July, 27 have since closed their doors, affecting around 6,000 students across the state, Stanton said.
“It breaks to my heart to know that so many kids were deprived of after-school program opportunities because of this funding error,” state Rep. Theresa Mah, a Chicago Democrat, said at an Act Now news conference Wednesday.
“When we talk about what it takes to have strong communities, safe communities, tightknit communities, it really is our after-school programs that do a lot of the work,” Mah said. “If we’re talking about investing in our communities, this is how we do it.”
After an initial five-year award, organizations that receive federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants to offer academic enrichment opportunities in high-poverty communities during nonschool hours can typically apply for renewals, or submit new applications if they’ve already received a renewal.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/6ORZWEZP25AA3IK3YYLCVTIOAY.JPG)
But because the state education board miscalculated the amount of grant funds available — resulting in a shortfall of at least $12.4 million — neither new nor renewal funds were available this school year, and funding for next school year will be limited at best, State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders wrote in a weekly message in May.
A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said Wednesday that the district is awaiting an update from ISBE on the availability of renewal funds and that CPS has allocated $5 million to support programs at district schools through the school year. ISBE didn’t provide comment regarding the availability of 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants for new and renewal applicants in the 2024-25 school year.
Without help from the state, many other providers, particularly community organizations, can’t similarly cover costs, Stanton said. Act Now estimates at least 2,000 after-school jobs will be lost, and nonprofits largely reliant on 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants could be forced to close altogether.
“The governor and the General Assembly need to come together and get this done,” State Sen. Ram Villivalam, a Chicago Democrat, said at the news conference Wednesday. “It is often said that a budget is a document of priorities and values and I say that it’s time to prioritize and value after-school programs,” he said.
More than 70% of students at each of two 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs in Villivalam’s district are from low-income households of color, he added.
State Sen. Celina Villanueva, a Chicago Democrat, said she started her career in public service as an after-school program mentor and has “seen the best and the worst of what happens when we have after-school programs and when we don’t have after-school programs.
“These programs help to transform lives,” Villanueva said at the news conference Wednesday. “Whether it’s cultural education, whether it’s music education, whether it’s just a little bit of extra homework help — having other community members surround (students) and support them.”
Mah, Villanueva, Villivalam and around 20 other state legislators signed an Oct. 18 letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon, urging the General Assembly to pursue the $50 million annual appropriation in support of the community learning center programs. As of Wednesday, Act Now spokesperson Emma Spencer said, the organization isn’t aware of any lawmaker committed to proposing an amendment to the budget.
