Allentown After-School Program Loses Funding
After-school programs serve a number of purposes not only for at-risk youth who are growing up impoverished or more exposed to crime and drug-use, but for children from all backgrounds who need varying social interaction and resources to develop healthy and safe ways of living. Parents cannot be present in a child’s life all hours of the day. Many parents get home late from work, or aren’t involved in their child’s activities, which makes after-school programs all the more important and beneficial.
A Lebanon Daily News article recently reported that a popular and free Allentown after-school program, The Caring Place, has been cancelled after losing a state issued grant. The female founder and director of the program claims that a flaw in the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s computer system made it so that she could not reapply for the grant in time to meet the deadline. The after-school program was mainly funded by a three-year, $275 grant. In response to being denied an extension to reapply for funding, the director met with Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski who has asked his administration to cooperate with her efforts in restoring the school and also pledged $15,000.
Several parents and advocates in the community are hoping that children will be able to return to The Caring Place, which devotes most of its efforts to academic-related activities. The program has also provided hundreds of kids from broken homes and tough neighborhoods with a chance to improve their life skills through learning how to resolve conflicts in a nonviolent way, what it takes to run a business, and how to use proper etiquette.
The distribution of grants is often very competitive among programs similar to The Caring Place as well as various other educational programs in Allentown and throughout Pennsylvania. Programs will sometimes rely on more than one entity to supply funding in order to make sure that a youth service can continue to thrive and grow.
