Big Grant to Help Before and After School Programs

After school learning programs to keep kids engaged will be at three more schools in the valley this summer thanks to a new federally-funded U.S. Dept. of Education grant being provided through Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. ESD or Educational Service District 105 officials say the 21st Century Grant will support before and after-school programs in science, math, and reading. The grant will help fund the programs for students at Adams Elementary, McKinley Elementary, and Ridgeview Elementary in the Yakima School district.

80 students at each school will be involved in the program during each five years of the grant. A press release says "this new grant will be building on the 21st Century Grant that ESD 105 and the Yakima School District have already been facilitating since 2019 for students at Washington Middle School, Barge-Lincoln Elementary, and Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary. That earlier award provided $500,000 during the 2019-20 school year and is renewable for up to five years for a potential total of $2.5 million for the activities at those three buildings.
Officials say the new award will also be creating four-week summer sessions as well as a monthly series of family involvement activities. Then starting this fall, each of the three newly added schools will also provide 45-minute sessions prior to the start of each regular class day in order to help students with homework checks, book clubs, and math support."

Adams, McKinley, and Ridgeview will offer the sessions every week, four to five days a week. The program will help them build their math, reading, and problem-solving skills.

The work of the local project is called the “Road to Success” program, and involves a partnership with the Yakima School District, ESD 105, EPIC (Enterprise for Progress In the Community), and other local organizations.