Childcare providers across the state are warning that thousands of children enrolled in after-school programs will be negatively affected if lawmakers don’t refund the 21st century community center grant.
The concern for the cuts was addressed at Thursday’s Collective for Youth Conference, which included student leaders, childcare workers, state politicians and other advocates to discuss childcare programs’ futures.
Braxton Crowder, a representative at a childcare provider in the state called “Kids Can,” said programs were expanded during the COVID pandemic but now face challenges as those funds expire.
“When you come back and you take those funds away, you start to reduce the infrastructure that was created that was meant to be an ongoing infrastructure,” he said. “Now you’re cutting that back. You’re kind of putting these programs in a kind of situation to restructure the quality of their program.”
More than 17,000 children in the state rely on programs supported by the grant, according to the Collective for Youth. Development Director for Collective for Youth Nicole Everingham said the grant is essential for these after-school programs.
“This lifeline is now in immediate jeopardy as soon as next week; this critical funding could be cut. So, despite being part of an already approved 2025 budget, the steps that should have been taken starting in February have not yet been taken,” she said.
Organizers urge lawmakers on the state and federal level to continue funding these programs. They said many after-school programs will have to scale back their outreach to their surrounding communities, affecting their quality if they don’t have funding to do so.
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