JAY — The Franklin County Children’s Task Force is aiming to make the 21st Century Kids after-school and summer programs sustainable as the final year of a four-year grant approaches.

The programs are offered in Regional School Unit 9 in Farmington, Regional School Unit 73 in Jay and Maine School Administrative District 58 in Strong, which include a total of 17 towns. RSU 9 includes Farmington, Wilton, Industry, New Sharon, Chesterville, Starks, Temple, Weld, Vienna, and New Vineyard; RSU 73 includes Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls; and RSU 58 includes Avon, Kingfield, Phillips and Strong.

Children’s Task Force Director Doug Saunders said his goal it so make the programs sustainable after the grant ends.

“We’re in the third year of the grant now,” he said. “The summer program started it off. Our first year we were heavily impacted by COVID-19. We were virtual the better part of that first year.

“Last year we started back (having in-person programs),” he said. “From my point of view I saw that as our real first year. Everybody around the state in 21st Century programs the previous year was just surviving. It really wasn’t what these programs are designed to be.”

The past year was the program’s first building year, Saunders said. “I was happy to see the number of students we were able to get registered and served. Our hope is that will grow year over year. That is one of our many goals.

“One of my other goals is focusing this year on sustainability,” he said. “That is one of the biggest challenges that face every 21st Century program nationwide. Sadly there are not many programs that survive past the grant.”

This is the second time the Children’s Task Force has had a 21st Century Kids grant, Jennifer Stone, social worker at Spruce Mountain Elementary School, said. The first ran five years, she said.

They were two completely separate grants, Saunders said. The federal grants are available for four or five years.

“This proposal happened to be for a four-year grant, then once that expires you are eligible to apply for an extension period,” Saunders said. The most common extension is for three years with much less funding.

“Trying to get the program self-sustaining, that is hard to do,” Saunders admitted. “It is very difficult to come up with the amount of funding to be able to pay for staffing and staffing is always the biggest expense for any program. That is one thing I will be spending a lot more time and energy on this year and in the fourth year, trying to find alternative funding so we will be able to keep this thing going in at least some form down the road.”

Parents want the programs to continue, he said.

“In the past what I have seen is even some parents that don’t necessarily think about the program too much but when the program goes away and suddenly the kids are coming home every day, there is no place for them to go, that is when the reality hits home,” he noted. “I very much want to keep this program going, make it at least self sustaining for the most part. That is going to require a lot of connecting with the community, businesses.”

The 21st Century Kids programs are free but parents may have to pay a fee if the program continues when the grant ends. Determining what that fee might be, how to adapt it for larger families or possibly setting a maximum amount are decisions that may need to be made later.

“Ideally we could get funding from all different sources, not tapping parents to pay,” Saunders said. “The reality is that is not going to happen. Sustainability is going to be the focus moving forward.”

In RSU 73, the summer program was held at the middle school in Jay and 15 staff were hired. Fourteen were needed last year, Saunders said. He expects more will be needed this year.

This was the first year a summer program was offered at the middle school, he noted. “We did do one at the high school last year but our grant says we are supposed to be running it here.”

The summer program was Monday through Thursday, typically from 8 or 8:30 a.m. to between 4 and  4:30 p.m.

A total of 136 children registered, with the daily average between 60 and 80, Saunders said.

“We have to offer physical education activities, visual and performing arts, literacy, nutrition, STEM or STEAM,” which stand for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, respectively.

“There is also socio-emotional learning Stone does,” Saunders said.

The program is financed totally from federal funds administered through the state. All 50 states have 21st Century programs.

The plan is to offer after-school programs at the primary, elementary and middle schools four days a week. Details on early release Wednesdays this year are being worked out, Saunders said.

“The minimum we have to do is four days a week, 30 weeks during the school year for a total equaling 120 days of programming,” he said. “We can run more if we want, but the budget is built on the minimum. We consider them in the program about two hours and fifteen minutes each day.”

The same content areas are offered in each school but varies some on how they are applied, Saunders said.

Elementary students review flash cards, spelling words, which makes studying fun, Stone noted. Some teachers set up specific supports for individual students, she said.

Home-schooled children may participate in the after-school program.

Applications for the after-school program are available on the Task Force website at  https://fcctf.org/2018/08/10/21st-century-kids/.

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