An after-school learning program in Arlington County is facing money woes since their AmeriCorps funding was eliminated in April.
Aspire Afterschool Learning was able to hire most of those impacted AmeriCorps staff for their summer academic program. But now, the focus is on the fall and making sure they can continue to accommodate the target number of students who are members of historically underserved communities.
“Aspire is the only after-school academic program that’s offered at no cost to families in Arlington County,” said Paula Fynboh, CEO of Aspire Afterschool Learning. “We have 140 kids, our biggest yet, in our full-day summer program. And they’ve just been having such a fun summer.”
But Fynboh said there’s a financial gap due to the President Donald Trump Administration’s funding cuts to the AmeriCorps, which impacted 17 members of AmeriCorps who were working with the nonprofit.
“Without our AmeriCorps grant, that’s essentially 30% of our operating budget that is no longer there,” Fynboh said.
A private fundraiser called Rising Together is underway and has been somewhat successful, which means they’ll be able to serve more students.
“Instead of serving only 100 kids, we’ll be to 125,” Fynboh said.
But they usually accommodate more people during the academic year — roughly 160 students. They’re grateful to be able to provide after-school learning and rigor to a smaller number, but “of course, losing 25 to 30 kids is still heartbreaking,” Fynboh said.
“We know who these kids are, we know their names. They’ve been with us since they were in third grade, and we know their families. We know everything that they’re capable of,” she added.
When parsing the financial numbers after their AmeriCorps funding was eliminated, “We knew that if we weren’t able to close that funding gap, 1 out of 3 of our kids would lose access to our programming,” Fynboh said.
She noted that some students would also miss out on “a safe place to be after school, reading and math support, a free hot meal. It would also mean another year of progress would be lost, and these promising young kiddos would be left behind.”
Last school year, most students entered the program two or more grade levels behind in reading. Some were lagging by one grade level. But Fynboh also said their numbers show those who tested at grade level were students with continued enrollment in the program.
While the nonprofit’s private fundraising campaign is helping to fill the money gap, Fynboh estimates the current need is “an additional $130,000. And we would need that much for at least two years, so ($260,000) … that way we know that we can serve them this year, as well as next year, while we continue to look at more sustainable or different kinds of funding streams.”
“With federal funding being pulled, and being uncertain, it is really hard for nonprofits. At the same time, I know there’s enough to go around. I do think … even though things feel so uncertain right now, the more that we can plug into abundance and a belief in enough and caring for our most vulnerable, I believe that we can find some alternative solutions,” Fynboh said.
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