Learning centers that serve 600 kids in eastern Kentucky will close unless the Trump administration unfreezes federal grant funding to the state, according to Kateena Haynes, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Appalachia.
The learning centers that provide food, tutoring and after-school enrichment for kids across Appalachian Kentucky had their funding frozen this month when the Trump administration informed the Kentucky Department of Education that $87 million in grants is under review; one-fifth of those funds was slated to support the 21st century learning centers.
“If we don't have some kind of intervention … if Kentucky doesn't have the reserves to keep us going, we will have to close immediately,” Haynes said.
A spokesperson for the Kentucky education department said the U.S. Department of Education notified them the evening of July 1, the same day the funds were supposed to be distributed, that the $87 million in funding for five different grants would not be issued with a review pending. The abrupt cancellation endangers both school-year programming and summer programs already underway.
The already-awarded funds were also supposed to go toward migrant education, supporting professional development, English as a second language instruction and general academic enrichment. Across the country, the administration is withholding over $6 billion. The funds had been approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in the March federal spending stopgap. Now, the Trump administration says they need to investigate whether any of the money has been used to fund a “radical leftwing agenda.”
Haynes’s organization runs six centers out of schools in eastern Kentucky, including one they’re in the process of opening in Pineville. She says the programs are a lifeline for working parents, grandparents and foster parents in the region to make sure their children get a hot meal, homework help and further development.
“We get to provide a lot of services that can't be provided in the school or that a lot of the homes that we serve in eastern Kentucky may not be able to give the kids an evening meal, may not be able to help them with their homework, may not have internet,” Haynes said.
Haynes said the freeze also imperils the livelihoods of 15 staff members and 17 teachers who get supplemental pay from the program. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Appalachia’s grant covers $750,000 annually for five years, meaning they could lose more than $3 million over the next several years.
This is not the first pot of federal funding the Trump administration has frozen in Kentucky, nor the first education grants cancelled at the last minute. The latest freeze came only days after the federal agency agreed to unblock $34 million in abruptly cancelled pandemic-era funds that several Kentucky school districts had begun spending on capital projects and improvements. Those funds were also originally cancelled just days before districts were scheduled to draw down funds.
School districts themselves are also bracing for impacts due to the freeze, including Nicholas County Schools, where nearly $200,000 is at stake. Superintendent Doug Bechanan told WEKU much of that funding would have supported their migrant education program, which assists the children of transient workers who travel for farm jobs.
“We help those families adjust to here, adjust to a different education, different community we've got,” Bechanan said.
Aubrey Purgitt is the unit director for the Tri-City Boys & Girls Club based out of Cumberland Elementary School in southeastern Kentucky. Purgitt, who started out volunteering for the program, said she’s seen how the program boosts kids’ grades and helps the entire community. She said students earning Cs and Ds starting jumping up to As and Bs thanks to the extra tutoring help.
The program also includes things like financial literacy training and introducing kids to different potential career paths down the line. Purgitt said she sees no waste in the program — even extra food is sent home with students.
“If we had leftover food from the day, we have a share table,” Purgitt said. “Then we can actually send bags home with kids so they have extra food to go home with.”
Purgitt said she intends to continue planning for the next year and showing up for the kids and families in her community. Appalachian Kentucky has a long history of fighting for adequate educational funding and opportunities, and Purgitt said making sure federal funding doesn’t evaporate is their latest battle.
“We advocate for these youth, and we will continue to advocate for all of these in our Appalachian towns and for all of our Boys & Girls Clubs to get the continued funding we need,” Purgitt said. “We can't back down. We can't give up. We have to set an example for our kids that you have to keep going … You’ve got to fight for what's right, and our program is definitely needed, especially in our area.”
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
