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Dallas City will receive nearly $700,000 to keep program afloat.
By DAVID GRIMES, for The QUILL
DALLAS CITY - School administrators have found a way to salvage at least a portion of what was once a multi-program community center through newly acquired funds from the federal 21st Century grant program.
Dallas City elementary principal Kay Bedolli received word Wednesday from the Illinois State Board of Education that 21st Century grant funding in the amount of $697,500 has been earmarked for the school district to continue its after-school program.
The money will be received in the amount of $150,000 per year during each of the first three years, with decreasing amounts received in the fourth and final year, Bedolli said.
The program was part of the now-defunct Great River Community Center which was located at the old Dallas City High School. The school district, fiscal agent for the grant, started the center in 2001.
Funding ran out for the project's first five years and the district was notified earlier this year that the portion of the $1.2 million cost originally intended for the fourth and fifth years would not be forthcoming.
The center's doors were closed at the end of June.
Former superintendent Charles Langley said he began searching for alternate funding at that time.
Bedolli learned of the new funding while in Springfield last Wednesday and credited state lawmakers, including Rep. Rich Myers, R-Macomb, and Senator John Sullivan, D-Quincy, with assisting in the district receiving the money.
Langley said he wasn't sure of the source of the funding but thought it was granted because the after school program, which runs from 3 to 6 p.m. on school days, is a part of the district's adherence to the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
"I was as surprised as anyone," Langley said.
The program provides assistance for students who need help in the areas of math and reading and also includes the district's Homework Success program which provides assistance for students in a number of courses.
The funding will not cover other programs that previously operated out of the center, including the boxing club, Dallas City Teen Center and industrial arts classes.
Langley said the Dallas City School Board has yet to hire an administrator for the grant.
Dallas City's after-school program serves about 100 kindergarten through eighth-grade students.