Polk County Boys and Girls Club receiving federal funding this year, but worried about future

Boys and Girls Club concerned about funding cuts

The Boys and Girls Club of Polk County is worried critical federal funding may not be available in the future. Carla Bayron reports.

MULBERRY, Fla. - The Boys and Girls Club of Polk County is worried critical federal funding may not be available in the future.

The funding provides academic support and education enrichment programming for their after-school and summer programs.

Kelsey Barias and her team oversee about 80-to-90 kids per day in the summer program.

"In each hour chunk throughout the day, they have something to do," said Barias. "We run triple plays, smart moves, and positive action."

The backstory:

The free program has been funded by the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant through the Department of Education since 2011.

The non-profit has seven grants through the funding stream, serving more than 600 kids this summer alone.

On July 1, the $1.8 million in funding was put on hold for review. The funds were released on Friday last week, but funds for future years are still off the table.

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Why you should care:

If they don't get the money in the future, the nonprofit's Vice President of Development, Ashley Ray, says they'll have to look elsewhere to make up for the loss and may have to tighten their budget.

"These are the kids who are going to fall through the gaps, whether it be academically or food insecurity, and that's where Boys and Girls Club comes in to fill that gap, so now we're going to be looking for different funding streams and the community to help us fill the funding gap losing this will cause," said Ray.

What's next:

Barias is optimistic they can work through this because the need for resources is only growing in Polk County.

"There are so many families struggling without that, especially our kids," said Barias. They're not going to have a safe place to go anymore. They're going to be on the streets or home alone because parents have to continue working. It is heartbreaking, especially when you get so close to the families of the community."

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