Thanks to 21^st Century Community Learning Center grants administered by the Ohio Department of Education, Kids on Campus will continue to offer its services to school districts in Southeast Ohio for the foreseeable future.

This federally funded grant program supports high-quality, out-of-school learning opportunities and related activities for students who attend eligible schools.

“We are very grateful to have worked with our local schools to write competitive grant applications for afterschool programming. We are very pleased to announce that this effort resulted in five new awards and three continuing awards from the Ohio Department of Education,” said Jo Ellen Sherow, program manager of Kids on Campus. “These grants will serve children in five local school districts (Athens City, Alexander Local, Federal Hocking Local, Trimble Local and Southern Local Perry County) over the next five years.”

Kids on Campus is based in Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions and is a rural community-university partnership serving the underserved in Southeast Ohio including at-risk children. Programming for Kids on Campus is completely funded by donations and grants. Through the new and continuing grants, Kids on Campus will receive $4,850,000 over the next five years.  

The new grants are each worth $850,000. The first year of each grant is worth $200,000. The following programs benefit from the funds:

• The Plains Elementary School (applied for in partnership with Athens City Schools) — Will serve approximately 100 students in grades 1-6 during afterschool and summer programs each year.
• Amesville and Coolville Elementary Schools (applied for in partnership with Federal Hocking Local Schools) — Will serve approximately 100 students in grades K-6 before school, afterschool and summer programs each year.
• Federal Hocking Secondary School (applied for in partnership with Federal Hocking Local Schools) — Will serve approximately 50 students in grades 7-12 during afterschool and summer programs each year.
• Alexander Junior High and Alexander High School (applied for in partnership with Alexander Local Schools) — Will serve approximately 70 students in grades 6-12 during afterschool and summer programs each year.
• Millcreek Elementary Schools (applied for in partnership with Southern Local Schools) — Will serve 80 students in grades K-6 during before school, afterschool and summer programs each year.

Three continuation grants worth $200,000 each this year were also awarded to benefit programs at Alexander Elementary School, Miller High School and Trimble Elementary School.

Kids on Campus employs approximately 200 people each year from Ohio University and surrounding communities including high school and college students, teachers, bus drivers and community members while also partnering with more than 100 area agencies and university departments.