The 21st Century program has secured a $1.1 million grant through the Office of Public Instruction to fund the program for the next five years.
According to 21st Century Grant Director Rochelle Hesford, there are several additions that come with this grant. For one, Basin will have its own summer program, a Wednesday after school program and Friday support from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Boulder Elementary will also add a Wednesday after school program. There is also room in the budget to add more days for Judy Workman’s dance and tumbling program.
Jefferson High also benefits from the grant, as it provides more funding for Richard Workman’s Esports program. This funding makes it possible for 21st Century to hire a second instructor.
The grant is for $246,916 for the first three years, $197,533 for the fourth year and $172,841 for the fifth year.
Although Hesford told the Monitor on June 1 that she was confident that the local 21st Century program would receive the grant, it still came as a major relief to her when it was made official on May 24.
“If we didn’t get the grant, then families in the community wouldn’t have an after-school program,” she said.
It means a great deal to provide this kind of opportunity for the children, Hesford said, and it’s an opportunity she doesn’t take lightly. John Morrison, a Helena attorney and former Montana legislator instrumental in creating the Montana Healthy Kids program – which offers free or low cost health insurance coverage to eligible Montana children – also doesn’t take it for granted. On June 1, he came to Boulder Elementary and congratulated Hesford on her efforts to make this program thrive and give children in Jefferson County extra-curricular activities that enrich their lives. To show his appreciation he presented her with a check for $5,000 to help with the summer program.
“We put aside some of our legal fees into a donor fund every year and we are trying to support organizations that make kids’ lives better,” Morrison said. “There are many ways to create healthy Montana kids…one of these ways is to make sure they have places to go after school, good role models, good habits they can develop and good activities they can get engaged in.”
Hesford said she is encouraged by the direction of the 21st Century program. It’s bittersweet, as she will not be foreseeing the future of the program, as she has taken a role as Jefferson Local Development Corporation Childcare Coordinator, but she will stay on to mentor the person who takes her place.
Morrison congratulated her on a job well done and on passing the torch.
“You’ve touched an awful lot of lives,” he said.
