March 22, 2017
ALLEGANY COUNTY, NY – Accord in Allegany County, posted this online, on Wednesday afternoon:
As of June 30, 2017, Allegany County will lose afterschool program services for approximately 1,300 children. ACCORD was notified on 3/20/17 that Allegany County was not funded for Round 7 (2017 – 2022) of 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) afterschool programming. This will effectively end afterschool programs in 6 school districts. (The Cuba-Rushford school district will be able to continue only the K-5 program portion of their afterschool programming, which is funded separately through the NYS Office of Children and Family Services.) This means the loss of 21 full time and 4 part time jobs in Allegany County. ACCORD has operated a successful 21st CCLC afterschool program for 13 years. According to ACCORD’s Executive Director, Lesley Gooch-Christman, ACCORD currently operates programs in 7 school districts, Bolivar-Richburg, Scio, Canaseraga, Belfast, Cuba-Rushford (middle school), Whitesville, and the Immaculate Conception School in Wellsville. “It appears from our first look at the programs that did receive funding for this next 5 year round that the many of rural counties in the Southern Tier area were left out. We are devastated by this loss of service to parents and children. This program currently serves one of every four Allegany County children and has demonstrated successful outcomes each and every year. While we will leave no stone unturned as we work to help families find other services, there is no way to put a positive slant on this tremendous loss of over 1.2 million dollars annually, in educational funding to our County.”
