Boys & Girls Club programs threatened by Trump grant freeze serve
thousands of families
[July 14, 2025]
By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS
EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — After driving through a downpour to take
her son to day camp, Darleen Reyes told camp administrators the rain
would have kept her away but her son insisted on going.
As she marked her son's name present on a clipboard at the Boys & Girls
Club camp, she laughed about braving a flash flood warning to get there.
Before kissing his mother goodbye, Aiden Cazares, 8, explained to a
reporter, “I wanted to see my friends and not just sit at home.” Then he
ran off to play.
Aiden’s one of 1.4 million children and teenagers around the country who
have been attending after-school and summer programming at a Boys &
Girls Club, the YMCA or a public school for free thanks to federal
taxpayers. Congress set aside money for the programs to provide academic
support, enrichment and child care to mostly low-income families, but
President Donald Trump's administration recently froze the funding.
The money for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers is among more
than $6 billion in federal education grants Trump's Republican
administration has withheld, saying it wants to ensure recipients'
programs align with the president's priorities.
After-school programs for the fall are in jeopardy
In Rhode Island, the state stepped in with funding to keep the summer
programs running, according to the Boys & Girls Club of East Providence.
Other Boys & Girls Clubs supported by the grants have found ways to keep
open their summer programs, said Sara Leutzinger, vice president for
communications for the Boys & Girls Club of America. But there isn’t the
same hope for the after-school programming for the fall.
Some of the 926 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide that run 21st Century
Community Learning summer and after-school programs stand to close if
the Trump administration doesn’t release the money in the next three to
five weeks, Leutzinger said.
The YMCA and Save the Children say many of the centers they run are also
at risk of shuttering.
“Time is of the essence,” said Christy Gleason, executive director of
Save the Children Action Network, which provides after-school
programming for 41 schools in rural areas in Washington state and across
the South, where school will begin as soon as August. “It’s not too late
to make a decision so the kids who really need this still have it.”
Schools in Republican-led areas are particularly affected by the freeze
in federal education grants. Ninety-one of the 100 school districts that
receive the most money from four frozen grant programs are in Republican
congressional districts, according to an analysis from New America, a
left-leaning think tank. Of those top 100 school districts, half are in
four states: California, West Virginia, Florida and Georgia. New
America’s analysis used funding levels reported in 2022 in 46 states.
Republican officials have been among the educators criticizing the grant
freeze.
“I deeply believe in fiscal responsibility, which means evaluating the
use of funds and seeking out efficiencies, but also means being
responsible — releasing funds already approved by Congress and signed by
President Trump," said Georgia schools superintendent Richard Woods, an
elected Republican. “In Georgia, we’re getting ready to start the school
year, so I call on federal funds to be released so we can ensure the
success of our students.”
The Office of Management and Budget said some grants supported left-wing
causes, pointing to services for immigrants in the country illegally or
LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts.
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Jillian Murphy leads children in math activities during the East
Providence Boys and Girls Club Summer Camp at Emma G. Whiteknact
Elementary School on Thursday, July 10, 2025, in Providence R.I. (AP
Photo/Sophie Park)
Summer clubs provide instruction for children
At the East Providence summer camp, Aiden, a rising third grader,
played tag, built structures with magnetic tiles, played a
fast-paced game with the other kids to review addition and
subtraction, learned about pollination, watched a nature video and
ate club-provided chicken nuggets.
Veteran teachers from his school corrected him when he spoke without
raising his hand and offered common-sense advice when a boy in his
group said something inappropriate.
“When someone says something inappropriate, you don’t repeat it,”
teacher Kayla Creighton told the boys between answering their
questions about horseflies and honeybees.
Indeed, it’s hard to find a more middle-of-the road organization in
this country than the Boys & Girls Club.
Just last month, a Republican and a Democrat sponsored a resolution
in the U.S. House celebrating the 165-year-old organization as a
“beacon of hope and opportunity.” The Defense Department awarded the
club $3 million in 1991 to support children left behind when their
parents deployed for the Persian Gulf. And ever since, the Boys &
Girls Club has created clubs on military installations to support
the children of service members. Military families can sign up their
kids for free.
“I suspect they will realize that most of those grants are fine and
will release them,” said Mike Petrilli, president of the Thomas B.
Fordham Institute, a conservative education policy think tank,
speaking of the Trump administration's review of the 21st Century
Community Learning Center grants.
But not everyone is so sure.
Families see few affordable child care alternatives
Aiden’s mother has started looking into afternoon child care for
September when kids return to school in Rhode Island.
“It costs $220 a week,” Reyes said, her eyes expanding. “I can’t
afford that.”
The single mother and state worker said she’ll probably ask her
14-year-old son to stay home and watch Aiden. That will mean he
would have to forgo getting a job when he turns 15 in the fall and
couldn’t play basketball and football.
“I don’t have any other option,” she said.
At home, Aiden would likely stay inside on a screen. That would be
heartbreaking since he’s thrived getting tutoring and “learning
about healthy boundaries” from the Boys & Girls Club program, Reyes
said.
Fernande Berard learned about the funding freeze and possible
closure from a reporter after dropping off her three young boys for
summer camp. “I would be really devastated if this goes away,” said
the nurse. “I honestly don’t know what I would do.”
Her husband drives an Uber much of the day, and picking up the kids
early would eat into his earnings. It’s money they need to pay the
mortgage and everything else.
If her boss approves, she’d likely have to pick up her children from
school and take them to the rehabilitation center where she oversees
a team of nurses. The children would have to stay until her work day
ends.
“It’s hard to imagine,” she said.
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