District, Boys and Girls Club receive nearly $600k in grants

County schools will benefit from nearly $600,000 in grants awarded Thursday to support afterschool community learning centers.

The Cherokee County School District received two 21st Century grants totalling $288,000, the state Department of Education announced. The local Boys and Girls Club was awarded a $299,970 grant to support an afterschool program it operates at Mary Bramlett Elementary.

The grants are funded through the federal No Child Left Behind law. The grants provide funding for remedial education, tutoring, counseling, mentoring, limited English proficiency and character education programs.

Schools receive money to support literacy and other education programs to help students attending schools with high-poverty populations.

The state awarded a total of 25 21st Century grants worth more than $4 million.

The district was awarded a $168,000 grant for afterschool programs at Gaffney, Blacksburg and Granard middle schools, superintendent Dr. Bill James said. The district received a $120,000 grant to use at Alma Elementary.

"Our school district did extremely well," James said. "These grant funds will provide a real boost to our efforts to provide intervention and education services to students through afterschool programs."

Many county schools operate programs beyond the traditional school day to help students who struggle in areas such as reading and math.

Local Boys and Girls Club Director Vance Hammond was thrilled to learn his club will receive an afterschool grant to continue operating its homework center and provide additional activities for Mary Bramlett Elementary students. The Boys and Girls Club saw participation increase from 40 to 85 students at Mary Bramlett Elementary last school year.

The local Boys and Girls Club has partnered with Spartanburg District 6 on this year's afterschool grant.

"This is fantastic. We have operated an afterschool program at Mary Bramlett Elementary for the past two to three years on a shoestring budget," Hammond said. "This will help us support the homework center and will allow us to take it to the next level by providing additional services to benefit the kids in the afterschool program."