United Way Awarded $2.3 Million Three Year Grant

ST. CLOUD -- Students in two local school districts will be getting some extra after school programming thanks to a major grant. The United Way of Central Minnesota has announced they have been awarded a grant of just over $770,000 a year for the next three years, totaling just over $2.3 million.

The grant is from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers and is administered by the Minnesota Department of Education.

Pre-K through 8th-grade students in the St. Cloud Area School District and the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district will benefit from the grant.

Director of Education Partnerships at United Way of Central Minnesota Amy Trombley says they will be working with other local organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Great River Regional Library, and St. Cloud State University to provide opportunities for kids living in poverty.

So, for example, students at Promise Neighborhood may be able to participate in a GREAT Theatre production that GREAT would bring to Promise Neighborhood or at one of the KIDStops in the area Great River Regional Library might bring out one of their maker space kits for the kids to do.

Trombley says the enrichment centers will be set-up during non-school hours at Discovery, south junior high Lincoln, Sauk Rapids-Rice middle school and Pleasantview.