HELENA — Advocates expressed concern at the start of July after federal grant funding that supports afterschool and summer educational programs was held up.
That funding has now been released, but some of the grant recipients still have concerns about what’s going to come next.
Watch the video for more on the delay in funding and what happens next:
One of the Montana organizations that relies on funding from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant is MAPS Media Institute.
MAPS runs year-round programs in Hamilton, Helena and Fort Belknap, introducing students to media arts.
“This grant is really the anchor funding that allowed us, as a very small nonprofit coming out of the Bitterroot Valley, to establish itself within our community and then slowly expand out,” said executive director Clare Ann Harff.
The institute gives teens and young adults experience in everything from filmmaking to graphic design to music production to podcasting. In addition to the three permanent studios, MAPS also brings workshops to communities around the state.
“At the heart of what MAPS does, behind all the bells and whistles, is helping these youth strengthen their communication skills, which we all know are critical to whatever field or whatever their future,” Harff said. “For a lot of these youth too, MAPS is the first time that they're experiencing the creative process in a collaborative way.”
MAPS has been receiving funding through the 21st Century grant since 2009. Harff says it provides more than half of their program costs, with the rest of their revenue coming from other sources, like private foundations and donations.
The 21st Century grant is typically awarded for five years, and MAPS’ latest five-year grant started in 2024. However, Harff says they learned on July 1 that the federal government wasn’t yet releasing this year’s grant funding.
“That took a breath away,” she said.
According to national reports, the Trump administration put a freeze on $6 billion in federal education grants as part of a review of whether the spending was in line with the president’s priorities.
Rachel Wanderscheid, director of the Montana Afterschool Alliance, said more than 30 organizations in the state, serving more than 9,000 students, were waiting on the funding.
“A big piece of it is just that huge uncertainty and that big concern about, what are we going to do with all these kids? How are we going to pay our staff? How can we plan for any fall enrollment if we don't know if our programs are going to exist?” she said.
The federal government passes these grant funds onto the states, who then distribute them. Wanderscheid said Montana had enough reserves that programs here didn’t need to close immediately, but the organizations were left in a waiting game.
Harff said MAPS immediately began informing their students and families that their programs were continuing for now, but also planning for what would happen if the funding wasn’t released soon.
“If the 21st Century grant didn't come in, MAPS – for the first time in 21 years – would have to cut some of our programming,” she said.
Harff said, with their reserve funds and other funders, they’d have been able to operate their Fort Belknap studio at full capacity, but their Hamilton and Helena programs at only half capacity — a big impact to their students and staff.
Still, she said many grant recipients would have been hit even harder.
“These smaller programs, whether they were school-based or community-based, they would have to shut their doors,” she said.
This week, leaders got confirmation that the funding for this year had been released.
“We obviously were relieved that the freeze was lifted, and really grateful to everybody from families and students and staff to people across the state who raised their voices,” said Harff.
Wanderscheid also said the vocal support for these programs across the country was key.
“Because there was such a push across the country – from every state and every community, really – they reversed course,” she said.
But there’s still uncertainty. The Trump administration’s budget proposal for next year combines the 21st Century grant with 17 other education grants.
The administration says that it will allow more flexibility for states to decide the best way to use the money. However, the proposal calls for $2 billion for the consolidated grants — less than half of what the existing grants had been budgeted for in total.
Harff says the latest round of funding will carry MAPS into next summer, but they’re going to continue thinking about how to be ready for what comes after that.
“We're being cautious and thoughtful and reaching out to and communicating with all of the stakeholders,” she said.
