July 9, 2025
Atlanta YMCA and Boys and Girls Club are only a few organizations considering program closures due to federal funding freeze.
Georgia is expected to lose $100 million in grant funding due to the U.S. Department of Education’s pause on education grants.
Hundreds of after‑school and summer programs serving thousands of students in Georgia may face closure following a nationwide freeze on federal grant money. The Atlanta YMCA is one such organization. Kim Nelson, the chief program officer, says the funds are used as reimbursements for products and services necessary for operation.
“Unfortunately, the community that we serve they are in an at-risk and low-income community, and this funding is so important to be able to provide the different services, and the program would look completely different,” she said. “You’re basically saying that [the] majority of us would need to close our doors and not offer programming,” Nelson told WABE.
The federal grants support after‑school, summer enrichment, English language learning, adult literacy, and teacher training. Over $6 billion in funds were scheduled to stop on July 1. These programs support approximately 27,000 students across the state, with a particular focus on rural and underserved areas.
Katie Landes, director of the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network, said that the freeze poses a threat to programs in 60% of districts.
Landes said, “Parents are scrambling because they don’t know if that after‑school care is going to be there.”
Similarly, Lisa Morgan, head of the Georgia Association of Educators, said that multiple programs are in jeopardy weeks before school begins.
The Department of Education stated in a memo that it remains committed to directing funds in line with the president’s priorities. Those priorities include culling any program with a supposed “radical leftwing agenda.”
However, the agency offered no timeline for when the review would end.
In Alabama, Gadsden City Schools stated that it may have to shut down its after-school program, serving 1,200 low-income students and potentially affecting up to 75 staff positions, if funds are not released soon.
In Georgia, school districts and nonprofits are grappling with staffing shortages and dwindling program access for working families.
RELATED CONTENT: Georgia Department Of Education To Reintroduce Cursive Writing Classes At Elementary Schools
