Community Learning Centers expand after-school programs for Sioux Falls kids
School district opens up 22 elementary schools for programming in response to shift in community's after-school dynamics
Jenn Hoesing is so appreciative of the Sioux Falls School District partnership with the community for after-school care.
She and her husband, Pete, have a fifth grader in the Community Learning Center program that allows them to know their son is safe, enjoying himself and enriching his learning experience until they are able to get off work.
In its second year, the program currently serves about 1,800 elementary school students and is expanding this coming year for middle school students with staff also working on efforts to help the city’s youth even more.
Registration for the coming school year begins in January.
“My son has been in the program since it started two years ago. It’s so convenient and really builds on the sense of community,” Hoesing said.
Not only, she said, does her son enjoy spending more time with his friends after school but the program also offers tutoring and help with coursework as well as providing recreational activities and other learning experiences.
Hoesing, who is the chief development officer for the local Girl Scouts program, said there’s “so many great opportunities for the kids.”
Her organization is among the partners in the program as they’ll talk to the girls about their organization, offer activities and have also even started troops in two of the elementary schools after-school programs where girls can join and take part in scouting activities.
Rebecca Wimmer, who heads up the CLCs for the school district and is a former leader of the Girls & Boys Club, said the program is a community effort that takes advantage of using school facilities.
In an Augustana University research study several years ago, Wimmer said it was estimated about half of the city’s 11,000 elementary students were going home alone after school.
Wimmer said they met with four partners who were offering after-school programs of their own. They were EmBe, YMCA, Volunteers of America and the Boys & Girls Club and students were previously being transported to the four organization’s various facilities after school.
But in working with the school district it was determined they could cut costs by about half by opening up the schools for after-school efforts instead with those organizations coming to the schools rather than to their facilities.
“We decided we could serve twice as many children,” she said by cutting out transportation and building costs.
What emerged was the four organizations running programs at 22 elementary school sites.
With child care being a big concern for many families, it has been a big winner.
Wimmer said after doing a family survey they have now begun working on plans for a before-school effort at some elementary schools.
There are also many other changes that are already set to go next year and the School Board was informed about those plans at a meeting earlier this month.
CLC is expanding its summer program to another two sites bringing the total to 12. And in the fall, the extended care program that operates during the school year when classes aren’t in session will be opened to the public for families who don’t participate in the regular after-school program but need occasional care on non-school days.
The biggest addition, though, will be the opening of a middle school program in the fall with the opening of a center currently under construction next to the George McGovern Middle School in the far west part of the city that will stay open until 8 p.m.
Wimmer said they are also adding pilot middle school programs at Ben Reifel and Whittier middle schools until 6 p.m. next fall.
The plan is to add the other city middle schools in the 2026-27 school year.
As for the new George McGovern facility, which was built with the help of community donations, Wimmer is hoping perhaps 300 of the 700 students in the new middle school may participate in the program. The Boys & Girls Club has been given the responsibility to run the program at the new facility, and also was recently awarded the contract to run the program at the new Marcella LeBeau Elementary School right next door that is also opening this coming fall.
Finances and staffing are a big concern as they try to expand programming, but Wimmer said they are hoping to prove that the students not only have a safe place to go but are also improving their academics and attendance by being in the program.
That, said Wimmer, can give donors and the community a look at results..
Last year, they did a study of those kids participating, as is a condition of enrollment, and found that 94 percent of students had improved their math scores, 67 percent had better reading scores and 60 percent boosted their attendance.
“Nationally, it's known that kids who are in the program do better as far as test scores and attendance,” Wimmer said. “We want to continue tracking to see how they are doing here. Are we making a difference?”
As for financing, there are parents who can afford the after-school fees but those in low-income families can qualify for a scholarship.
First, Wimmer said families apply to see if they can finance their child’s attendance in after-school through the federal and state child care assistance program for those under 209 percent of the family federal income poverty level.
If not, those who are still having trouble making ends meet with a single parent or both parents working, the CLC offers scholarships.
About 40 percent of the families in the program are receiving scholarships.
There is a special way of doing things, too, in the program as far as financing.
“All of our kids are together in the program. No one has an idea what their family's bank account may look like,” Wimmer said. “They are all just kids."
Since July, more than $1.3 million has been allocated to families to pay for their fees with about $300,000 remaining for this school year to help other families who are seeking a spot in the program if some open up.
Not only is the program participation going up from its first year, but Wimmer said there is a waiting list to get in the program of about 400 children.
“From my office, I can hear all of the people calling in and wondering if a spot has opened up,” Wimmer said.
Community donations are needed to have the staff and to provide scholarships for the growing program.
Licensed by the state, the program is required to have one staff member for each 15 children.
Requests for scholarship funding are also up significantly, Wimmer said.
Community philanthropist Denny Sanford has provided $10 million to the program this year, some of which was used to build the new George McGovern center but with most going to help fund scholarships.
Wimmer said an anonymous donor provided the biggest chunk of funding for the new middle school center..
However, in starting the program and in the beginning stages the United Way has been one of the biggest avenues for financing
To spread its wings into the community, the CLCs has also had several high-school level events and is working on what can be done for those students.
Also, the CLCs sponsor family-orientated events including the most popular which has been Health and Wellness Fairs at the schools where vendors from the community set up booths and where families can learn about help in those areas.
There has also been a program started to provide assistance to families to learn about renter’s rights and how to go about buying a home.
In addition, Family Engagement Nights are held at the neighborhood elementary schools where families get together in the evenings to join in activities, games and perhaps a potluck dinner.
In the end, it’s the community and school district working together and building on that “sense of community” that Hoesing sees as another bright spot for the city as well as helping with her and other families’ child care needs.
Content courtesy of SiouxFallsLive.com.