Douglasville Parks & Recreation Receives BOOST Grant

Press release from the City of Douglasville:

Post Date:03/07/2022 10:14 AM

The Georgia Recreation and Park Association announced recently that the City of Douglasville Parks and Recreation Department has been approved to receive a contract through the Building Opportunities in Out-of-School Time (BOOST) Program. Funding for the BOOST program comes from the American Rescue Plan. The grant program is administered by the Georgia Department of Education in partnership with the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network (GSAN).

The Parks and Recreation Department will use the funds for their SPARK afterschool program for K-12 students. SPARK will focus on enrichment activities such as the arts, career exploration, service-learning, healthy eating, physical activity, and learning acceleration.

This grant will be used to remove barriers placed on families due to financial constraints related to the program cost, transportation, and enrollment fees. This program will be designed to support students in a whole-child approach towards educating youth.

“We are grateful to GRPA for awarding funds that allow our department the opportunity to address the learning loss caused by COVID-19,” said Parks and Recreation Director Chris Bass. “Receiving the grants aligns with our goal of providing equitable recreational opportunities for our youth.”

Well done Parks & Rec!

About the Georgia Department of Education
Led by State School Superintendent Richard Woods, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) is the state agency serving Georgia’s K-12 public school districts, schools, and students. GaDOE’s strategic plan emphasizes transforming the agency into one that provides meaningful support to schools and districts, with an emphasis on child-focused, classroom-centered education policy. GaDOE staff work to ensure that the 1.7 million students in Georgia’s public schools receive a holistic education that focuses on the whole child, and graduate ready to learn, ready to live, and ready to lead.

About the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network
The Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network (GSAN) is a public-private collaborative dedicated to advancing, connecting, and supporting quality afterschool programs to promote the success of children and youth throughout Georgia. GSAN envisions a day when all communities in Georgia have the resources and support needed to provide high quality afterschool programming. Since May 2013, Voices for Georgia’s Children has served as the home of GSAN. GSAN is one of 50 statewide afterschool networks supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
Serving as Georgia’s statewide afterschool network since 2004, GSAN is a resource, convener, and thought leader for afterschool and summer learning programs across the state. GSAN has three core goals: 1) support afterschool and summer learning programs in improving the quality of their programming; 2) create a sustainable structure of statewide, regional, and local partnerships; and 3) support the development and growth of policies to secure the resources needed to sustain new and existing afterschool programs.

This press release was produced by the City of Douglasville. The views expressed here are the author’s own.