Donald Trump's budget proposal cuts after-school programs for Wisconsin's neediest children

When David Enriquez gets off work at 3 p.m. each day, he knows his three young children are already getting help with their homework and participating in activities like music and sports.

Like thousands of other Wisconsin students, Daniel, 12, Shadenny, 10, and Damian, 8, attend a federally funded after-school program for academic support and other activities. Many also provide snacks or dinner and serve as child care for working parents.

"My kids aren't out on the streets," said Enriquez, whose children attend La Causa Charter School's program in Milwaukee. "The biggest benefit is that my kids are getting more education. They're using that time to do something positive instead of playing video games or staying in the house."

But La Causa's after-school program is one of 221 statewide that are at risk under President Donald Trump's proposed budget. In Milwaukee Public Schools that could mean wiping out programs that serve about 5,000 students every day.

"This would be devastating, not only for the 5,000 young people and their families in Milwaukee who depend on these programs each day but also for the entire city," said Denise Callaway, MPS spokeswoman. "If you care about making Milwaukee and cities like it across the country safer, stripping away programs that keep our young people off the streets is not the way to do it."

Trump's budget proposal, released earlier this month, would eliminate the $1.2 billion 21st Century Community Learning Center grant program, which serves about 1.6 million children nationally.

In Wisconsin, the CLCs receive federal funding from the Department of Public Instruction via the U.S. Department of Education, which provides the grants for summer and before- and after-school programs. The programs are often geared toward schools with a high percentage of low-income families.

This year, DPI received just over $15.4 million in CLC grants, which served about 42,400 Wisconsin children, according to the most recent state enrollment records. Three out of four regular attendees were economically disadvantaged, according to the state.

In defense of the proposed cuts, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said there is no evidence that the programs help kids do better in school and eventually move on to get good jobs.

In Wisconsin, the outcome data is mixed. On the one hand, students using the centers showed only a small increase in math scores and no gains in reading, according to the most recent state-level data.

But a 2014 state evaluation showed CLC participation had other important benefits, such as positively impacting graduation rates, post-secondary enrollment, school attendance and student behavior.

Backers of the centers say their importance goes beyond academic impact — they give thousands of mostly disadvantaged children a safe place after school.

Stan Kocos, a technical consultant for the Wisconsin Afterschool Network, said the centers can offer additional instructional time and extra enrichment.

"They are hands on, but equally important, those after-school programs also can provide academic support that allow a child to stay up to speed in the classroom," he said.

Districts statewide reported how the elimination of CLC funds could affect their families:

• The Green Bay Area Public School District has nine CLCs serving 635 students. The programs have waiting lists. 
• In Stevens Point, two after-school centers are run by the Boys & Girls Club of Portage County, Executive Director Kevin Quevillon said. The nonprofit receives $100,000 in CLC funding, which supports staff, supplies and transportation home for about 350 participants. “The alternative is that a lot of kids would go home to an empty home with no supervision,” Quevillon said.
• The West Allis-West Milwaukee district runs three CLCs that serve about 500 students.
• In the Racine Unified School District, 1,000 students attend 10 CLCs. Kathy Dunkerson, Racine's director of extended learning, said annual evaluations show the programs are effective. "Kids are behaving better," she said. "They're doing better in school. The whole benefit of having a great place to go after school really has an impact on a child." 

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Almost 50 centers in Milwaukee

MPS has the highest concentration of students participating in CLCs statewide: 5,000 children in 47 after-school centers, typically run by community partners. The district received almost $2.7 million to support the programs this year.

Brian Litzsey, manager of operations for the district's department of recreation and community services, said many students attend CLCs throughout their entire educational careers.

"Some of our kids struggle during the day, but knowing they have a great place to go after school, it's a great motivator," Litzsey said. "It's somewhere they really want to be and where they know people care about them."

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee operates 35 centers in the city and suburbs. Rebecca Ehlers, senior director of communications and marketing, said the nonprofit worked with about 14,000 children last year.

"If there are cuts made, we will have to take a hard look at if we can sustain the same number of locations," she said. "There's potential that we would be serving fewer kids."

Laron Glover, 58, said he spent about two decades overseeing two different CLCs in Milwaukee. Those centers found additional funds to extend programming from 3 to 9 p.m. for about 150 needy kids every day, Glover said.

"They're a lot more than after-school programs," Glover said. "We took kids on trips to historically black colleges, and some of them eventually went there and graduated," he said.

Glover said former CLC participants often see him in the community and thank him for spending so much time after school with them, sharing meals and offering companionship.

"Some of those kids didn't go right," Glover said. "But a lot of them did."

Journal Sentinel reporter Erin Richards and Sari Lesk of the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin contributed to this report.