21st Century After School Grant
The Douglas County School System & Communities In Schools of Douglas County currently operates eight 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) Grant Programs that serve 24 schools. The Georgia Department of Education awarded these grants through a competitive grant process. The 21st CCLC Program was developed to provide federal funds to local schools and organizations to operate after-school programs for:
Providing opportunities for academic enrichment and tutorial services for students
Offering students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities to reinforce and complement the regular academic program
Offering families of 21st CCLC students opportunities for literacy and related educational development
Targeting students who require additional academic assistance
In July of 2020, DCSS was awarded a grant titled Lithia Cohort which serves Annette Winn, Beulah, and Lithia Springs Elementary Schools. The programs provided through this grant serve students in grades three through five.
The STAR grant serves 3rd - 5th graders at Arbor Station and Mirror Lake Elementary Schools, and 2nd - 5th graders at Dorsett Shoals Elementary. The Factory Transition grant serves 1st- 5th graders at Factory Shoals Elementary. The SUCCESS grant serves students in grades three through five at Bright Star, Chapel Hill Elementary, and North Douglas Elementary Schools. The SMART Grant is at Eastside serving 3rd - 5th grade & Burnett Elementary Schools targeting students in 1st-5th grade under the SMART grant. These grants were awarded in July of 2024 and are funded for five years.
The FOCUS grant serves students at Chapel Hill, Turner, and Chestnut Log. Factory Transition serves students at Factory Shoals Middle School. All six of these sites serve qualifying students in grades six through eight. These schools include a 6th-grade transition component for students during the school year and summer. Stewart Middle was newly awarded in July of 2024 under the SMART grant serving 6th - 8th graders.
The district was awarded two grants in July of 2022. One grant is called CHAMPS which serves students at Douglas County High School, Mason Creek Elementary, and Yeager Middle. The second is the SOAR grant which serves students at Mt. Carmel Elementary, Sweetwater Elementary, and Lithia Springs High School. Factory Manchester Transition was a new award in July of 2024 for New Manchester High School.
Each grant site provides students with a wide variety of after-school activities such as academic tutoring, homework assistance, academic enrichment sessions, and cultural/fine arts education, technological and character education. The program also provides students with opportunities to participate in summer camps, field trips, and presentations on topics such as life skills, academic motivation, college and career prospects, drug awareness, conflict resolution, and violence/gang prevention. All students receive a daily snack and are provided with transportation home each day. Strong emphasis is placed on intensive academic tutoring, remediation, acceleration, and enrichment activities. All activities correlate with the Georgia Standards of Excellence to ensure program activities correlate with the school day and meet the individual needs of each participant.
For more information about the 21st Century Community Learning Center Program grant applications, please contact Mitzi Teal, Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Douglas County and the 21st CCLC Project Director, at 770.651.2039 or email her at mitzi.teal@dcssga.org. Please contact individual schools regarding student eligibility requirements.
For questions or concerns about program spending or suspected misappropriation of these federal dollars, please contact the Douglas County School System finance office or call 770-651-2227.
The Georgia Department of Education (DOE) requires all grantees to post the current external evaluation reports on the website. Each participating school will have reports specific to its school. The following reports links were the end-of-year grant evaluation reports submitted to the DOE in June.