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Albemarle Parks and Recreation recently received a grant award of $31,220 for supplies and equipment for the remote learning center at the E.E. Waddell Community Center.

Waddell Center first began offering academic assistance to students when school began in August. The remote learning center is offered for middle school students each day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during remote learning weeks and from 1:20 p.m. to 5 p.m. during in-person weeks. The community center has also been offering an after-school program for elementary students from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Kiser presented the news about the grant to the city council Monday. She said the funds will go towards purchasing necessary supplies like furniture and Chromebooks and feeding children.

The grant is part of the CARES Act funding that the state received and which has been awarded through the North Carolina Alliance of YMCAs. A total of 116 organizations across North Carolina, which operate 287 remote learning sites, received remote learning site grants through the federal funding.

The CARES Act allocated $19.85 million for community-based organizations across the state (YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, churches) to apply for grants for federal COVID-relief funding. Kiser said Parks and Recreation organizations in the state received $2.2 million.

Total cost for both the remote learning program for middle school students and the after-school program for elementary students is $10 per student or $15 per student per week. Transportation is available from certain schools.

For more information, contact Brent Kirven, community programs supervisor of AP&R, at bkirven@albemarlenc.gov.