CHICAGO — The 3 p.m. bell at Telpochcalli Elementary marked the start of students’ and teachers’ favorite hours. Students played instruments under the guidance of their musically talented educators and swirled paint on canvases, eventually graduating to create murals that adorned the school’s walls and ceilings.

For the first time in 20 years, the once lively halls are silent at the school in Little Village, with unfinished murals standing as poignant reminders of the after-school program’s closure.

Nearly three months into the school year, Illinois is now facing a statewide after-school funding crisis.

About 40% of the state’s after-school programs have been slashed this year, following delays in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, and the number is expected to rise to 87%, totaling about 290 sites, by the end of this year.

The problem is that the governor’s office is at a standstill with the money, and there has been no communication on when funds will be released.

The Illinois State Board of Education did not respond to a request to comment.

In 2023, the 21CCLC grants were serving 578 schools across the state with $76 million in funds. At the start of this school year, only 271 sites were still receiving funding (totaling $36.9 million in spending), representing a 53% cut in schools served and a 47% drop in funding.

Distributed and managed by the Illinois State Board of Education, the 21CCLC grant is federal funding that provides after-school programming and educational development for students, 80% of whom are people of color and all attend low-income and low-performing schools.

Tears swelled in bilingual teacher Marisol Ceron’s eyes as she recounted what Telpochcalli’s after-school program meant to her and her students.

“I’ve gotten approached by different students in different grade levels asking if there gonna be an after-school program: ‘Are you gonna do music again?’ ‘Is there gonna be art?’ And I’ve had to turn them away and tell them no,” Ceron said. “It’s been very sad and sad to hear the hallways for laughter and children till late in the evening (now) it’s just quiet. It’s different.”

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), an after-school program partnered with Chicago Public Schools and funded by the 21st Century grant, went from serving eight schools to three this school year. Most recently the program had to stop programming at Telpochcalli School, one of its oldest participating schools in Little Village, after it received notice in March from ISBE that 10 sites would have to close in September.

While they were able to gather up enough funds to keep programs running at two other schools, unfortunately, Telpochcalli was one of the programs forced to close down.

CAPE provided a variety of after-school activities for students. They attended workshops focused on music and art, with various musicians and artists visiting every week to open students’ eyes to various genres.

Several parents recounted how the program allowed their children to explore their creative endeavors in a way they were unable to during the school day. Parents felt comforted knowing their children were being cared for while putting time toward crafts they were interested in.

CAPE’s after-school program allowed Amelia Lorenz’s son to develop a love of art that he wouldn’t have otherwise, said the mother of two students at Telpochcalli.

“It’s funny that the students that need these sorts of programs the most … have less access to these kinds of programs that make them feel like valuable human beings that have something you contribute to society,” Lorenz said. “It’s these kids that lose those programs that programming first, and that’s just backward.”

It’s now an everyday struggle for Rocio Lugo to figure out who will be watching her once she finishes school. The teacher’s assistant at the Telpochcalli was once able to rely on the after-school program to care for her daughter while she finished her shift for the day prior to the program’s closure.

“My mom, who has a knee injury so she can’t help me as much, has now had to pitch in because it’s either I pay my rent or my daughter comes to school,” Lugo said. “It’s hard. I don’t think whoever is deciding the funding for us gets that. It affects people’s livelihoods.”

Lugo said the loss of the after-school program has resulted in a lot of students being left unattended once the school day has ended. She’s taken it upon herself to walk her daughter, as well as other students, to the Boy and Girls Club about 10 minutes away from the school once students are released.

At the Boys and Girls Club, parents are at least given the peace of mind that their children are being watched over. The difference between the two after-school programs however is “tremendous.” The Boys and Girls isn’t as arts-focused as the program Telpochcalli once had, Lugo said.

“Not that I’m dissing them by any means, but I’ll see a lot of coloring pages and basic worksheets,” Lugo said. “At Telpochcalli, they work with different mediums and work on elaborate art projects. They are there with actual teaching artists, not high school teens. The difference is tremendous.”

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Chicago (BPNCC), an after-school program that serves eight schools and about 1,900 students throughout the Southwest Side, has been among an estimated 120 sites in Chicago that have remained open amid closures throughout the state as a result of delayed fund disbursement due to planning.

BPNCC was able to attract funding and grants outside of the 21st Century fund for the next year, though once these grants end at the end of the school year the program may be in a situation similar to those across the state.

Discussing how important these after-school programs are to marginalized communities throughout the city, Patrick Brosnan, the executive director of BPNCC, said the loss of these programs can be incredibly detrimental.

Studies have shown that one of the most critical violence prevention tools is keeping students occupied from 3 to 6 p.m. When students are not actively engaged during that time, there’s an uptick in violence, he said, putting some of the city’s most vulnerable communities at risk of youth crime and violence.

“You can’t wait for a crisis or for a shooting to take place or for a kid to be injured, and then (ask) why, what happened, what’s going on in those communities? Why are there no after-school programs?” Brosnan said. “That is going to be the headline, so we can’t wait for that. We have to act now.”

With 13,500 students from low-income and majority-Black and brown communities already without “crucial programming” statewide, the number is expected to rise to 27,500 by Christmas. Susan Stanton, executive director of ACT Now Illinois, an after-school program advocacy group, said there will be a devastating impact on communities due to program closures.

Brosnan said he and other after-school advocates have been pushing the governor’s office for answers regarding the status of the 21st Century grant. Most recently, ACT Now Illinois hosted a rally to pressure legislators to release funds, especially when they should be applying for funds for the next school year.

Instead of celebrating the release of the $50 million they’ve been eagerly anticipating on Oct. 24 during Lights On Afterschool, after-school advocates rallied outside the Illinois State Board of Education to highlight the funding delays threatening their programs.

Fearing youths will likely become victims of gang and gun violence and struggle in school, Stanton said it will be similar to what was witnessed during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and after-school programs had temporarily closed their doors. She said her claims aren’t hyperbole.

“These are things we’ve seen here before in Illinois and we have the power and the resources right now to fix this, and so we’re just hoping that our policymakers in Illinois will hear this call and take swift action to fix this because we know that they can,” Stanton said.

Shootings increased by nearly 30% in Chicago from 2019 to 2022. Over 90% of youth shooting victims were not enrolled in school. After beginning programming with communities in the city, the University of Chicago’s Education Lab witnessed a 48% drop in violent crime arrests.

Advocates, parents and students are all urging the governor’s office and ISBE to release funds immediately to keep after-school programs up and running.

Until then, the unfinished murals will continue to serve as reminders of what was lost, and what they’re fighting to get back.

“We miss it,” Ceron said. “Art should be a part of (their) lives.”

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