SOCORRO
Socorro youth programs receive $200,000 boost
Published
SOCORRO 鈥� A local consortium of community organizations has been awarded $200,000 through a New Mexico Public Education Department grant designed to expand after-school and out-of-school programming for youth.
Samantha Winter, coordinator and grant director for SCOPE Health Council (Socorro County Options, Prevention and Education) said the organization will serve as the lead entity for the grant, known as the Out-of-School Time Grant.
The grant is intended to support after-school and out-of-school activities while encouraging partnerships between schools and community-based organizations.
鈥淚t takes some of the burden off the schools,鈥� Winter said. 鈥淭hey get to rely on some of the outside groups that are already doing fun things with the youth and kind of bridging that gap and connecting those students to those outside resources.鈥�
SCOPE developed its grant proposal in collaboration with several organizations, including the Socorro Community Theater, New Mexico Tech Performing Arts Series, Kids Science Cafe in Magdalena, La Promesa Elementary and Gola鈥檚 Kitchen.
Under the grant, SCOPE will provide or coordinate several programs, including a Monday night podcast, Rainbow Cafe, twice a month, a Friday hiking class and the continuation of a Saturday family hiking series, and culinary classes through Gola鈥檚 Kitchen .
Participating organizations will receive awards through SCOPE to support their own programming.
The groups worked together to determine how the funding would be distributed rather than having SCOPE make those decisions independently, Winter said.
The grant has now received its official approval, and participating organizations are beginning the onboarding process.
Programming is expected to begin rolling out in late September, with October serving as the target for the full launch of the various programs.
Some activities are already underway. Winter said SCOPE鈥檚 hiking programming has begun, while programs that are already operated by SCOPE, such as the podcast, can be incorporated into the grant more easily.
