Norwich — For Heather Brissette, mother of a third-grader at the Wequonnoc School in Taftville, the federally funded after-school program her daughter attends “means everything.”

Brissette said her daughter, Amaya Jinks, 8, attends both morning care and the after-school Bridges program. She gets homework help, participates in “fun activities,” including dance, clubs, poetry writing and reading, sewing, science experiments and last week, the students made ice cream.

“She has told me, ‘Mommy don’t come get me until 5:15, so I can attend my whole program,'” Brissette said.

But that “whole program” now is threatened under President Donald Trump's plan to eliminate the entire federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant that partially funds the Norwich program attended by more than 400 elementary school students districtwide. Nationwide, according to the Washington Post, the program serves about 1.6 million students.

Norwich currently has two 21st Century grants with a combined total funding of $300,000, said Kaitlyn O'Leary, director of strategic initiatives for Norwich Public Schools. One grant runs out after this year, and O'Leary hopes to apply for renewed funding. The second grant has funding for the next two school years, if the program remains intact.

The school district also has two state-funded after-school program grants totaling $299,531 that serve another 250 students.

O'Leary said the 21st Century grant has allowed the school district to create an extensive after-school program with many retired teachers and para-educators serving as instructors for activities ranging from fun-oriented geography, reading and math, to creative writing and science lessons. Participating students receive free meals provided through the school district's food services program, 30 minutes of homework, partly with peer tutoring, and a rotating selection of clubs and presentations by outside entities.

This year, Norwich outside partners include Norwich Arts Center, Mystic Aquarium, Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center and Writers Block Ink.

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, visited the 21st Century grant-funded after-school program at the Samuel Huntington School on April 7 during the congressional recess. On that afternoon, the day before students went on their own April vacation week, 45 of the usual 70 students attended the program.

The students were combining lessons in geography with art, reading and writing, with a focus on Asia. Students in kindergarten and first grade learned that C is for continent and China, while older students were coloring the waters of the Yangtze River — “I don't know how to say it,” one student admitted to the congressman — and writing fun facts to go with their drawings.

Principal Siobhan O'Connor told Courtney that school teachers often talk to the after-school program instructors about what specific students might need help with academically or with their homework, providing an important continuity in their education.

Courtney said he knows his colleagues in Congress made similar visits to the 21st Century programs in their districts to see for themselves how the program works. Courtney rejected statements by Trump administration officials that the deep cuts to domestic programs targeted programs called “ineffective,” including the after-school program and Meals on Wheels.

“It was a really impressive opportunity to see the value of the program,” Courtney said of his Huntington School visit. “It was 4:30 in the afternoon on Friday right before vacation, and they were working hard. They were not distracted or goofing off. They weren't just sitting there on their phones and goofing off.”

Courtney sits on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. He said typically, the committee invites the education secretary, currently Betsy DeVos, to a meeting in May to explain the budget proposals. Although Trump's proposal to eliminate the 21st Century grant was not part of a defined budget, Courtney said the committee will question her about the plan, along with other controversial education funding proposals.

Courtney said the 21st Century grants have benefited many schools in Republican congressional districts, and he is hopeful Congress will support the program.

The 21st Century grants haven't necessarily gone to public school districts. In Norwich, the former YMCA ran the program until the financially struggling facility closed suddenly in April 2009. The 21st Century grant was in mid-cycle at the time, and the public school system worked with the state Department of Education, which oversees the federal program in the state, to take over the program.

It's not free after-school child care, O'Leary stressed. The federal grants cut the cost from $1,500 per student per school year to $800 per student. Low-income families can apply for sliding-scale reductions from that total, as well, O'Leary said. The grant also funds program staffing, materials and fees to outside partners, she said.

Brissette said she pays the full $800 per year for the after-school program — a bargain, considering the educational value, socializing opportunities and homework help. Brissette pays another $1,000 for the morning care program, which is fully funded through fees paid by participants, O'Leary said.

Brissette speculated that if her daughter attended traditional, and likely much more expensive, child care, the two of them would be spending more of their evening time together on homework. She said Amaya often finishes her homework during the program and offers to help tutor kindergarten students. And Amaya has met more children and families in addition to her classmates and school friends.

“Whenever we go anywhere, we always have to stop, because we meet people,” Brissette said. “She knows everyone.”

It was the socialization benefits that attracted parent Heidi Kirchner, mother of 12-year-old Brock Sabourin, to the after-school program at the Teachers Memorial Sixth Grade Academy. The Aspire program, funded through the state grant rather than the federal 21st Century grant, has done that for her son and “a whole lot more,” Kirchner said.

Kirchner, who pays $60 per month — $600 for the school year — wanted her son to have more opportunities to participate in activities, make new friends and become more interactive. He discovered, “for the first time in his life,” a real passion for something, she said: basketball.

Brock stays until the end of the program each day and rides the bus home, another godsend, his mother said.

“It would be really sad to see a program like that get cut or reduced,” she said. “It's such a great opportunity for my son.”

c.bessette@theday.com