ELLENVILLE – While news that the national recession will soon be turning around makes its way throughout the media, the effects of the financial crisis that hit New York last year is still sending ripples across the state. Case in point: Ellenville Central School District has lost the funding that paid for Advantage Afterschool, a program that had been providing free afterschool activities to any student in the district who needed it.

"Anybody was eligible; it was open to anyone — first come first serve," said Stephanie Beaver, a program coordinator with Family Services, the not-for-profit that partnered with ECSD to run Advantage. "A lot of people thought there were eligibility requirements, and there really weren't… This was a free program where their kids did homework, they got a snack — they really were engaged for three hours."

According to Beaver and School Superintendent Lisa Wiles, nearly all of the pool of Advantage grant money awarded by the state's Office of Children and Family Services went to bigger, city school districts, such as Poughkeepsie or New York City.

"We were told, initially, that we had a very excellent chance of getting the 21st Century grant and the Advantage Afterschool grant, because of the demographics and the need here," said Wiles of the two extra-curricular grants for which the district applied. "We were told that we stood a really solid chance of getting one, if not both.

"I was shocked we didn't get either one, to tell you the truth," added Wiles.

"Our program was great as far as meeting our targets, we did everything we should've done, but I think they perceived a need is greater in larger-populated areas," said Beaver.

"My budget was cut actually last year — we had much less to work with…there was just less money in the pot, and the need has become much greater."

The YMCA currently offers a fee-based program, ensuring that those parents who need childcare while they work aren't left out in the cold. But the loss of the free programming hurts a community that's already strapped for cash as it is.

Making matters worse, the loss of the Advantage Afterschool program takes money out of people's hands in other ways — according to Beaver, about 20 people lost part-time jobs as a result of the program's end.

Despite the setback, Beaver and Family Services, as well as the school itself, are on the hunt for other grant sources to try and bring free afterschool programming back to the school. And beyond that Beaver, who is the chair of the Ellenville Partnership Project (a collective comprised of about 20 not-for-profit organizations and other businesses), hopes to work with her organization to find funding for a community center to serve the area around the clock and year round.

"What we're really looking for is a community center so we can hold this program off of the school's campus, and be open longer than three hours a day," said Beaver. "We're trying to find, in one of these empty buildings in Ellenville, a place to start a real youth and family center….This was a free after-school program. We can bring something like this as well as a lot of other things that a community needs."