Millions of children and working families will soon feel the impact of a funding freeze

that will put a halt to key summer programs for kids and more.

Laura Barone Lopez has the details.

William, with very little explanation, the Education Department abruptly blocked the release of nearly $7 billion

set to be distributed on July 1st.

The money, which Congress already approved, helped support six grant programs, including

after-school and summer learning, English-language learning, and professional development for teachers.

For more on what this loss of funding means for students and working families, I'm joined by Jody Grant, Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance.

Jody, thank you so much for joining us today.

Thank you for having me.

The start of the school year is just around the corner a couple of months away, and public

schools rely on this funding to keep their after school programs going.

How critical is it for them?

I mean, this is just devastating. This is 1.4 million kids in 10,000 sites across the country.

And I want to be clear, this funding was due on July 1st. So we have summer programs that are also in

danger of shutting down right now.

So there are places where some of the summer camp, summer learning programs, we'll be able to continue.

And then, you know, we are just hearing from providers across the country that are extremely

alarmed that they may have to close their doors before school opens.

You mentioned summer programs may already feel the effects,

but what other programs specifically could be affected by this loss of funding

and which communities may feel it the most?

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