The Marshall County Family Resource Network, a local non-profit, will use the funding to develop after-school, weekend, and summer activities at Moundsville’s former Sanford Elementary School. The program will include educational and recreational activities.

“These activities will be a great boost for participating boys and girls, their families, and the entire community,” Mollohan said. “Study after study has shown that children and teens do better in school and have fewer behavioral or social problems when they participate in the sort of after-school programs the Sanford Center is putting together. I am pleased to support this project.”

Stacie Dei, Executive Director of the Marshall County Family Resource Network, said the program would include “academic assistance and enrichment, mentoring opportunities, character education, service-learning opportunities, drug and violence prevention efforts, leadership development, and education in entrepreneurship, technology, and the arts, as well as opportunities for recreation and socialization.”

After-school activities in Marshall County had been funded under the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, but those activities ended with the 2007-2008 school year. This new funding will help fill that void.

“This is terrific news and we very much appreciate Congressman Mollohan’s help in getting the project going,” said Dara Pond, President of the Sanford Center Board of Directors.

Programs that provide support for at-risk youth have been among Mollohan’s top priorities over the years. He has secured federal funding for a number of organizations that sponsor after-school programs for at-risk youth or provide safe residences to abused or neglected teens. He also inserted language in an appropriations bill that increased federal nutrition subsidies for West Virginia organizations that provide meals to at-risk youth.

Mollohan chairs the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee, which drafted its fiscal year 2011 spending bill last week. The $100,000 for the Marshall County program is included in the draft. The legislation must be approved by the House and Senate and signed into law before any funding can be delivered.

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