MACON, Ga. — The COVID-19 pandemic caused children all over the world to play catch up with their school work, which created learning gaps for many students.
Governor Brian Kemp took steps this week to close that gap, starting with Georgia's Boys & Girls Clubs.
Kemp announced the organization will receive $15 million over the next year.
Xavianna Syphrett has been enrolled into the Boys & Girls Club since she was 9-years-old.
She is now 18 and says the summer program played a big role in getting her where she is today.
"I got my first job, I have been granted a $2,000 scholarship through their Youth of the Year program, and it's also helped me come out of my shell -- from me being a shy child, to me being able to speak at my graduation," Syphrett said.
She says the program is already great, but the funding from Governor Brian Kemp will make it even better.
Through the governor's Emergency Education Relief funds, $15 million will be provided to Georgia's Boys and Girls Clubs, serving 9,000 children across more than 30 Boys & Girls Clubs statewide.
"Us actually having funding to actually encourage education here at our Boys & Girls Club will have a major impact especially on our community, given where we already stand with education. It will have an amazing impact on us," Syphrett said.
"About 77% of our kids are outside of the metro Atlanta area and have been the most affected, unfortunately, by learning loss, primarily because they're in rural communities," Kristine Steinmann said.
Kristine Steinmann, Georgia's Director of Alliance for the Boys & Girls Club, says a lot of children in the state's rural area depended on the club, for access to internet, and help with school work over the past year.
"This $15 million opportunity is going to allow us to invest in academic software, and to hire tutors at all of our clubs, where they can provide one on one tutoring for our youth," Steinmann said.
Kristine says they saw that their students needed the most help with math and reading, so those are the areas that they will focus on.