Selena Flores, 27, says she was always tired while working night shifts.
But she has young children — ages 3, 5 and 7, the youngest of whom recently started preschool — so switching to working daytime hours meant she and her husband needed a child care option for after school.
Recently, Flores got a job as an administrator at a restaurant in Naperville, she explained. And it was an after-school program at West Aurora School District run by the Fox Valley Park District that helped her manage the job switch.
“My life did a full 180,” Flores said about her change in work. She said she’s able to see her children after work, go to bed earlier, spend the mornings helping them get ready for school and then head off to her job.
Flores is one of a number of West Aurora parents whose children are enrolled in the Fox Valley Park District’s new EPIC after-school program, which operates at four West Aurora District 129 elementary schools — Smith, Schneider, Nicholson and Hall.
The program is similar to one offered for over a decade in the school district via a partnership with the park district called MyTime, said Rachel Shields. Shields is West Aurora’s 21st Century Project Director, meaning she works on grants for the district.
That program was free for parents, and ran from Monday through Thursday. It was funded by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, a federal funding source.
The Fox Valley Park District was receiving the federal funds on a three-year grant cycle, which expired in June.
But uncertainty surrounding federal funding availability prompted the park district to look for other funding sources to continue on with an after-school program at West Aurora, explained Fox Valley Park District Recreation Superintendent Becky Harling.
“The grant world … can be kind of fluid at times,” Harling said. “You’ll have funding one year and not the next, and trying to make sure that there’s stability within your program when you’re looking at grant funding can be a little tricky.”
According to a spokesperson from the Illinois State Board of Education, who emphasized that grant renewal is never guaranteed, this federal grant was meant to provide “start-up funds” for new after-school programs, rather than permanently fund ongoing ones. Applications for the fiscal year 2026 grant competition did ultimately open in October, according to the state board.
The U.S. Education Department did not return a request for comment about the grant.
So, not planning to rely on the federal funding source, the park district revised its after-school offering at West Aurora, naming it EPIC, which stands for Explore, Play, Imagine and Connect.
The park district instituted fees for the new program, including lower rates for families who qualify based on their income, according to a news release. The district also applied for a grant from Aurora-area nonprofit the Dunham Foundation, said Harling, to potentially help cover the program’s costs.
The EPIC program, which started at the beginning of the current school year, “looks very much the same” as the previous MyTime program, Shields explained. It includes nature and art activities, sports and fitness and field trips, as well as homework assistance.
It runs from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and is open to students in kindergarten through fifth grade. That the program also operates on Fridays now is a difference from the old program, explained Shields.
Harling explained that the previous program was referral-based, but EPIC is open to all students. It’s also open to kindergarteners now.
Some of the program’s staff — made up of mainly West Aurora employees — is the same as for the previous program, too.
“They know the students, they have relationships,” Shields said. “So that is something that we were all grateful for, that it wasn’t this big shift in all new people.”
Implementing the new program at West Aurora without the federal funding meant the park district began charging families for the program: a general fee of $240 per month, or reduced rates of either $120 or $60 per month for families who qualify, according to the park district.
But the park district ultimately received a $330,000 grant from the Dunham Foundation, meaning it is now offering full scholarships for children who qualified for either of the reduced rates — Flores’ kids included.
Flores said it was difficult to find affordable day care options.
“You get to a certain point where, does the benefit of me being able to work the 9-5 … still give you some financial freedom,” Flores said. “Is it a feasible change?”
But with the EPIC program, she qualified for the half-price rate — and now her kids are participating in the program for free because of the recent grant.
“I was over the moon,” Flores recalled when she heard that she wouldn’t have to pay for the program for the rest of the year. “I cried like a baby at work … it’s not a lot of money that we were paying, but, you know, that can easily go towards extra shopping for the kiddos, extra school supplies for the kiddos, extra groceries for the week.”
Dunham Foundation President and CEO Vicki Morcos said, in the park district’s news release, that the organization “saw an opportunity to make a real difference in how families access after-school programming” when the park district approached them about the program.
“By funding full scholarships for families who need them most,” Morcos said, “we’re not just supporting a program — we’re investing in educational equity and making sure every student has the chance to explore, play, imagine and connect alongside their peers.”
Families can continue to enroll as the school year goes on, the park district says. It has capacity for 250 students across the four West Aurora elementary schools the program is offered at. Currently, the Dunham Foundation grant is going toward 60 scholarship recipients, per the park district.
Though her youngest isn’t eligible for the EPIC program yet, Flores said it’s been “a weight off (their) shoulders” to have child care for her older two kids — and that they enjoy it.
“There are times when my husband picks them up, and they’re like, ‘We want to stay a little longer,’” she said. “You feel bad because you’re leaving them at school for an extra two to three hours, but at least you know that they’re enjoying it.”
Harling also spoke about the value the program has for parents.
“Parents really rely on after-school programs,” she said. “I think being able to provide an after-school program where we have … certified and quality instructors to provide it, I think is a real big highlight for these parents.”
The program has been particularly helpful for Flores’ family because most of her and her husband’s families live in Mexico, she explained.
“We don’t have that usual … somebody to depend on,” Flores said. “I don’t have my mom to watch my kids or to grab them from school.”
So she’s glad to have the option as a working parent.
“It’s an amazing thing that they’re doing, and they are very, very genuinely changing people’s lives,” Flores said. “And aiding parents in a time where a lot of parents are two-parent working households …you try to make it work the best that you can.”
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com
