MOULTRIE — As it closed shop Tuesday after 12 years, Communities in Schools of Colquitt County has handed over its mentoring program to the YMCA but the fate of after-school programs is in limbo.

The YMCA has applied for a grant to fund part of the after-school program to serve J.M. Odum and Nornan Park elementary schools. Communities in Schools ended its program on Friday and the last day for employees was Tuesday.

The organization had provided instructional services for 210 students in its after-school programs in Northwest Moultrie, Norman Park and Lifespring Community Church sites, and more than 200 in its summer program, said Director Denise Bell.

The Boys and Girls Club in Moultrie will take up some of the slack in after-school programs in Moultrie but without the grant the YMCA will not be able to serve the Berlin and Norman Park students.

The decision was made to fold Communities in Schools because the national organization was adopting a new model that the board here felt would not best serve the needs of children and families in Colquitt County, Bell said.

“We didn’t feel it was up for our needs for dropout prevention and mentoring,” she said. “We had to make up our minds whether we wanted to adopt the new model. That’s why we made the choice not to remain in the network at the end of the fiscal year.”

The organization also was coming to the end of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant and knew that dismantling as a non-profit would make raising money to keep operating difficult, Bell said.

“It’s just like a perfect storm of situations that came together and made it obvious what we needed to do was find a way of maintaining what we were doing,” she said.

That meant handing over mentoring to the YMCA.

“It’s an emotional decision, but it’s the right thing,” Bell said of ending Communities in Schools. “We know we want the mentoring program, which was our flagship, to continue. We know after-school programs will take some steps backward (but) we’re hoping it will continue. We really hope the after-school program will be something that will come back. It’s a matter of money for an after-school program. It’s expensive.”

The dissolving of Communities in Schools will mean the loss of 50 jobs in the county, most of which were part-time.

The organization had an annual budget of about $800,000, of which about $500,000 went to salaries, Bell said.

Parents of students who attended the after-school program also will be affected, Bell said. Students accepted into the program were placed there because of academic need. Most were referred by their schools, with a few admitted through parents’ requests.

“This program has provided a place for school-age kids where parents don’t have to be concerned if they’re alone after school or in not the best care situations,” Bell said. “That’s a big concern for parents, what’s my child going to do in the afternoons.”

YMCA Chief Financial Officer Lynn Hamm said that it applied for a 21st Century grant for an after-school program that would serve the students outside Moultrie who attended the former program. An answer on the $350,000 a year, three-year grant application is expected from the Georgia Department of Education in late July or early August.

“It will be a smaller version of what they were doing because it will be less money,” she said. “The grant was cut in half last year. In previous years it had been as high as $600,000.”

If successful, the YMCA would fill 24 part-time positions and one full-time director’s job for the after-school program, Hamm said. It would have a capacity of 120 children in grades kindergarten through five.