How a $925,000 grant to Gardner is making high student athletics more accessible

Last week, the city of Gardner received $925,000 from the Mass. Community Development Block Grant program . A majority of the grant will be used for the demolition of the vacant School Street school building , and the remaining money will be split between multiple groups in the city.

The Gardner Middle and High School athletic departments will receive a portion of this grant, going toward the elimination of user fees for student-athletes.

Gardner has been able to eliminate fees for its athletes in recent years now thanks to the Mass. Community Development Block grant. With fees being upwards of $100 when Gardner first instated its free user fee, the city is proud and grateful to have the resource that allows its students the opportunity to play sports without the barrier of a user fee.

“We are very low to moderate income. Our rate of students who have some sort of financial aid is in the 60s in terms of percentage, which is amongst the highest in the state," Gardner High School athletic director Dan Forte said. "We also received funds from the Rockwell Foundation for a couple years so between those two resources we had been able to eliminate (user fees) entirely."

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Forte explained that the discontinuation of user fees was a huge step for Gardner and the surge of participation was definitely seen once the fee was waived.

"Our fall sports numbers went from low 200s to nearly 300 and then all the other ones followed suit. We saw dramatic increases," Forte said.

The athletic department has been applying for funds every year since through the Mass. Community Development Block Grant program and has been accepted to receive a portion of the funds consistently.

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“Seeing it every single day, the roadblock that even a small user fee compared to some of our neighbors just shows the difference in our community in some of our neighboring communities," Forte said. "For us it was the steering committee and the Community Development Department really understanding it was a significant need and prioritizing it for us."

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: How a $925,000 grant to Gardner is making high student athletics more accessible