ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Last week, Governor Kathy Hochul awarded $100 million in grants aimed at boosting both free and affordable afterschool programs for across the state. $9 million dollars is headed to 27 locations in Western New York. Greece Arcadia Middle School Principal Brian Lumb is going into his ninth year at the school, and said he started noticing one thing. "What I noticed when I began a long time ago was that while we have sports programs for students that can entertain our kids, we are grades six through eight, so one through sixth grade doesn't have sports after school," Lumb told News 8. Lumb said due to that lack of options for those students, it started leading to some challenges. "Our students didn't have many positive activities to participate in outside of school in the evening time, and that led to some of the issues that were happening spilling into school," Lumb said. Determined to get students that care, Lumb had asked for Greece Arcadia to be a community school. After three applications, Greece Arcadia was approved for the grant New York State was offering. This allows for a new program to support both families and students. "Eventually we're going to have a program that's going to run until 6 p.m. for our kids, and it's going to be for sixth grade," Lumb said. "They're going to be able to choose up to five days a week to stay for support, for fun, games, SEL time, food, and just some good connection with some staff members." Now, technically the grant was awarded to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester. However through that partnership, staff will help Greece Arcadia with finding teaching assistants and support staff. The new program will also continue through the summer, which Lumb said will address the need for low-cost summer activities. Executive Director Dwayne Mahoney says hiring the right people is essential for students' success. "Making those things available so we're meeting those needs that kids may say they have, and we'll probably learn here in the next four or five months, other things that we're not doing that we should be doing based on what students are saying," Mahoney said. Lumb and Mahoney hope the program at Greece Arcadia will be up and running soon.