Local schools get summer program grants to help kids recover from any pandemic slide FacebookTwitterEmail Summer activities for students in Horizons at New Canaan Country School include learning to swim.Contributed photo / Horizons Educators have new public funding to help catch kids up on lost learning and now are recruiting families for summer in-person learning and enrichment. A pandemic-era competitive grant program introduced this spring allocates federal dollars to summer programs to help schools recover from the pandemic. The state Department of Education received more than 300 applications and announced 235 grantees set to receive a total of $8,652,870 expected to serve more than 96,000 students statewide.