SB CDBG Cuts Have Local Nonprofits Braced for the Worst

By

Dianne Anderson // —

Years of talk about the potential for dried up Community Development Block Grant funding couldn’t prepare some local nonprofits for the inevitable.

Local organizations that had been relying on CDBG for funding must now start looking elsewhere for sustenance.

Until now, CDBG has given about a half million each year to help local organizations provide services to the community.

Some nonprofits will suffer more than others, especially those who lack more than one funding stream.

Sarah Glenn-Leistikow, director of CEO, said that their organization is disappointed to hear of the recent change in priorities and the process, but they are part of a national organization and they will survive. The end of support is not going to stop their employment program or shut it down.

“Of course any decrease in funding that you hope or reasonably expect to get does effect your budget,” she said. “Also, what’s unfortunate is just the change in commitment from the city. We’re disappointed in that.”

Organizations say they were only notified last week, but they had been concerned why the call for applications, which typically starts in the fall, didn’t come through in November.

“We didn’t get any notification that that for sure was happening until this week,” she said.

Glenn-Leistikow said many service providers are smaller organizations, and receives a significant portion of their funding from CDBG.

“All of these organizations provide really vital services to low-income members of the community,” she said.

Last week, City Council voted not to allocate Public Service funding for the FY 2017-18 and sent out an email stating that the funding will be diverted for “up to five years” to support public facilities, infrastructure, streets, and parks.

Last fiscal year, local programs requested about $1.3 million, but had only received $465,000.

Originally, she said their organization was recommended for $50,000, but they had to deal with a deep cut, and was only awarded $10,000.

Collectively, the cuts hit local nonprofits hard with the last funding round that runs out in June.

On March 20, a unanimous vote of council members approved to pull CDBG funding, which will now go toward infrastructure projects. Councilwoman Virginia Marquez was absent from the meeting on a family emergency. Councilwoman Bessine Richard could not be reached for comment by press time.

“The community benefits greatly from the use of federal funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As the City emerges from bankruptcy, it is important to identify spending strategies that will result in positive change in our community and promote opportunities for growth,” the email stated.

Come July, some nonprofits will be struggling to keep the doors open.

Al Shifa Clinic Manager Muhammad Safwatullah said they only received about half of what they requested last year, and this fiscal year there is no new money coming in.

Their clinic serves about 250 patients each month, providing a wide range of free services, including cardiology, pulmonary, ultrasounds, dental in Muscoy, where the need for the low-income community is very high.

“The healthcare we provide is free for the patients, but it’s not free for us. We have to pay electricity, rent and employees,” he said.

For the past 18 years, their free clinic has been dependant on the funding. He said that he was sad to receive the email that the city will be diverting funds as it recovers from bankruptcy, and other projects have taken priority.

No one is ever turned away from primary or specialty care, and he expects that the cuts will be a setback as they do not have other sources of income. They

rely on grants and donations to keep it open.

“Whoever walks into our doors, we try our best to take care of them, and provide as many services under one roof as possible,” he said. “I think it is a big blow to us.”

Joseph Williams with Youth Action Project also said he would have liked proper notification ahead of time.

He said the city failed to communicate their decision in a way that could help the many impacted nonprofits brace for the decision.

Although the city had been talking about eliminating CDBG for local nonprofits for a while, he said there is a great need for the local services they provide in the community.

“Every year, they realized how important it is to the nonprofits in the community. That’s a lot of money for the nonprofits in one city to be losing,” he said.

Williams said that he expressed his concerns to the Council that they should have brought the group of CDBG recipients together to talk about it, rather than release the information on Facebook.

“We got a random email that this program was done,” he said.

He said his organization is also assessing the situation.

“Just because we’re a social services organization, we shouldn’t be treated in disrespectful ways. They have to communicate better,” he said.

Doug Rowand, president and chief executive officer of Arrowhead United Way, said that while some local nonprofits won’t be seriously hurt, collectively the funding had supported a lot of resources for the low-income community that will no longer be available.

“Can you imagine how much services can be provided by $465,000 in our local community because nonprofits operate very efficiently. They are really able to stretch a dollar,” he said.

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