| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2/23/2010 |
Contact: CHARLES THOMPSON 717-540-2050 cthompson@patriot-news.com |
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SOME HUMAN SERVICE AGENCIES ARE STILL REELING FROM PENNSYLVANIA BUDGET IMPASSE By CHARLES THOMPSON, The Patriot-News February 22, 2010 Last year, human service agencies throughout Pennsylvania went almost four months without state aid during the budget impasse. From July 1 through Oct. 9, state aid to day cares, drug and alcohol treatment services, emergency shelters, food banks and more was held up, while Gov. Ed Rendell and state lawmakers fought over taxes and spending. A statewide survey of nearly 350 agencies conducted by the United Way of Pennsylvania indicates that the impasse hurt social service agencies precisely at the time when more residents were turning to them for help. Some are still recovering. The report showed that 61 percent of the agencies surveyed cut services during the impasse. Some are still working to rebuild their financial reserves, or are looking at unexpected deficits arising from higher interest costs or unemployment compensation costs. The impasse, combined with funding cuts in the 2009-10 budget, has left the state’s safety net weaker, said Tony Ross, president of the statewide organization. “Most agencies were able to struggle back onto their feet” since the budget was adopted, Ross said. “But they’re wobbly, and another impasse (like last year’s) could take them out.” While a majority of agencies statewide reported curtailing services to clients during the impasse, less than a third of 17 responding agencies from Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry counties did the same. There was more reliance here on internal measures like spending down reserves, laying off staff or borrowing. Tim Whelan, a vice president of the United Way of the Capital Region, said that may be a reflection of the midstate’s more stable economy, which has allowed more nonprofits to build up reserves in the first place, and caused smaller drops in private fundraising than in other areas. That’s not to say that midstate organizations were immune to the impasse. A full 50 percent of local respondents said they are still struggling to rebuild their financial reserves. About one in five said steps they took to bridge the gap, like taking out new loans or spending against lines of credit, have them looking at unexpected deficits in their current budgets. At the Tri-County Opportunities Industrialization Center, based in Harrisburg, which provides basic-education, literacy and job-readiness classes for adults, some satellite class locations were not opened this year because of the block in state funding. As a result, the organization has had to build waiting lists for those seeking training that could help them land jobs. "We haven't reduced what we have on the menu" of services provided, said Jeff Woodyard, the OIC's executive director. "There just isn't as much food on the plate." Woodyard said OIC's classes usually serve more than 1,000 people a year, but that number might drop to about 600 this year. Tina Nixon, executive director of the YWCA of Greater Harrisburg, said her organization have laid off five staff members during the course of this year to help maintain services. Three of them have not been called back. The Gettysburg-based South Central Community Action Programs, which operates homeless shelters in Gettysburg and Chambersburg, job-training programs and other services, laid off 68 full-time or part-time staffers at the height of the crisis. Most have been hired back. But that means the agency will pay about $55,000 more in unemployment-compensation costs this year, executive director Megan Shreve said, "That's not just numbers on a paper," Shreve said last month. "Every one of those dollars translates to a person [who could be] served." The United Way survey said that as a result of those costs, funding cuts and depressed donations from the private sector, agencies are in a weaker position to handle a similar impasse this year. Most respondents predicted their services would start to close within two months of another halt in the flow of state aid. Ross said human-service providers understand that the state government faces constraints in a weak economy, and that many would be happy just to receive level funding from Harrisburg this year. But nonprofits couldn't handle another long stretch without state aid this summer, he said. Several leaders reached for this story noted the distractions and worry from last summer's impasse. "There's many different levels of hurt," said the YWCA's Nixon. "It's telling parents that you can't enroll any more children in day care ... or your staff walking on eggshells because you know what, we don't know if we're going to have jobs tomorrow." "It's like the snowstorms," Whelan said. "Last year was the first snowstorm, but now are we getting ready to get another one? And if we are, how am I going to find the energy to work through that?" |