United Way makes huge cuts to agencies

This is a major hit to agencies that provide services to many homeless folks and in some places that includes sex offenders. It is the agency that makes the decision on whether or not to provide the service to sex offenders not United Way.

5-24-2009 National:

The United Way of Buffalo & Erie County, struggling with declining numbers of donors, has offset its losses this year with some huge cuts to area human service agencies.

And some of the area’s most recognizable nonprofit organizations — the Red Cross, Boy Scouts, Jewish Community Center, YMCA and YWCA among them — bore the brunt of the reductions, announced through recent mailings.

The YWCA of Western New York, for example, applied for six grants and received just one.

Its United Way allotment fell to $22,000 for a drop-in child care program, from $202,500 the agency received in 2008 for five programs.

“We serve homeless women and children, victims of domestic violence who are homeless teens and children,” said Deborah Lynn Williams, chief executive officer. “In these times when the economy is in decline and people in need are increasing, to cut funding for basic services is hard to understand. With hardly any notice before the substantial reductions in funding go into effect, it is a significant hardship.”

Lewis Stolzenberg, executive director of the Jewish Community Center, blasted the United Way’s cuts as outrageous.

The JCC will get nothing from the United Way in 2009, after being awarded $96,000 for three programs in 2008.

“Suddenly, we’re down to zero,” said Stolzenberg, adding that the cuts would force the center to cut back substantially on some services.

“We understand reductions and taking a bite,” he added, “but in some measured, reasonable fashion.”

Several agencies that received United Way funding for decades also were dramatically reduced or entirely cut, including the American Red Cross Greater Buffalo Chapter, Boys and Girls Club of Depew-Lancaster, Boy Scouts-Greater Niagara Frontier Council and YMCA Buffalo Niagara.

The Red Cross received United Way’s largest single grant, $497,000 for its emergency disaster program, in 2008.

But this year, Red Cross officials were told the program did not fit well enough within the United Way’s new funding priorities: education, income and wellness.

The program, along with a few others, will get some “bridge funding” to allow time for agencies to generate resources elsewhere.

The United Way, which experienced its seventh consecutive year of campaign declines, awarded about $4 million to 84 programs in 53 health and human services agencies. In 2008, 122 programs received $5.4 million in funding.

The cuts were not across the board. Some programs received increases, and the United Way also invited 11 new agencies into the fold.

The board wrestled with whether to do across-the-board cuts but decided against it in an effort to “maximize the returns” on the organization’s investments, said Roger Cominsky, chairman of the United Way’s allocations committee.

The grants were awarded based upon performance of programs and how well the programs aligned with the United Way’s three target areas. In some cases, a program’s service area also played a role.

“It was no secret the United Way’s donations were down. I certainly expected a reduction. I did not expect an 88 percent reduction,” said Williams.

The United Way closed its 2008 campaign in March of this year with $14.25 million. That total was broken down as follows: $4 million for direct program investments; $348,000 for bridge funding; $112,000 for projects that supports mergers and other alliances among agencies; $2.5 million in United Way programs and initiatives such as Closing the Gap, Success by Six and Creating Assets, Savings and Hope; and $3.8 million in contributions designated by donors to specific agencies in the 2008 campaign.

Another $800,000 could become available for more program investment in early 2010, depending on how well the 2009 campaign does early on. ..News Source.. by Jay Tokasz, NEWS STAFF REPORTER