Social services face losing critical funding as cuts loom

Directors of Olympia social-service programs worry that the city's 2009 budget will force them to cut staffing, services or both at a time when the economic downturn already is taking a heavy toll.

City officials have proposed cutting more than $150,000 in funding for human services for Olympia and Thurston County residents in the 2009 preliminary operating budget. Among the agencies that would be affected are the Olympia Early Learning Center, the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County, Community Youth Services, the Youth Partnership Program and the Human Services Review Council. The budget for the latter, a social-service spending consortium of Thurston County governments, would be cut from $195,000 to $170,000, while the other social services would lose their city funding completely.

The City Council will decide which services to cut when it adopts the 2009 budget. It must do so by the end of the year.

In the meantime, the council has some difficult decisions to make. One discussion about the budget is set for tonight's council meeting. Also, the public will get to have its say at a hearing Tuesday.

Here's how the agencies are coping with the potential cuts:

Community Youth Services

The city has funded CYS for about 15 years at a cost of about $37,500 a year, Executive Director Charles Shelan said.

His agency helps keep children off the streets and out of trouble, Shelan said. Its Rosie's Place day center gives children a place in which to get support from social workers in finding schools and jobs.

"It's primarily young people with backgrounds of severe deprivation, abuse, neglect, mental health issues, homelessness," he said. They might not be out on the street at night, but "they're going from couch to couch."

If the agency loses funding from the city, its ability to apply for federal and state grants will be hurt, he said, causing a domino effect that could destroy its network of care.

"We're very concerned about that," Shelan said.

He said he understands that economic times are tough, but "they should also look at what impact are those outside organizations having on our city."

Shelan said he didn't know how the money could be replaced.

"If our capacity is diminished, then I think it will have an impact in terms of downtown Olympia as well," he said.

Olympia Early Learning Center

Steve Olson, executive director of the Olympia Early Learning Center, said $13,000 a year in direct city funding is at risk, as well as money from the city and county distributed through another agency.

That could leave the agency with $38,000 less in funding each year.

"I understand times are tough and tight, but I'm not sure this is the right place to cut," he said. "There must be other places to cut."

The center serves about 140 children a day at locations in downtown Olympia and the city's west-side, and the care for about two-thirds of those children is subsidized, Olson said. If the proposed budget cuts become reality, the organization might have to merge classrooms and be forced to subsidize fewer children, he said.

The center has operated for 41 years, and its downtown location, at State Avenue and Capitol Way, is in a city-owned building that it leases for $1 a year.

Youth Partnership Program

The city-run program gives $50,000 a year to nonprofit organizations "to increase parks, arts or recreation opportunities for youth who live in Olympia," according to the city's Web site. The site says organizations funded in 2008 include Garden Raised Bounty ($13,000), Together ($12,000) and Thurston Community Television ($10,325).

Louise Webb, listed as staff liaison for the program, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

Dispute Resolution Center

For all its 17 years, the Dispute Resolution of Thurston County has received funding from the city. Now it faces a funding cut of about $5,000 from the city and $9,400 from Thurston County.

"That would leave a $15,000 hole in our '09 budget," said Evan Ferber, the center's director. The center's 2008 budget is about $250,000.

The organization has six part-time, paid staff members who manage the center and train volunteers who staff phone lines and mediate disputes, Ferber said. Its work includes mediating disputes with divorcing parents who have children as well as neighborhood issues. The organization has more than 100 volunteers and serves Thurston County and the Shelton area, he said.

The center might have to increase service fees to make up the difference, but Ferber is leery.

"We can't raise the fees a lot," he said. "Just ethically, we want to make these services affordable and accessible."