San Jose
– Leaders and advocates for about 40 nonprofit agencies
descended on the Santa Clara County Children, Seniors and Family
Committee meeting Wednesday morning to protest cuts to their
budgets to the tune of $1.3 million.
San Jose – Leaders and advocates for about 40 nonprofit agencies descended on the Santa Clara County Children, Seniors and Family Committee meeting Wednesday morning to protest cuts to their budgets to the tune of $1.3 million.
The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits – which represents 185 nonprofit groups in Santa Clara County – led the rally, which started outside the County Government Center in San Jose and ended with about 60 protesters standing in the aisles of the supervisors chamber. Many held signs while three fishing nets were raised representing the “safety nets” of services for low-income youth, families, adults, seniors and immigrants.
The nonprofits facing cutbacks in South County include the Mexican American Community Services Agency, based in San Jose with offices in Gilroy; Community Solutions, based in Morgan Hill and Gilroy; Rebekah Children’s Services, located in Gilroy; St. Joseph Family Center, located in Gilroy; Go Kids, Inc., based in Gilroy, and Chamberlain’s Mental Health Services, also based in Gilroy.
The agencies asked supervisors to preserve $1.3 million in social service programs that are on the chopping block as the county balances a $3.5 billion budget while facing a staggering $238 million deficit.
The $1.3 million request would allow myriad county-funded programs to survive past July 1, including $27,000 in services for victims of domestic violence, $353,000 for children’s services, $243,000 for senior and adult services and $62,000 for housing the homeless.
Additionally, the nonprofits are encouraging supervisors to continue funding “status offender services” that provide 24-hour responses for children in crisis who are truant from school, are neglected by their parents or guardians, or have run away from home. More than 800 children benefit from this network of services, many of whom live in South County.
“We’re looking at a $60,000 hit for that program, and that’s just our agency,” said Erin O’Brien, president and CEO of Community Solutions, which serves in Morgan Hill and Gilroy. “We have a very high percentage of clients who are kids in the juvenile justice system, and we do not get a proportionate share of these services in South County.”
After-school programs and summer camps for low-income children also are in jeopardy.
The Mexican American Community Services Agency stands to lose more than $100,000 for programs serving 600 children per year in Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
“We work with low-income families and a lot of the kids come from Spanish-speaking families,” said MarÃa Elena De La Garza, director of program development for MACSA. “Because some of the parents are working two jobs and some of them are working in agriculture … they’re not able to help their kids with homework. So, kids’ education is being impacted” if the programs are eliminated.
Supervisors Don Gage and Ken Yeager, who comprise the Children, Seniors and Families Committee, were sympathetic to the nonprofit leaders’ testimonials. The county has already cut $800 million from its budget during the past five years and eliminated $300 million in services to residents.
Most of the county’s revenues come from state and federal coffers, sources that have either declined or flattened out as programs continue to become more expensive to run. Last June, the supervisors asked voters to approve a sales tax to provide revenue to keep its safety net of programs intact, but voters rejected the measure. The supervisors are talking about making a similar bid to voters in 2008.
“We have a serious problem here, and I want all of you to understand that this board doesn’t take this lightly,” Gage told the protesters. “This board will go back and do everything we can to try to maintain the safety net of programs. That’s our job. But if we don’t have the money, we’re going to make some difficult choices. And I pray that we make the right ones.”
