City nonprofits say shutdown will hurt the vulnerable
Originally reported with Jeff Roberts, Chris Steller, and Corey Butler Jr.
Originally published July 1, 2011
Already reeling from the Great Recession and a challenging fundraising climate, nonprofit leaders are bracing for the blow a shutdown will strike.
Many nonprofits receive local, state or federal government funding. In some cases, federal dollars are dispersed through state agencies and if there’s no one at the state level to receive receipts and allocate money, nonprofits are left without that funding.
The Wednesday ruling of Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin stated which service categories are considered “essential” and therefore funded during a shutdown.
But the ruling wasn’t specific enough for employees of WorkAbilities Inc. of Golden Valley to know how much funding they will receive. WorkAbilities provides day training services to adults with developmental disabilities.
“The next hurdle for us will be to learn how much our revenue will be reduced,” said Luana Ball, executive director. “We are fully anticipating about a 4.5 percent reduction, but it certainly could be more.”
That would mean layoffs, the loss of partnerships with businesses and changes in quality of life for the people WorkAbilities serves, she said.
“Long-standing community work sites and work contracts could be lost— possibly forever,” Ball said. “This would be such a huge regression in the progress that has been made to integrate individuals with disabilities into our communities or in providing them with meaningful work in our programs.”
Minnesota’s 3,750 nonprofits employ one of every nine workers in the state, according to theMinnesota Council of Nonprofits. Those workers earned $13.2 billion in 2009. Slightly more than half of those workers—about 153,000—are in the Twin Cities metro area.
About 30 percent of the clients of The Courage Center in Golden Valley depend on state-based programs to pay for their services, according to Mary Small, communications director. The nonprofit provides rehabilitation services.
While Small said health care is considered essential, she is concerned how future budget cuts could affect their services.
“A shutdown could be devastating for these vulnerable people and on their ability to get personal care-attendant services, transportation, rehabilitation and other services that maximize independence,” Small said.
The Greater Twin Cities United Way has nearly 200 agency partners and helps fund more than 400 programs.
“If (the shutdown) lasts more than three or four weeks, I think it’s at that point that you’re going to start seeing nonprofits getting into the next phase of their contingency planning,” said Frank Forsberg, senior vice president of community impact.
Forsberg said United Way officials have helped organizations create multiple contingency plans and put cash-flow resources in places to bridge any unforeseen or significant losses of funding, from the state or otherwise.
With the writing on the wall, he said planning became more intense a month ago when a shutdown seemed inevitable.
Ball said the continued funding at WorkAbilities would be determined on a case-by-case basis.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t think it’s going to be a very clear-cut or definitive answer, and it doesn’t look like it will be an ‘all-or-nothing’ proposition either,” Ball said. “Whether or not a (facility like ours) is going to be paid for service to a person is dependent upon that person’s individual funding source.”
Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) said Wednesday that Judge Gearin’s decision to fund Gov. Mark Dayton’s list of essential functions was the “lesser of two constitutional evils.”
“(Gearin) deferred to the governor’s definition of the core functions of his branch of government, and did not give the special master authority to stray beyond that limited definition,” Winkler said. “She respected the separation of powers as best she could.”