The needs are great but the money is getting tougher to come by as federal, state and county dollars dry up for local service organizations.
The latest bad news for agencies such as the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program of Jefferson County and Olympic Community Actions Programs is that cash-strapped Jefferson County plans to wean them from its community services grants during the next three years.
Already faced with the prospect that federal and state grants will either be curtailed or dramatically reduced, domestic violence program Director Peggy Thompson said the county reduction will hurt.
She said the county community service grant accounts for 5 percent of the agency’s budget.
“Even though the county percentage isn’t huge, it’s very important to us,” Thompson said. “I take a double whammy when our local resources are reduced because we have to provide a match for state and federal grants.”
The Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Program will receive $15,473 from county coffers in 2002, but Deputy County Administrator David Goldsmith said Jefferson plans to eliminate community services grants by 2005.
He said the county plans to reduce the allocations by one-third in 2003 and 2004.
The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.
