Posted on: Monday, July 12, 2004

Delayed grants threaten level of social services

By Lynda Arakawa and Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Gov. Linda Lingle's decision to withhold money promised to various nonprofit groups has some organizations worried they will have to reduce the services they provide to the community.

For ORI Anuenue Hale, even a delay in its $200,000 grant means uncertainty in the level of services it can offer the elderly, including health and wellness activities and transportation to medical appointments, said program director Yvonne de Luna.

"There's no security as far as the funding, and it's very difficult to plan anything when you don't know whether you're going to get any money or not," said de Luna, who added that many seniors have been asking about the availability of various activities held by the Wahiawa-based organization. "This area doesn't have much services for the seniors."

State budget cuts in recent years have forced ORI Anuenue Hale to reduce its services from about 3,800 seniors annually to about 500 a year, and prompted officials to seek the grant money, she said.

ORI Anuenue Hale is one of 21 groups lawmakers chose this year to receive grants-in-aid totaling $2.05 million from the state's general fund.

But Lingle and her budget director, Georgina Kawamura, have said they are withholding money for the groups pending the Council on Revenue's next report in September. The council's revenue forecasts are used by state budget officials to determine how much it can spend.

The administration expects total revenues for the year that ended June 30 will come in at least $30 million to $35 million more than had been forecast initially, but insists the state needs to cut back in anticipation of higher fixed costs in the ensuing few years.

"We're going to wait until the next Council on Revenues' meeting and get a better feel for the grants-in-aid and then make a determination regarding those," Kawamura said. She stressed that there would be no guarantee the nonprofits would receive their money.

Adult Friends for Youth, which works with youth gangs and other at-risk youth, needs its $95,000 in grant money immediately to help curtail gang activity, said chief executive officer Sid Rosen.

"Historically, what we've seen is that gangs begin to carve out territory when school begins," Rosen said. "If a decision isn't made until September, by the time we are able to get the money it could be late in the fall when things are stirred up already. We see this incipient gang activity now that we can do something about before problems increase significantly, so it's better to do that at the beginning than to try later on when things are on full flame."

The $95,000 grant would add one more person to his staff of four, as well as replace one staff member who is leaving, he said. Each staff member has an average caseload of about 40 to 50 clients, he said.

Gregory Dunn, executive director of the Hawai'i Nature Center, said the $75,000 it was appropriated is used to cover admission fees for low-income students.

Without the money, the center will need to rely more heavily on fund-raisers and donations from corporations and foundations to pay for the students to participate, he said. "In many cases, we're hearing from schools that they're just not going to be able to come," Dunn said. Asked if a reduction in programs would lead to layoffs, he said "it could very well lead to that."

The Bishop Museum receives $150,000 in non-restricted money that the organization believes is vital. "The reduction could force the museum to reduce its collections care services for its own priceless artifacts, and prevent the museum from providing similar services to other museums and institutions in Hawai'i," said Bill Brown, museum director, in a prepared statement.

Hawaii 3R's, the non-profit organization set up to collect money from different sources to help "repair, restore and remodel" public school facilities, had been slated to get $400,000, the largest slice.

"Obviously, (not having the money) would have an impact on our program but we feel confident that the governor will release it," said Ann-Maile Yamasaki, the organization's executive director. "The governor's always been very supportive of our program."

Keith Amemiya, executive director of the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association, was philosophical about the possibility that he could lose a $50,000 appropriation for his annual budget of about $1 million.

"Like everyone else, we obviously prefer that the earmarked funds would have been released to us by now," he said. But, he noted, the organization that was once an arm of the Department of Education now receives most of its support through state tournament ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and school membership dues.

"It's been several years since we've received any type of state funding so to be honest, although it would be nice to get the funding, we should be OK if we don't," he said. "It's probably not a good idea to become too reliant on non-guaranteed annual funding like a state grant."

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com. Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or reach either at 525-8070.