Closure of County Aid Program Hits Local Nonprofits

The elimination of a countywide agency serving low-income residents could mean tens of thousands of dollars in lost funding for local nonprofit organizations. Some have already cancelled programs. 

Elected officials from across Alameda County Wednesday night to shutter the Alameda County Associated Community Action Program, which provided services to low-income residents. ACAP, as the program is known, was deep in the red, with hundreds of thousands in unpaid bills.

Local organizations that counted on funding from ACAP include the San Leandro-based organizations ,  and , and the Hayward-based , all of which also serve the unincorporated community.

Davis Street has already cancelled its Employment and Housing Assistance program, which was funded by ACAP. The program provided case management, counseling, job training, medical care and child care for 60 families, according to Rose Padilla Johnson, executive director of Davis Street. 

"They’re not going to get those services to keep them afloat and keep them healthy,” Johnson said on Thursday.

The program counselor position was also terminated. However, Davis Street found a way to rehire the employee who held the position, Teresa McGill, elsewhere in the organization.    

Besides losing the program, aimed at helping families stabilize their housing and finances, Davis Street could get stuck footing the bill for the past five months of its operations, Johnson said.

Davis Street had a $45,000, year-long contract with ACAP,  of which the county agency has only paid a little more than half, according to Johnson. ACAP still owes Davis Street $18,750.

"And that’s a big chunk for us to absorb," Johnson said. The ACAP contract made up about 9 percent of Davis Street's budget for family support programs, according to Johnson.

Building Futures With Women and Children could also be left covering debts that ACAP monies were supposed to cover. The organization used funding from the county program to provide case management at its shelters for homeless and battered women. 

Its grant from ACAP ran out at the end of 2010, but the county agency still owes Building Futures $20,000, according to Liz Varela, executive director of Building Futures. 

Varela said she was hopeful the county would step in to pay ACAP's debts. "We need that money," Varela said. 

Building Futures has alternative funding to provide case management this year, but Varela said the organization had hoped to seek future grants from ACAP. 

Some fear the elimination of the county agency may be just the first brick to fall. The state and federal governments are considering slashing other vital funding sources, like community development block grants, for anti-poverty and anti-homelessness programs. 

"It makes me nervous," Varela said. Plus, she added, the funding uncertainty makes it impossible to plan. 

Survivor's Guilt

Johnson from Davis Street echoed Varela's hope that the county would cover ACAP's unpaid bills.

"We’re hoping the county, because they were the fiscal sponser, will find a way to make it whole and pay the subcontractors and others at least through the end of February," she said. 

Though she lamented the loss of services to needy families, Johnson said Davis Street didn't take as big a hit from ACAP's closure as some other county nonprofits. 

“I’m sort of having survivor's guilt, she said. "For some organizations, it’s really severe." 

Several other organizations, including the Family Emergency Shelter Coalition, had been expecting grants this year of up to $50,000 and more, according to a recent article in the Oakland Tribune. The Coalition provides shelter, food and transitional housing to homeless women and children in the area of Hayward, Castro Valley, San Lorenzo and San Leandro.

At the quarterly meeting of ACAP's governing board on Wednesday night, dozens of former employees and subcontractors came to plead for missing paychecks and overdue grant money. 

“It was just really awful," said Johnson, who was at the meeting.  

"I’ve been around the block a lot, and this process I heard [Wednesday] night, I’m going to chalk it up as one of those unbelievable moments,” she said.