SCHENECTADY Usual recipients will get grants City won’t limit groups to only two years of funding BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The city’s Community Development Block Grant will continue to go to the groups that get it every year. The Schenectady City Council flirted with the idea of spreading the wealth to newer agencies such as Habitat for Humanity, but when the time came to actually open up the grant, they decided to stick with the status quo. On Monday the council members threw out a rule that they had informally adopted two years ago in which they agreed that public service agencies could only get CDBG funding for two years in a row. “I think it’s a dumb idea,” Councilman Gary McCarthy said of the two-year rule. He told his colleagues that they should have the courage to reject long-time grantees in favor of newer, better programs whenever they appeared, rather than throwing every agency out. “If there is somebody out there that’s going to give us more bang for the buck, we have to make that decision,” he said. The trouble is that the council is wary of cutting off an agency in favor of a new program. Most regular grantees rely on CDBG funds for much of their operating expenses each year. Typically, they say their programs will be forced to close if the CDBG money is withheld. Agencies can also muster huge crowds to support them, forcing the council to listen to hours of complaints from angry volunteers. In recent years, the council has never stuck to its guns after proposing to cut off funding — members have always offered smaller grants after weeks of debate. The closest they came was in 2006, when they said they would stop funding Jobs Etc. They eventually gave the agency $40,000 — half of its prior grant — when it agreed that it would not seek funding the following year. Councilman Mark Blanchfi eld said an across-the-board cut-off would more easily open up money for new programs. “There were frequently requests for new programs with innovative ideas,” he said. “There were programs that were intriguing to people, but these five programs have been getting funding since time immemorial and we don’t have money [for more programs].” McCarthy said it still wouldn’t be fair to throw out all the long-time grantees. “Some programs are good programs,” he said. Councilwoman Denise Brucker agreed but said that if the council were not going to enforce the two-year rule, she wanted stricter standards to judge the applicants. Many of the long-time grantees do not regularly file the paperwork designed to determine their progress toward their goals. “That’s been ignored over the years and been let go,” Brucker said. “As opposed to looking at a two-year cap, we need to see all the quarterly reports.” Councilman Joseph Allen berated that idea, saying the council has no idea how difficult it is for agencies to reduce unmarried teen pregnancies, juvenile delinquency and other serious social problems. “Some of those folks are working with the most difficult clientele,” he said. “You need to rethink what you’re doing here, because as far as I’m concerned, you’re all out of step — except maybe Mr. McCarthy.” Allen, McCarthy, King and Councilman Thomas Della Sala voted to throw out the two-year limit. King did not ask for a show of hands voting in favor of the limit. HOPES DASHED The decision disappointed some agency leaders who had hoped that in 2009 they could finally share in the CDBG grants. Those who regularly get the grants said the decision came as no surprise to them. “Our funding was never in jeopardy,” said Ed August, executive director of Better Neighborhoods Inc. He added that the two-year cap would force the council to cut off worthwhile programs instead of funding the best agencies each year. Other agency leaders said the decision will keep the council from funding the best programs, arguing that the current grantees are not the cream of the crop. “I knew it. I knew it. It’s the good old boys network in there,” said Judy Atchinson, director of Quest. She single-handedly runs the city’s only program for gang members, drug dealers and other troubled teens. “It’s simply unfair,” she said. “Everyone should have a chance. People should not automatically get it every year. People should get it on merit.” She had hoped to apply for funds to fix her gym floor, where dozens of girls and boys have learned ballet, or for money to start a mural program to combat graffiti. Her young people paint murals inside Quest headquarters at the former Sacred Heart Church. Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Jeff Clark had also hoped for CDBG money but said the decision won’t hurt his agency, which builds houses for low-income residents. The city is now partnering with Habitat to rehab several houses, and Clark noted philosophically that the council would have hurt other agencies if it had decided to keep the two-year cap. “If I was one of the ..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01200
Compromise on distribution of Sch’dy block grant money
The Community Development Block Grant pie that Schenectady’s City Council gets to carve up every year shrank steadily under George Bush — no surprise there — so a couple of years ago, the council decreed that rather than give the same old public service agencies the same old grants every year, it was going to impose the equivalent of term limits: two years and you’re out. It wasn’t a bad idea because it would have given some new organizations a crack at the money, where traditionally they’ve had none, or close to it. But it was troubling as well, in that it could have zeroed out some worthy recipients. Ideally, the council would open the process up to all organizations every year, conduct a thorough, objective review, and give the money to the most-deserving applicants. That’s a lot of work, though, and the losers — whether they’re the same old public service agencies or new applicants — can be bitter, creating scenes at council meetings and political animosity. So it’s little wonder that the council has taken the easy way out — deciding to scrap the two-year limit but conveying its intentions to stick with longtime recipients, primarily the YMCA (helping its summer camp in Jerry Burrell Park), the YWCA (helping it run the city’s Front Street pool), the Boys & Girls Club (helping it run the city’s Quackenbush Pool), the Hamilton Hill Arts Center, Carver Community Center and Better Neighborhoods Inc. Once again, other agencies need not apply. That’s unfortunate — and not because any of the current recipients isn’t worth a share of the roughly $900,000 the council has earmarked for community service grants. It’s just that others might be equally worthy or more so. What comes to mind is a fledgling operation with a bona fide business plan that really needs start-up or survival money; many of the currently favored programs are well established, and it probably wouldn’t be as hard for them to find replacement money if .............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00702
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