Trump budget plan could mean big cuts from groups that help the poor

The nonprofit Rebuilding Macon helps with about 250 home-improvement projects each year for the disadvantaged, primarily for the low-income elderly.

In its 26 years of existence, the agency has become one of the community’s most recognizable groups. But Rebuilding Macon — and seven other nonprofits — could be dealt a blow if federal funding is cut, causing them to reduce the services they provide.

The proposed budget from President Donald Trump’s administration would eliminate the Community Development Block Grant program, which provides money to agencies across the country. For Rebuilding Macon, the number of projects — from replacing floors and roofs to building wheelchair ramps — could drop to about 150 a year, or 100 fewer projects.

The summer program in which high school and college students paint houses could also feel the pinch, said Debra Rollins, the agency’s executive director.

“It’s going to cripple us,” she said. “We’ll lose about $170,000 a year, which is over 30 percent of our budget. The easiest fix is to fire myself. I’m trying to train my two people here ... and see if we can let them run the organization. We will have to significantly reduce the number of people we help and how we do it.”

The Community Development Block Grant was established by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1974. There was about $3 billion in federal CDBG funding in 2017. The Trump administration advocates having local and state governments cover more of the costs associated with such programs.

“It’s disturbing,” Macon-Bibb spokesman Chris Floore said of the proposed changes. “You’re taking a cleaver and slicing a whole section without thoughts for the consequences.”

In Macon-Bibb County, about $1.7 million was budgeted through the Community Development Block Grant program in fiscal 2017. Eight agencies such as Crisis Line & Safe House of Central Georgia, HomeFirst and The Mentors Project of Bibb County received $345,560. The loss of $336,502 for planning and administration could also affect 10 jobs within the Macon-Bibb County Economic and Community Development Department.

“If they zero out the CDBG (budget), then we don’t have funds to fund organizations,” Floore said. “It’s that scary. “That’s a lot of funding that goes to very worthwhile organizations in town. The great thing about the CDBG grant is the federal government gives guidelines on what it can be used for, but we as a local government get to pick the local causes to fund that we think best support the community.”

The remaining $1 million went to areas such as redevelopment assistance that included areas such as a rehabilitation loan program and economic development.

“Through our in-house programs, (the Economic and Community Development Department) also addresses infrastructure needs/concerns in low to moderate income neighborhoods, and provides roofing grants to low-income homeowners and marketing grants to small businesses,” Floore said in an email.

Another Macon-Bibb agency that would have some of its services cut with the loss of the grant is Loaves & Fishes Ministry. The nonprofit would have to cut back on getting people prescription medications, as well as state identification cards and driver's licenses.

Those services cost about $23,000 a year, and about half of that is paid for with CDBG grant funds, said Judy Sexton, director of the Loaves & Fishes Day Service Center.

The agency helps about 10 people a week with birth certificates and IDs that help people secure jobs and housing. Loaves & Fishes would need more financial support from the community if funding for those services ebbs.

“If our CDBG was lost, we would be hurt,” Sexton said. “It’s not us as an agency when I say ‘we.’ It’s our clients that would be hurting.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2017 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Trump budget plan could mean big cuts from groups that help the poor."