Colorado Springs nonprofits trying to keep their heads above water

Colorado Springs nonprofit organizations have been hit hard lately, and a survey by the El Pomar Foundation casts light on how their lack of funding may affect residents.

A combination of factors is battering the charitable institutions of El Paso County. As people demand more services, federal and state governments are budgeting less money. There is increased competition for the same amount of funds. And, perhaps most significantly, there exists a lack of awareness in the community about the value and role of nonprofit organizations.

Although a chronic lack of funds is nothing new to many nonprofit organizations, this year's budget crunch is affecting more people than ever before.

Peak Vista Community Health Centers is the main provider of Medicare, Medicaid and Children's Health Plan (CHP) coverage, as well as uninsured individuals, in El Paso and Teller counties. Founded in 1971 as the Free Clinic of Colorado Springs, Peak Vista has an enrollment of 39,000 people, 19,000 of which are children.

CHP usually provides additional coverage for individuals who fall above the highest Medicaid level, which is based on federal poverty guidelines.

For Peak Vista, funding has been impacted by two factors: federal subsidies for Medicare have been reduced and the state-funded CHP was stopped Nov. 1 and will not resume until July 1 because of a budget crisis. The lack of CHP coverage has created a backlog of individuals who don't have the means to get health care.

You see an increased need for health insurance for a sliding scale part of the population, which would otherwise be covered under CHP, said Bert Hayes-Davis, director of external relations. This has widened the gap between those who can and can't afford health care. These people are employed and hard-working, and that's why CHP covered them.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

Most agencies have been tremendously helpful in picking up the slack, like El Pomar Foundation, United Way and all the private foundations.

Peak Vista's administration office is at 340 Printers Parkway, with 10 clinics in the area, including Women's Health Clinic, 350 Printers Parkway; Family Health Clinic, 2840 International Circle; Dental Health Clinic, 2828 International Circle; Senior Health Clinic, 2858 International Circle; Immediate Care Clinic and Pediatric Health Clinic, both at 2502 E. Pikes Peak Ave.; Homeless Medical Clinic and Respite Care Clinic, both at 722 S. Wahsatch Ave.; Divide Health Clinic, 11115 W. Hwy. 24 No. 2C in Divide; and Southern Teller County Health Clinic, 166 E. Bennett Ave. in Cripple Creek. (For information, call 632-5700 or visit Peakvista.org.)

Another nonprofit that is feeling the budget crunch is the Boys & Girls Club of the Pikes Peak Region. The organization has a 116-year history in Colorado Springs of working with children ages 6 to 18, building self-esteem through programs and activities, and 10,000 children are members of the local club.

The organization has had a flood of new memberships in recent weeks. We've got a demand challenge, said James Sullivan, CEO of the organization. People are coming to the club in droves. One hundred ten new members joined last week.

The club doesn't depend on government funds, because it's not a day care facility. However, the budget has been tightened by forces beyond Sullivan's control. A sour economy has the effect of decreasing available public and private sector funds while increasing the number of people who demand the club's services.

The club's services include programs for health and fitness, education, the arts, computer literacy, social skills and leadership development for a cost a child of $5 a year. During the school year, the club operates between 3 and 8 p.m., and its services include picking the children up from school and taking them to one of five clubs.

They get their homework done, French and Spanish lessons, drama lessons, a good, hot meal, sports, Sullivan said. When parents come to pick up their children, that's real family time that they could have with their child.

During the summer, the club operates from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and offers an even broader range of activities. Thanks to a grant from the El Pomar Foundation, the Boys & Girls Club is able to send 50 children to Camp Shadybrook, a YMCA summer camp in the mountains that has a price tag of $400, but doesn't cost members a dime above their $5 per year dues. It's a phenomenal camp, Sullivan said. And now kids who never would have had that opportunity get to go.

To meet the growing demand for its services, Sullivan said the club has hired more fund-raising staff. You've heard the phrase 'lean and mean,' he said. And to be honest, we're not offering the services we could.

Sullivan has a theory about why the club has had to tighten its budget.

With the stock market turning down, the foundations and business have less money to offer. The money's just not there. And with the same 40 people, if not more, applying for a single grant, the competition for funds gets worse when the money starts going away. It has a domino effect.

Each day, between 100 and 150 children attend each of the clubs. Keeping those clubs filled with trained and professional staff members presents a challenge. The salary and benefits once split among four employees must now be split among eight. People still expect their pension and salaries, Sullivan said. But all are impacted by the economy.

Also struggling to make ends meet is Child Care Connections, a nonprofit resource and referral agency that helps families find child care. Founded in 1989, the organization serves 5,000 people in Cheyenne, Elbert, El Paso, Kiowa and Teller counties.

In addition to providing families with educational information about choosing child care, the organization offers counseling services, helps screen families for government programs such as food stamps, and links families to child care assistance subsidies and services.

Child Care Connections connects families with national services such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); Child Find, a not-for-profit organization that locates missing and abducted children; and Head Start, which helps children (from birth to age 5) from low-income families prepare for school.

Our organization has been hit as all other nonprofits with the recent budget situation, said CEO Debra Lawrence. Our fund-raising efforts have been impacted substantially and we have had to reduce the staff in order to make ends meet. Our grants have also been reduced over the last two years.

The organization organizes the Hands On Festival, an annual community event for children that was celebrated from April 6-12 this year.

Lawrence said retaining trained and professional staff members with less money to go around is one of her main concerns. We have been forced to reduce our staff on the community line from two full- time people to one full-time person.

Child Care Connections, 125 N. Parkside Drive, has a Department of Human Services branch at 17 N. Spruce, and a Workforce Development branch at 2306 E. Pikes Peak Blvd. (For information, call 638-2070 or visit Childcareconnections.net.)

According to the El Pomar survey on Colorado nonprofits, 76 percent have three months or less in cash reserves for their operating budgets, and more than half have a month or less.

Nearly half (49 percent) are experiencing an increased demand for services without the resources to support growth. Shrinking public funds to support their programs (44 percent) and competition for resources from other nonprofits (43 percent) are the two main problems among local organizations.

This, combined with an overwhelming desire to expand services in key areas (70 percent) provides a somewhat grim picture for the future of Colorado Springs charitable organizations.

We need to make up the funding gap by asking for additional resources from private and public sectors, Hayes-Davis said. We have to do a better job of explaining to the public so they're aware of the reasons we've seen these funding changes, and what their generous donations enable us to do.

Copyright 2004 Dolan Media Newswires
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