Pictured: Paul Fairchild, chief development officer for Howard Brown Health Services
As indicators point to the beginning of the end of the economic recession, local agencies that offer social services to the LGBT community continue to struggle with funding.
Although the state of the national economy has dominated headlines over the past year, many in the Chicago nonprofit community say that constant struggle over funding and budgetary issues is nothing new. Most have experienced a slowdown in private fundraising and donations from foundations since the beginning of the recession—but political intransigence on the part of the crisis-laden state government did not begin with the recession, and in some important ways occurs quite independently of it.
What's different from the seemingly routine state government crises of years past, said John Peller, Director of Government Relations for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ) , is the size of the deficit—$9 billion. "One-third of the state's budget has simply evaporated," he said. Peller and the AFC led a fight last month aimed at averting massive social service cuts threatened by Governor Pat Quinn.
Though the crisis some feared was averted with Quinn's signing of a new state budget, lawmakers continue to seek strategies that will enable the state to pay its bills—some of which are owed to Chicago's nonprofit agencies. According to Chicago Public Radio, Illinois ended the last fiscal year with a record number of unpaid bills to organizations it funds—including many small nonprofits and social service agencies. With a new budget that relies largely on borrowing, Quinn has said that the state is unlikely to catch up on that backlog.
Windy City Times caught up with representatives from a number of the city's LGBT- and/or HIV-oriented non-profits to see how they are faring under trying economic conditions.
Better Existence with HIV ( BEHIV )
"They've always been behind, but they've never been this far behind," said BEHIV's Executive Director Eric Nelson said about his organization's difficulties with state funding. BEHIV, which provides testing, education and access to medical services, is funded largely through government contracts—including, significantly, with the Illinois Department of Public Health ( IDPH ) . Nelson said that a contract that began on October 1, 2008, and for which BEHIV has been providing services on the assumption that the organization would be reimbursed, has yet to be paid.
As of the end of June, Nelson said, his organization was owed $66,500 from the state government. In terms of the overall state economy, he said, "It's not only looking ahead, it's looking back"—to unpaid bills.
Nelson said that BEHIV, which recently closed its Evanston office and consolidated all services into one Chicago location, has taken steps to shore up its finances including staff furlough days, unfilled staff positions, and a minimal amount of service cuts to programs like art and massage therapy.
"Unfortunately," said Nelson, "I don't see a quick resolution to the budget impasse. I think there is a huge amount of mistrust on all parties and lack of belief in the impact that the budget shortfall is having on agencies like BEHIV. As we begin our new fiscal year, we are still mandating furlough days for staff. I don't know when we will be able to stop that practice."
Howard Brown Health Services
Paul Fairchild, chief development officer for Howard Brown Health Services, said that his organization's budget is composed of about 55% grants from federal, state and local government agencies—and admitted that IDPH funding is "slow." ( He declined to comment on the current budget crisis. )
Nonetheless, Fairchild said, Howard Brown expected to end the fiscal year even. Crediting the "excellence in care" provided to the LGBT community as a chief reason for Howard Brown's financial stability, he said that donors with whom Howard Brown has an ongoing relationship have continued to provide a strong level of financial support.
He also credited a half-million dollars in cuts Howard Brown made last November as helpful: "By doing a course correction early," Fairchild said, "we were able to weather the storm a little better." He said that the cuts were all administrative—there were no funding cuts, in other words, to direct services themselves or to direct service staffing.
Howard Brown has, however, felt the impact of the economic slowdown—foundation endowments are down about thirty-five percent, for instance. And though Fairchild described Howard Brown's corporate support as "fairly loyal," he said that organization has had difficulty in identifying new sources of revenue.
The health center has also experienced an "across the board" increase in the demand for its services, including, said Fairchild, a sixty percent increase over the past year in patients who are uninsured. By refusing to cut services, he said, the condition of Howard Brown currently is akin to what it was "in the beginning": "We've had to take care of our own because nobody else would."
Task Force Prevention
and Community Services
Though Task Force, which does HIV testing and prevention services in Chicago's West and South Side communities, does not currently receive funding from the state—most of the organization's funding comes through city and federal grants—Executive Director Alicia Ozier said that the failure of the state government to fund social services is a "civil-rights issue."
Working within a coalition of primarily African-American organizations called the Minority Intervention Network for Chicago Communities of Color ( MINC-3 ) , Ozier and others have participated in budget-cut protests.
Indeed, Ozier said that the broader financial slowdown of the past year, coupled with troubles within Illinois' state government, make it imperative for organizations to think strategically in terms of alliances and co-programming. Though it might be painful, she said, "some of our organizations are going to have to merge together" in order to continue to provide service to the community: "We have to be very creative with how we sustain ourselves."
Task Force is faced with the threat of staffing and service cuts—within the next 30 days, said Ozier—unless more sources of revenue can be tapped. Already, she said, "we can no longer afford to send as many outreach team members into the community."
Although she described the economic climate as "scary," Ozier said that Task Force's work is "necessary." "You cannot walk into the Black culture without knowing the nuances of that community," she said.
Center on Halsted
Modesto "Tico" Valle, the Center on Halsted's executive director, said that when confronted with a worsening economic situation, an agreement was made among the staff and board: "We will not cut programming."
Instead, the Center trimmed $600,000 from its $5 million budget, reducing staff hours, training volunteers and cutting administrative costs. Valle said that the Center "refined" it programming to respond to what it identified as increasing demands: as more and more people became unemployed, for instance, the Center offered more in the way of job search training, interview skills, and resume writing.
The center, which recently celebrated two years in its new building, also has experienced an increase in the number of homeless clients that access its services. "When I pull into the garage here in the morning," Valle said, "there [ are ] 10 homeless kids waiting. We just work with them where they're at, to get them through the day and hopefully find them permanent housing, doing some case management [ and ] harm reduction. They spend practically the day here, and then they sleep on the streets, and we start the day over again."
He also noted an increase in the number of adult homeless clients. "We're seeing a lot of members of our community homeless now from this economy," Valle said.
In the private sector—and similar to Howard Brown—areas where the center has had the most difficulty maintaining past funding levels have been with corporate and foundation sources. Individual support has remained an important source of funding for the Center, however, and Valle said that since the beginning of the year the organization has signed up 60 major donors ( major donors are people who donate more than $600 ) . "That's pretty powerful," said Valle, "that people are saying yes, we need to support our center."
Though operating within the context of general economic threat, Valle is optimistic about the support that the Center has received from the community, and optimistic about its ability to successfully weather both the economic recession and the recurring threat of state government meltdown.
Overall, said Valle, "we've had some successes, we've tightened our belt, we're going to continue tightening it into next year. Do I see a rebound? Not right now.
"I have to wake up every day and hope that tomorrow's going to be a better day because so many people who come through our door come here for that purpose. They're in therapy, or they come for that meal, or they come to learn how to brush up their resume. And we have to remain positive for them. You've got to hope that tomorrow's going to be a better day."
