Budget Cuts Demand Our Best
With the new Federal and State budgets coming out, many organizations could suffer significant losses in their ability to serve the people they are responsible for serving. Unfortunately, in times like these, it is very easy for those of us who are facing some potential doom and gloom with lost service abilities to focus only on our own issues and forget that we have spent years forging strong partnerships and relationships with other organizations to better provide “services without borders”. We must share these potential losses, and we must remember that we are at our best when we work together to serve our communities.
An example of these shared losses would be the potential 50% reduction in the Federal Community Service Block Grants (CSBG) that our area Community Action Programs, (CAP) agencies, receive to provide the myriad of services that they provide so well. Many of these services are directly related to getting people back on their feet, out of poverty, and to once again become productive, tax-paying citizens of our communities. This kind of effort and service provision benefits all people of all ages and disabilities. All of us have a responsibility to find out how we can help those individuals and organizations around us that face these devastating potential losses. The time to “ask and act” is now!!
So please, take a minute, look around you, and check in with your fellow dedicated service provider and find out where you can jump in and help them out. By helping other organizations where we can, we are also helping strengthen the entire human service network. There has never been a more important time for all of us to join together and share our tremendous strengths in making our citizens, communities and our state stronger, safer and more successful.
Robert C. Schlueter
Executive Director
Area Agency On Aging Of Northwest Michigan
P.O. Box 5946
Traverse City, MI 49696
231-947-8920 or 800-442-1713
schlueterr@aaanm.org
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