On Nov. 24, the Metropolitan King County Council will vote to adopt the county’s final budget for 2009, which calls for massive funding cuts at nonprofit human service agencies.

The Alliance of Eastside Agencies (AEA) held a media conference Nov. 12 to describe how the proposed cuts will affect vulnerable populations in Eastside cities.

Stealing from the poor

“The impact on the Eastside human services infrastructure will be devastating,” predicted David Downing, chair of the AEA and associate director of Youth Eastside Services (YES) in Bellevue.

“Every time a budget crisis hits, we are on the list to be cut,” he stated. “This is just simply wrong. …The myth is that government keeps these services in place —- but these services will not always be there. The county is wanting to cut funding completely over the next three years. We’re not going to find magical pots of money.”

Under the proposed budget cuts, Downing said that YES would lose 1,100 hours of service for children with mental illnesses, 1,500 service hours for youths battling drug addiction and would not be able to mentor 60 youth annually, who are at danger of dropping out of school.

“Kids won’t have any place to turn for help from domestic abuse,” he said.

Women, children first

“We were really outraged when we were told we would go out of the business of life-saving,” said Barbara Langdon, executive director of Eastside Domestic Violence Program (EDVP) that serves Kirkland. “Women are 70 times more likely to be killed after they leave than if they stay.”

And the Eastside is not immune to domestic violence, she added.

“Right now, I have 10 families in my shelter who are scared to leave because they’re being stalked. Domestic violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women and kids. …We turn away 130 crisis calls a month. We turn 13 away from our shelter for every one we can take.”

She continued, “We’re begging for $200,000 through the county budget. (The Council) is a smart, intelligent group that needs to come up with a permanent solution.”

Joan Campbell, vice president and chief operations officer at Redmond-based Friends of Youth concurred.

“When money is short, the county looks to human services. We need to not be considered ‘discretionary.’ … Our Healthy Start program, for ages 22 or under, serves pregnant or parenting young people. On the cut list is an emergency shelter for youth 11-17,” said Campbell.

As she pointed out, King County is in the midst of a “10-year plan to end homelessness” and yet $108,000 or 25 percent of Friends of Youth’s budget is set to be cut. Either a home for boys in Kenmore or a home for girls in Bellevue is in jeopardy of being shut down.

“You can’t just ‘cut back’ — we have to actually potentially close one of the two shelters,” said Campbell.

The ripple effect

Pam Mauk, executive director of the Family Resource Center in Redmond said that “HealthPoint, which provides health care for the homeless, is on the block. … And every day, we are seeing new faces in the lobby, the recently laid-off people who never dreamed they’d be homeless.”

Downing said the AEA is meeting with Sheriff Sue Rahr and partners in the courts and law enforcement “because public safety goes hand-in-hand with public health.”

The King County Council will vote to adopt the county’s final budget on Nov. 24. For information, visit www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.

Mary Decker can be reached at mdecker@redmond-reporter.com or 425-867-0353, ext. 5052.