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July 27, 2007

Changes in funding rules cost Crisis Center

By Raymond Billy

assistanteditor@jacksonvilleprogress.com

The Crisis Center of Anderson and Cherokee Counties lost out on state funding due to changes in the way grants are disseminated.

The Criminal Justice Division of the Governor’s Office used to have a grant-floor which prevented programs from receiving significantly less financial aid one year than they did the previous year. If an organization was granted $100,000 one year, it could expect close to that amount the next year, for example.

This grant-year, which began in July, CJD decided to eliminate the floor and base funding of grant categories on statistical information. East Texas organizations that applied for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grants, as the Crisis Center did, were competing for a much smaller pie this year because the region’s crime and population statistics are meager compared to larger cities.

Angela Norton of the East Texas Council of Governments said this year’s VOCA aid pales in comparison to last grant-year.

“Last year, ETCOG received $975,093; this year it was $698,280,” said Norton, Director of Criminal Justice and Public Safety at ETCOG.

Norton said that last year, all 15 East Texas crime victim organizations that made it onto ETCOG's priority list were granted state aid. This year, nine of 12 organizations were awarded funding. “One organization was only helped after revising its request downward by more than 10 percent,” Norton said.

Norton said the ETCOG committee formulates its priorities by, first, listening to presentations from area public service groups. After the presentations are made, the committee may collaborate on aspects of each proposal that stand out to them. Then, each ETCOG member privately assigns his or her own numeric score to every proposal. Once the scores are added, the priority list is created with organizations ranked from first to last based on their scores. The Crisis Center came in last out of 12 organizations.

Norton said that the No. 10, 11 and 12 ranked organizations on the priority list received no funding.

Last year, the Crisis Center received approximately $159,000 in state aid. Katherine Cesinger, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office, said that there are discretionary funds that may be utilized to aid the center; Roger Pharr, Director of Development at the center, said he was told by state officials that no such funds existed.

Pharr said the Crisis Center will try to make do with charitable donations and aid from private organizations as substitutes for state aid.

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