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| 7/29/2009 8:59:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Short on cash, D.C. cuts funding for WDCJCC
Money crunch also threatened kosher meals program for elderly\f0\fs24 \
by Adam Kredo
Staff Writer
Starving artists take heed: District-wide budget cuts could make you even hungrier.
A $250,000 grant for the arts, promised earlier this year to the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, is set to be slashed by 60 percent, and further cuts appear likely.
"The arts are extra vulnerable when we lose funding because it's already so close to the bone," said Josh Ford, the WDCJCC's chief program officer. "Artists don't starve because it's fun; they starve because the resources are put elsewhere."
The grant, drawn on the Neighborhood Investment Fund, was intended to sponsor various arts initiatives, including theater presentations, film screenings and musical performances, as well as readings for public school students and educational materials. This was the second time in the past five years that the District had allotted money to such programs.
City revenue declined steeply in June, however, and Mayor Adrian Fenty has proposed a slew of budget cuts to contend with a $666 million shortfall. Among the casualties is the WDCJCC's arts allotment.
"At this point, it looks like they have cut 60 percent [of the arts grant] and may cut further," said Arna Meyer Mickelson, the WDCJCC's CEO. "There is very little encouraging that I'm hearing from the council."
Though the proposed decrease must first be approved by the council to take effect, WDCJCC leaders aren't optimistic that the reduction will be avoided.
"There still probably will be additional cuts," Mark Spira, the center's chief development officer, said, explaining that, conceivably, "there may be no grants [at all] this year, and we need to plan for that eventuality" by adjusting the WDCJCC's 2010 budget accordingly. The 2010 spending plan covers July 1 of this year through June 30, 2010.
The center had assembled its original budget with the full grant in mind, and now must consider potential reductions in order to compensate for the cash loss. "These are tough times, and this is a hit we can ill afford," Mickelson said.
Additional funding shortages have plagued the WDCJCC since the economy took a nosedive.
In March, Iona Senior Services, a D.C.-based elderly advocacy organization, pulled a $60,000 grant that funded a WDCJCC-backed kosher senior lunch program at the District's Adas Israel Congregation. The funding gaps were subsequently plugged by the congregation itself and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.
At the end of June, a six-figure grant from the nonprofit literary group Nextbook ran dry. The grant had funded various literary programs and lectures, but was not renewed for fiscal year 2010 because Nextbook no longer funds public programs. (The Washington DC JCC, however, will continue running certain programs with Nextbook in the fall because some of last year's funds are still available.)
The District's cash squeeze also may be impeding a community construction project partly sponsored by Yachad, the Jewish Housing and Community Development Corporation of Greater Washington, according to Audrey Lyon, the group's executive director.
The project - a joint effort between Yachad and the Emory Beacon of Light charity - is designed to revitalize a downtrodden line of storefronts on the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue in Northwest D.C. Construction began last month.
The D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development set aside about $600,000 for the initiative, but has been "very slow in paying the project advance and the invoices," according to Lyon. Requests for payment are submitted to the city "every few weeks" and underwrite construction workers' salaries and contractor fees.
So far, Lyon says, the city has only come through on "half" of its scheduled payments. (Lyon declined to reveal specific dollar amounts.)
Angelita Colon-Francia, a senior public information officer for the housing department, said that a 15 percent advancement has been provided to the project managers and that "there is no hold-up" on the city's end.
Typically, Colon-Francia said, once requests for payments are submitted by grant recipients, the city must review, process and approve the paperwork. This usually happens within 30 days or less, she said, adding that the payment cycle "is part of process that is moving and perhaps [the recipients] underestimated how long the process is."
Currently, the DHCD has not received "any more documentation" requesting further disbursements, Colon-Francia said.
Although the payment delay has not forced planners to scale back the project, both Lyon and the contractor, Total Management Inc., are beginning to worry.
"From what I'm reading in the paper, I don't know if it's a bureaucratic problem or a fiscal one," Lyon said, explaining that she has called the housing department several times to inquire about the project's funding.
"It's like molasses when it's frozen," said Steven Bernstein, president of Total Management. "They are extremely slow and there's no one to talk to because no one takes responsibility for making the payment."
The "slowdown" could affect construction, Lyon says.
"If the city is not paying its bills in a timely fashion," it can be difficult to attract architects and builders to the project, Lyon said, noting that Bernstein "is calling us quite often" to say that "he needs to pay his people."
"I've got to run a business in a tough economy," Bernstein said, explaining that "my people get paid regardless, which means I have to borrow money."
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