Since this story is behind the Bulletin's pay wall, I thought I'd repost it on my blog. I'm a board member for the Family Access Network - a great non-profit organization that bridges the gaps for many families in Deschutes County. Recently FAN lost a large sum of money they receive from the government which breaks my heart. Anyway, read below and thanks for listening. ~ ShannonSlash in funds to hurt ability of Family Access Network to link thousands of area families with social services
By Patrick Cliff and Sheila G. Miller / The Bulletin
Tammy Hendricks, 37, moved to Sisters three years ago with her fiance and four children. Her life quickly spun into crisis when, after six months in the area, Hendricks’ fiance left. She owed $2,000 in rent and had no way to pay it with her minimum wage job.
Hendricks’ boss recommended Family Access Network, telling Hendricks that FAN could help get her back on her feet. Hendricks was apprehensive, remembering her experience with welfare.
“They made me feel like a lowlife, like I wasn’t worth their time,” she said.
The Sisters FAN office, however, made her feel comfortable. The nonprofit helped Hendricks find school supplies for her children, pay for child care and find rental assistance.
But with cuts to Medicaid funding beginning in June, FAN could be short more than half of its annual budget next year. Now, the agency is scrambling to find ways to fill the gaps.
In a worst-case scenario, with a $650,000 hole in its budget, six of FAN’s nearly 15 positions could be cut.
For more info
If you have questions or if you want to learn more about the Family Access Network, go to www.familyaccessnetwork.org.
FAN is a clearinghouse for families in Deschutes County. FAN identifies kids who may be short a winter coat or proper shoes, then guides their families to nonprofit and government help like rental assistance, winter clothing and housing.
Currently, FAN receives about 60 percent of its funding from Medicaid and receives other money from Deschutes County and the FAN Foundation.
It used to receive upward of 90 percent of its funding from Medicaid, but has been trying to diversify its funding sources.
Until now, school districts and education nonprofits were eligible to receive Medicaid funding for administrative costs and home-to-school transportation for all students who are eligible for school-based Medicaid services.
FAN operates in Sisters, Redmond, Bend and La Pine, and every school has an advocate attached to it.
Most schools have a half-time advocate who splits time between two schools, but some of the smallest schools have an advocate on call.
During the 2006-07 school year, FAN assisted 6,822 people. The group uses its connections in schools to figure out which families are in need, and then provides help to children and family members.
“It will mean just the dramatic reduction in the number of families we can touch,” said Julie Lyche, the FAN director. “And it will then affect the efficiency in which the other social service partners can do their work.”
Right now, social service agencies receive referrals from FAN advocates. With FAN advocates receiving less time, Lyche said, those agencies simply wouldn’t know about people who need help.
When a child needs clothes from the Assistance League of Bend, for example, a FAN advocate often recommends which students are in the most need, then picks up the clothes, takes them to the child and returns clothes that don’t fit.
If an advocate must split time between five schools, the personal relationships they have with families would suffer because they would have less time with each family. In turn, Lyche believes, fewer families would receive fewer services.
‘In a worst-case scenario’
“A lot of those people need help once and then they move on,” Lyche said. “They’re waiting for a paycheck or they need a little help this month. So what I see happening next year in a worst-case scenario is fewer FAN advocates that in turn are going to be spread out in the county.”
Robyn Rollins, 40, moved with her family to Sisters in 2000. At the time, she and her husband had one child, but two more children soon followed.
Her husband made good money repairing heating systems, but their home was a single-income house, Rollins said.
The other choice — her taking a job — might have cost more than it was worth because the couple would have spent so much on child care for their three young children, Rollins said.
Rollins’ family had used FAN for clothing for their children, various food programs — particularly around holidays — but they were managing. Then this past summer crisis hit. Her husband lost his job, soon after his father died. Without a job, he went back to New Hampshire to attend to his father’s funeral.
“There was no way we were going to make it,” Rollins said. “I didn’t want it to get worse.”
The local FAN representative helped Rollins find utility and food assistance. “I was in a state of panic with three kids.”
She worries about other families who are struggling, especially if FAN loses funding.
Even if staffing is cut, Lyche said FAN will do whatever it can to ensure families continue to have as much access as possible to social services around the area. The Family Access Network Foundation will try to raise as much money as possible to help make up the loss, Lyche said.
The Deschutes County Commission on Children and Families has agreed to provide FAN with about $60,000. To try to come up with additional funding and determine how much work FAN will be able to do next year, Lyche will meet with area superintendents this month.
“We’re hoping by spring to have a good sense of if we have other funds out there,” Lyche said.
And FAN isn’t the only organization that faces cuts to its budget. Crook County School District receives Medicaid funding to pay for one of its two school nurse positions, according to Jan Brieske, the district’s business manager.
The district also receives about $50,000 in reimbursements each year for Medicaid-eligible expenses, including speech and language pathologists and nursing services to insert catheters and breathing tubes.
Brieske said the school district will find a way to pay for both nurses through the next school year out of the district’s general fund. After the next school year, funding remains uncertain.
The Jefferson County School District does not receive Medicaid money.
Hillary Saraceno, director of the Deschutes County Commission on Children and Families, said the commission has about $60,000 it plans to give to FAN.
“It’s not a huge amount,” Saraceno said. “That’s probably a position and maybe a half or a little less.”
The commission decided to save the money after hearing the program might face serious cuts, and Saraceno said FAN is a vital part of the community.
‘Critical safety net’
“It’s a critical safety net program. $650,000 is a lot of money, but it’s not a lot in comparison (to what other programs cost),” Saraceno said. “The community has to rally together, and I know this is a difficult time to rally together because resources are getting tighter. But this is a safety net program that we would be remiss to lose. … If kids aren’t able to go to school with a full stomach or the right shoes, that interferes with their whole ability to be successful.”
Saraceno said the commission has worked with U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s office for a long time in an effort to get a federal appropriation for FAN. Walden, R-Hood River, submitted an unsuccessful earmark request for $400,000.
“They like giving money to roads,” Saraceno said. “They don’t like giving it to kids.”
Linda Goodwin, 62, has been raising her 10-year-old granddaughter for the last two years. Without FAN, she said, her granddaughter would not have school or winter clothes, and would not have any boots for the winter.
Goodwin would not have known about dental or health services in the county, had FAN not pointed her in the right direction.
‘They saved my life’
“They’ve been phenomenal for me,” she said. “They saved my life.”
For now, only one thing is for certain. Lyche said no matter what, FAN will continue to provide as many services as possible to the community.
“We will have FAN next year,” Lyche said. “It may look different and if it does we will look at a five-year plan to build us back up to where we are now.”
That comes as something of a relief to Rollins and Hendricks.
Without FAN, Hendricks said her family would look much different today.
“My kids would’ve been very cold, without nice winter jackets. They would’ve gone to school with no school supplies. We would not be where we are today,” she said.
She has a better-paying job now, and is off welfare. She is in line for a Habitat for Humanity house, and just bought a van with heating.
Rollins worries about families who are trying to do the right thing, she said. “The families seeking help are seeking help because they care. Otherwise they’d just let go,” she said.
FAN helps people negotiate their way out of trouble and into stability, Rollins said. “Without something like that, things could overcome you.”
