City’s nonprofit funding criticized

A second round of city funding for nonprofits caused friction Monday night as one of the service agencies that got overlooked criticized the process.

Spokane city leaders set aside about $900,000 last year for grants to nonprofit agencies based on recommendations from the city’s Human Services Advisory Board in a competitive application process. But when Project Access missed the deadline, the council opted to set aside another $100,000 for a separate contest specific to health-based programs.

City officials stressed that the new process would be competitive.

Twenty-two agencies requested funding in the new round; two were selected.

Spokane Prescription Assistance will get $13,000, and Moving Forward – a program created by Volunteers of America, Transitions, Christ Clinic, Catholic Charities and St. Joseph’s Family Care Center – will receive $87,000.

Project Access, a program of the Spokane County Medical Society Foundation, and the NATIVE Project, which provides health care, youth programs and substance abuse treatment, weren’t funded.

NATIVE Project officials appealed to the council to delay a decision to allow time to investigate the rankings of the Human Services Board.

Lauren Benson, of the NATIVE Project, said the funded programs appear to duplicate the NATIVE Project’s work.

“It sounds like you had some incredibly worthy candidates this year for some incredibly worthy prescription programs,” Benson said. “But, to me, they sound a lot like what we do already.”

Toni Lodge, executive director of the NATIVE Project, noted that Native Americans’ life expectancy in Spokane County is significantly shorter than others.

The nonprofit is located in the West Central neighborhood, but serves people throughout the city.

“Where other safety nets may have been created, ours has been rattled in West Central,” she said.

But council members said the board’s process was fair and most said it would be unfair to change the rules so late in the process.

They also said that it was a council directive to consider giving fewer organizations more funding in hopes of having a bigger impact.

The city also has encouraged agencies to form partnerships similar to Moving Forward.

City Council President Ben Stuckart and Councilman Jon Snyder proposed siphoning $2,000 from the funded agencies to the NATIVE Project. Doing that, however, would have meant skipping over about 10 agencies that ranked higher in the Human Services Board evaluations, including Project Access.

The council rejected that idea and only Snyder voted against the allocation as recommended by the board.

Marilee Roloff, of Volunteers of America, said Moving Forward will work to reduce barriers to folks who need medical care, in part, to reduce their dependency on emergency rooms.

“It’s so sad,” she said after Lodge declined to talk to her after the council hearing. “There’s just not enough to go around.”