A shortfall in annual donations to United Way of Greater Williamsburg has led to a decrease in grants this year and one group was hit particularly hard.
Bacon Street, a non-profit that deals with youth substance abuse, didn’t receive a $73,000 grant it relies on from UWGW, reducing its approximately $350,000 annual budget by almost 21 percent– a decision Bacon Street’s executive director is now questioning. Bacon Street did receive its targeted donations – contributions given for a specific organization—from UWGW in the amount of $3,300, said UWGW CEO Sharon Gibson-Ellis.
UWGW typically raises $1.5 million annually to fund a variety of organizations; this year it raised just over $1.36 million. Last year, $130,000 in reserve funding was also pumped into grants, but UWGW staff knew that would be a one-time thing. Because additional funding was used last year, that led to a $240,000 decrease in UWGW grants this year.
The funding cut is forcing Bacon Street to eliminate two clinical staff positions effective Aug. 15 and freeze new patient acceptances. It will still accept referrals, but will be unable to see new patients until it receives additional funding. The 112 existing patients will be distributed across two remaining clinical staff positions. Because each staff member will be responsible for seeing roughly 56 children and their families, a weekly parent support group will be eliminated to save staff time.
This isn’t the first time Bacon Street has faced a funding cutoff. According to a WYDaily report in 2010, the Colonial Community Services Board pulled the plug on a $154,000 contract with Bacon Street, citing two main reasons: “integrated treatment” –providing substance abuse and mental health therapy as a package deal—and a funding shortfall. The CSB opted to use its own staff to provide the integrated therapy rather than referring patients to Bacon Street; that move was expected to eventually garner a savings for CSB.
In 2010, Bacon Street Executive Director Sandy Fagan said the CSB used incomplete data to come to its decision. In March 2010, a CSB committee audited 10 random Bacon Street patients to analyze Bacon Street’s treatment type and length. At the time, Fagan believed the sample was too small and not all treatment was reported to CSB.
Now, Fagan is crying foul on UWGW for what he says was a miscommunication at a meeting in March.
Groups seeking funding from UWGW apply for grants, which are then reviewed by a group of volunteers. The volunteers meet with applicants to review the applications and then make determinations on where funding should be distributed. Fagan says information verbally explained in the meeting with UWGW volunteers in March was misunderstood, leading the volunteers to think Bacon Street didn’t have a good system for tracking how its services work.
“You always make decisions based on the agencies’ ability to … track outcomes,” Gibson-Ellis explained in an interview.
Fagan explained Bacon Street’s system for tracking services in an interview with WYDaily. The organization uses a software system to track responses on a written questionnaire distributed to parents and their children at each session at Bacon Street, Fagan said. The questions deal with how the child views their current situation and what their outlook on life is, as well as similar information from the parent about what they see in their child’s behavior. The questionnaires are also used to track data after children are no longer receiving service from Bacon Street.
Fagan said UWGW’s misconception about Bacon Street’s ability to track effectiveness went against the written information submitted, and nobody questioned Bacon Street on this discrepancy. Ultimately, Bacon Street was informed there was an issue in the end of June.
“It just doesn’t strike us as a good way to handle things to keep all that in secrecy and keep it from people who could be affected by it … our situation now is clear evidence that’s not a good way to operate,” Fagan said.
On June 26, UWGW informed Bacon Street it wouldn’t be receiving funding from the organization this year. Bacon Street appealed the decision two days later. In the appeal, Fagan said the process for tracking how service effectiveness is measured was explained, and “the immediate impact of the decision on services for youth and families” was cited in the appeal, according to a release.
Bacon Street’s appeal fell short of convincing UWGW to provide the funding; on July 24, Bacon Street was informed the decision not to give funding was firm.
“The volunteers are very committed to the service of adolescent drug and alcohol [abuse] treatment … They may not have enough data to decide how needed it is, but if that data was provided, I’m sure that they would be very interested in entertaining another proposal,” Gibson-Ellis said in an interview.
Additionally, at the July 24 meeting, Fagan said he was informed Bacon Street had been on probation with UWGW for three years, since CSB decided to pull its contract with Bacon Street. Fagan said that was the first time he had been told the organization was on probation, but he did say the two organizations met quarterly so Bacon Street could share how it was coping with the contract loss and whether it was developing new revenue streams.
Fagan said feedback at the meetings was “glowing” and UWGW complimented Bacon Street on its ability to move forward.
Gibson-Ellis started working for UWGW after the probation was established, so she was unable to comment on communication at that time.
Bacon Street will still receive targeted donations given to UWGW, but will have to reapply for funding in the next cycle, which begins around January or February. Gibson-Ellis said the decision to cut funding this year will not be weighed in the decision whether to provide funding next year.
The United Way of the Virginia Peninsula and the Williamsburg Community Health Foundation currently provide funding to Bacon Street. Several events also raise donations to the organization, including a 5K in June and a dinner event in November. Fagan said Bacon Street is going through the process of deciding how to increase donations, and may consider adding an additional event this fall.
Bacon Street is asking for donations from the public, which may be sent to 247 McLaws Circle, Williamsburg, VA 23185, or by calling 757-253-0111.
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