Committee proposes disbursements for $774K to Washington County nonprofits
Washington County's $774,000 in community organization funding hasn't been approved yet for the coming fiscal year.
But the head of the Community Free Clinic said the proposed $130,000 for the clinic and the nonprofit's mental-health services would be welcome aid because donations are expected to be down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's going to make a huge impact, especially with everything going on right now with this COVID-19 (outbreak), and I know we have a lot of individual donations down," Executive Director Nicole Houser said.
A lot of businesses that normally sponsor fundraising efforts for the clinic might not be able to afford to help with the economy hurting so much, Houser said.
On March 23, Gov. Larry Hogan ordered nonessential businesses to close in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. From March 15 to 28, 3,795 more unemployment claims were filed for Washington County, according to the state labor department's Division of Unemployment Insurance.
Houser said she expects the clinic to start seeing an increase in new patients this month because of layoffs.
The chronic-disease program treats uninsured county residents for diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Clinic officials applied for $130,000 for the chronic-disease program, with the community organization funding committee recommending $120,000. That program received $135,000 in community organization funds this fiscal year.
The clinic's new mental-health office is proposed to get $10,000 of its requested $40,000. That program didn't get community organization funds this year; it wasn't open at the time requests were considered.
Demand for aid
A committee reviewed 42 requests from 37 organizations for funding for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The Board of County Commissioners votes on the proposed disbursements as part of its vote on the general-fund budget. A public hearing is expected in mid-May.
Commissioners President Jeff Cline said there hasn't been any discussion among the commissioners about reducing the $774,000 budgeted for community organization funds for next fiscal year.
Cline said he wouldn't want to cut that budget, especially at this time when so many nonprofits such as the free clinic are in need of money.
The Mill Street clinic already has seen an increase in walk-ins among those ages 13 to 24 for things such as sexually transmitted infections after the county health department closed its teen clinic due to the pandemic, Houser said.
The clinic has made some adjustments to protect its staff members, volunteers and clients during the pandemic.
Patients with appointments for medication checkups are being seen outside the building. As they drive up for their appointment, a nurse checks their vitals and hands them their medication, Houser said.
Clients are asked not to bring their children or guests, such as someone who drove them, into the clinic office to allow more space in the waiting room, Houser said. The clinic also has temporarily told volunteers who help at the front desk not to come in, she said.
Making decisions
A committee reviews the community organization funding applications and recommends disbursements based on a funding framework approved by the county commissioners.
The funding categories are arts and culture, domestic violence, families and children, recreation, seniors and other. The commissioners agreed last August to provide the committee more leeway in how much money could be shifted from one category to another. The committee could shift up to 20% of funding for a given category to another area, up from 10%, Grants Director Susan Buchanan said.
The committee recommended the most funds — $352,319 — for groups in the families and children category. That is $96,939 more than was designated for that category. In addition to having more leeway, some categories didn't have enough funding requests to use the allotted money.
Starting last year, the budget for community organization funds decreased because the commissioners agreed to transfer money designated for the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts and the Washington County Commission on Aging from that fund to become line items in the operating budget.
Families and children traditionally has the most applicants, Vice Chairman Alan Mullendore said.
"What we try to do is try to disburse as much money to as many organizations in the county as possible," he said.
Those recommendations were made in February, before the COVID-19 pandemic grew in awareness.
The pandemic wasn't part of the thought process at the time, officials said.
Asked if the recommendations might be different if they were being made more recently when there was greater awareness of the pandemic, Mullendore said, "That's really hard to say. That's almost an impossible question to answer."
The Community Organization Funding Committee's recommendations for the fiscal year starting July 1 by service-priority area include:
Arts and culture
• Maryland Symphony Orchestra, music education, $29,905
• Washington County Historical Society, operational funds, $23,000
• Washington County Arts Council, $10,000
Domestic violence
• CASA, domestic-violence program, $260,865
Families and children
• Community Free Clinic, chronic disease management program, $120,000
• Children in Need, client monthly visits, $30,000
• Brook Lane Health Services, school-based mental health, $25,000
• Discovery Station at Hagerstown, $24,500
• Walnut Street Community Health Center (Family Healthcare of Hagerstown), mobile dental program, $20,000
• Girls Inc., K.I.D.S. program, $16,000
• The Arc of Washington County, capital campaign management, $15,000
• Brooke's House, part-time job coach, $15,000
• Boys and Girls Club of Washington County, Smart Moves, $10,000
• Community Free Clinic, mental-health care, $10,000
• Court Appointed Special Advocates of Washington County, $10,000
• Fort Ritchie Community Center, Kids Club, $10,000
• Valor Ministries, THRIVE program, $10,000
• Washington County Community Action Council, family services (housing stabilization), $10,000
• Robert W. Johnson Community Center, community healing alliances, $8,819
• CASA, sexual-assault program, $5,000
• Reach of Washington County, crisis intervention program, $5,000
• Rise Up Hagerstown, second-chance education program, $5,000
• Hagerstown Neighborhood Development Partnership, Hagerstown Home Store, $3,000
Recreation
• Hagerstown Fairground Softball Association, promoting softball, $7,590
• United Way of Washington County, Youth United recreation initiative, $4,806
• C&O Canal Trust, for maintenance, preservation, beautification and trash pickup along the county portion of the canal towpath, $4,500
Seniors
• Senior Living Alternatives (Holly Place), nurse, $34,000
• Washington County Community Action Council, senior transportation services, $11,110
• Easter Seals, medical adult-day services in Hagerstown, $10,000
• Washington County Commission on Aging, Senior FIT, $10,000
• Habitat for Humanity of Washington County, home preservation/repair, $2,000
Other
• Humane Society of Washington County, feline spay/neuter initiatives, $9,800
• United Way of Washington County, Day of Caring nonprofit facilities repairs, $4,105
Organizations that applied but are not recommended to receive funding include the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center (part-time assistant/victim advocate), Head Start of Washington County (OAE machine), American Red Cross (home fire prevention and response campaign), Ladders to Leaders (case management), Housing Authority of Washington County (family self-sufficiency), United Way of Washington County (Day of Caring senior home repair), Maryland Food Bank (senior pantry program), YMCA of Hagerstown (Parkinson's exercise program) and Coffman Nursing Home (driver grant).