With the budget impasse at the state level and the government shutdown at the federal level, non-profits who rely on grant funding to operate their programs are left wondering when and even if that funding will come through. The YWCA Northcentral PA is one of those agencies that is experiencing the anxiety of not knowing how much longer they can offer their programs which in many cases are lifesaving for those experiencing or fleeing from domestic abuse and violence.

“Our concern is that we already face a $274,000 gap within our budget. We are predominantly state and federally grant funded, and that is flat funding, so we’re already operating in a deficit, and now with this budget impasse, we are not going to be receiving money in as quickly as we have historically,” said Amber Morningstar, CEO.

“Our biggest concern is, how are we going to continue to meet the need for the individuals seeking our services in our community,” she added.

Funding for the programs come from both the state and federal governments, with the majority from federal grants.

“I would say, we get about $1.8 million a year in grants, and I would say of that, about $1.2 is federal. $600,000 would be state,” said Steve Parlante, CFO.

Parlante admitted, too, that without a state or federal budget, they don’t know what funding they will have and if it will be cut.

“The grants that we receive are Human Services grants. They are for survivors who are fleeing some sort of violence, whether that’s domestic violence, sexual violence, or another violent crime, or those that are experiencing homelessness or who are homeless as a result of fleeing that violence. So that’s the core of what we do,” Morningstar said.

“The only thing that we know is that we do have current contracts through our state coalition. And those contracts are in limbo because they’re not able to pay us if they’re not receiving money from the government,” Morningstar said.

Many organizations rely on a line of credit to sustain them through times like this. The YWCA’s line of credit is barely a month’s worth of operational expenses, Parlante noted.

The Y has an annual budget of $2.4 million, so monthly expenses come out to around $200,000, which includes Liberty House and Wise Options, and administrative costs.The Y also operates a boutique which is a source of income.

“Our budget gap, generally, between our funders and what we need to run the business is about $400,000. The Boutique makes up for $100,000 plus. The rest comes from either donations or the special events that we run all year,” Parlante explained.

“That is how we make up the difference between the funders and our operation expenses,” he added.

Right now, the YWCA is in the dark about how any of their programs will be funded if the situations at both the federal and state levels are not resolved.

“We provide services to over 1,700 individuals in our community per year. If the funding does not come through, we are not going to be able to meet that need, and there is no other service like ours in this county,” Morningstar said.

Those services include the Wise Options Program, which is a 24/7 operation serving survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and other violent crimes which also includes emergency shelter.

“At any given point, we could have 40 families that are residing in our emergency shelter,” Morningstar noted.

They also have a 24/7, crisis hotline that “rings day in and day out,” Morningstar said.

“In addition to that, we provide counseling and on-call support in our community. So we’re responding to the hospital for individuals that may be in crisis due to some form of violence. Those are three of the main services that are provided by Wise Options that we would not be able to continue to provide if we don’t receive funding,” Morningstar said.

“Another large part of Wise Options is our Rapid Rehousing Program, and we have roughly served 50 to 60 families in that program per year. So we are providing rental support for individuals in the community, and they’re relying on us for rent,” she said.

The Y is currently giving out around $25,000 a month in rental support, Parlante said

“If we are not receiving funding from our state coalition to be able to continue that service, there are going to be families in our community that have no rental support and landlords that are not receiving payment,” Morningstar said.

“These are families that have fled violent homes or have been evicted due to an abusive partner and have nowhere else to go,” she added.

An invoice for the costs of the rental program is submitted for reimbursement to state funders, Parlante said.

“That’s our issue. If we do that this month, and they say we don’t have any money, we can keep forwarding $25,000 a month in rent income without being reimbursed,” he said.

Morningstar emphasized that at this point they are still currently fully serving survivors.

“We have not cut any of our services. Our doors are open. Services are operational. The impasse has not cut reimbursements, but the uncertainty is significant,” she said.

There have, however, been holds placed on serving new clients in the Rapid Rehousing Program.

“Yes, there are families currently in limbo that need to be able to relocate and we’re not able to provide a service to them because we can’t take on more of that burden of cost with the uncertainty with the uncertainty with the government,” she said.

“We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that our community still has a safe place to turn to, however we’re very concerned,” she said.

Morningstar wants the community to realize that domestic violence is not a partisan issue.

“It knows no party line and it affects everyone in our community and it will affect everyone in our community tenfold if there are no services to support the issue,” she said.