An impending cut in federal funding is forcing Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore to seek new local sources of funding for current programs.
Communities in Schools, which helps at-risk youth and others at 15 sites in 12 counties, has been receiving the bulk of its funding — more than $215,000 annually — from the state Department of Human Services.
That funding, which comes from the federal government, will stop Oct. 1 due to the ongoing congressional budget sequester.
“They alerted us back at the end of May that, due to the sequester, funds were going to be cut or reduced,” said Hart Henson, executive director of Communities in Schools. “When I got the word, I was shocked. Everything was cut.”
Funding from state Department of Human Services is the largest piece of budget income, but the group also receives funding from other sources. Henson said opportunities are out there to further the group’s mission without cutting back its ongoing work.
CIS needs more “community buy-in” in the counties it serves, Henson said.
“I think for us to be more sustainable in the long run, we need to have smaller pots of money instead of one big one,” she said.
Henson said she’s “put lots of feelers out there,” but nothing concrete has materialized to help fill in the gap of the projected shortfall.
Still, she said she remains confident that the organization will weather this storm because she believes in what it does. In addition to teaching art, it teaches “life skills, social skills, entrepreneurial skills and healthy lifestyles,” she said.
“Our sites do not want to see us go, but we have a short window to raise funds in order to continue programming,” she said.
Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore, a nonprofit founded in 1991, employs professional artists to teach classes for at-risk youth and community members. Classes include painting, pottery, music, yoga, woodworking and gardening, among others.
Loretta Palmer, coordinator of the Adolescent Offender Program for Coahoma County, said the funding cut hurts. “We were heartbroken to get the news that the CIS art program may come to a close,” she said.
“We work with at-risk youth from the Youth Court System and have noticed through the art program our clients are calmer and are learning that the streets and violence are not the answer,” Palmer said.
“They can now see life on a different level. This program changes lives,” she said.
Cameron Abel, chairman of the Communities in Schools board, said the board, which received notification at a meeting Monday, is ready to meet the challenge of finding new sources of funding.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck situation,” he said. “The program is too important to allow it to wither away. We are prepared to tighten our belts, but we also must reach out for help from the 12 communities that we serve.”
The board is scheduled to meet Sept. 9 to outline plans for community outreach, Henson said.
“A lot of the communities where we operate, they may not know what we do,” she said.
Jessica Smith, a therapist for Community Counseling Services in Starkville, said she has seen firsthand how the art classes make a difference in students’ lives.
“This is a huge deal to students who have been silenced due to abandonment, abuse, depression and poverty,” Smith said. “This program is needed, utilized and appreciated.”
Henson said the group conducts two arts programs in Greenwood — one at Threadgill Elementary School and the other at the Senior Citizen Center — and an Adolescent Offender Program at Life Help currently with federal funding.
A third program, Art at the Market, is sponsored by Entergy.
Donations are fully tax deductible.
For more information on Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore, call Hart Henson at 392-2861.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
