Uncertainty with federal freeze creates high anxiety at Community Action

Photo by Tom Rivers: Renee Hungerford, executive director of Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, stands outside the Head Start school on East State Street in Albion. After two weeks of worry, Hungerford was relieved when the agency’s federal funds came through on Wednesday.

ALBION – Renee Hungerford felt a deep relief on Wednesday morning when she checked to see if federal funding came through for Community Action of Orleans and Genesee. The money, thankfully, was in the account.

Hungerford leads the agency that has 110 employees and serves 5,000 people in the two counties. She received notice last week that federal funds would be frozen to Community Action, only to see that directive rescinded.

But she still worried because some of her colleagues who run Head Start programs had closed programs when the money didn’t come through.

“What we don’t know is if it will happen again,” Hungerford said at her Albion office on East State Street. “I have not slept now for two weeks. It’s the fear of the unknown.”

Community Action of Orleans and Genesee receives its federal funds every two weeks and they are a reimbursement for services. The agency does not have a deep well of reserves to weather a financial impasse from the federal government.

“We have a contingency plan,” she said. “We have a little money to float. Other (Community Action organizations and head Start programs) are opening lines of credit.”

Hungerford said most of Community Action’s funds come from the federal government – about $5 million of the agency’s $8 million annual budget.

Community Action serves about 200 children in Head Start and Early Head Start programs in the two counties. It provides many other services – food, child care, housing and transportation – to lower-income people trying to become self sufficient.

Hungerford said many local residents are in very vulnerable situations, trying to maintain their households. It is a constant struggle.

“People experiencing poverty and kids should be last on the list” she said about a push to cut back federal spending and programs.

Leaders of the federal government are announcing changes that feel abrupt and are catching agencies off guard.

“I don’t think they’re doing an in-depth analysis,” Hungerford said. “They’re cutting and seeing what happens.”

Community Action began about 60 years ago, and has continued to grow and add programs and services to help needy families, while focusing on helping them become independent and self-sufficient.

The local programs include ACT (helping youth ACT responsibly), Stone Soup Success/Food Rx (educating to prepare healthy meals), Child Care Resource and Referral, Early Head Start and Head Start, Weatherization and Energy Services, Main Street Thrifts, Gifts and More store, a credit recovery program for Albion seniors, emergency services, holiday meals and gifts, and the Eastern Orleans Community Center in Holley, which provides daily meals, a clothing depot and food giveaway.

Hungerford said Community Action often helps steer people in crisis in the right direction, connecting them to services in the two counties.

She fears if there are cutbacks at the agency, local residents will lose a critical resource during a challenging period of their lives.

“They come here for help,” Hungerford said.