Metro Parks Tacoma is scrambling to salvage several programs threatened by budget cuts, after failing to win more than $1.7 million in sought-after human services grants from the City of Tacoma.
Park district officials are now hoping Tacoma’s City Council will step in to save at least one program now in jeopardy — the popular SPARX after-school program for middle school students.
“SPARX is the most up in the air right now,” said Metro Parks spokeswoman Nancy Johnson. “We have an $185,000 gap to keep it going at all nine middle schools through the end of the year. If we can’t come up with the money, we probably won’t be able to continue it.”
The program’s funding runs out Dec. 31. Last week, council members discussed tapping the council’s reserve fund or finding other ways to pay for the program through the end of the school year. But as of Friday, nothing was definitive.
“It’s very much up in the air,” Councilwoman Victoria Woodards said Friday. “It’s not a sure thing. But I think we have a group of council members who believe that we should at least try to transition the SPARX program, not just cut it off in the middle of the school year.”
Amid the park district’s grim news on grant funding, Metro Parks officials have recommended eliminating at least one program — an outdoor recreation training apprenticeship for teens, Johnson said.
The district’s popular Summer Meal Program likely would be scaled back, and another program that now serves hundreds of people with developmental disabilities could face elimination next year if a new funding source can’t be found, she added.
Under the proposal, meals would continue to be distributed each weekday at all designated Summer Meal Program sites, but supervised play activities that traditionally have accompanied those meals would rotate from site to site.
“There are huge burdens ahead,” Johnson said. “We’re really just trying to figure out a way to work through it all if we can’t come up with the funding.”
Facing a $7 million shortfall in its general fund for the next two years, Metro Parks Tacoma executive director Jack Wilson has proposed a $46.6 million budget for 2013-14 that eliminates 16 mostly vacant staff positions and cuts back several parks and recreational programs.
Parks officials primarily blame the budget woes on falling property values that will reduce expected tax collections by a projected $3.1 million, combined with rising personnel expenses on pace to cost $2.1 million more than the current budget.
The rise in employee costs is based in part on cost-of-living raises of 1.75 percent in 2013 and 2 percent in 2014, plus step increases for unionized workers and merit raises for nonrepresented employees.
Metro Parks commissioners — some of whom have raised concerns over some of the proposed cutbacks — are set to vote on a final budget Monday.
At least part of Wilson’s proposed budget was based on unrealized hopes. Metro Parks applied for more than $1.7 million in city human services grants to help fund five existing programs and two new ones, with parks officials penciling into the budget plan an $871,000 supposition from those grant awards.
“We budgeted for what we thought we’d get based on our historic funding from the city,” Johnson said.
In the past, the city had automatically paid for the existing Metro Parks programs seeking funding. But amid dwindling dollars and a new outcome-based funding strategy, city officials this year required most human services funding applicants to compete for grants.
Metro Parks was among 110 applicants that asked for nearly $12 million this year from an available funding pool of $6 million. The city’s Human Services Commission reviewed and scored each application based on a set of strategic criteria, then made funding recommendations to the City Council.
When the commission presented its recommendations to a council committee on Nov. 29, not a single Metro Parks grant request was recommended for funding.
The council is set to hold a public hearing on the recommendations Tuesday. The vote to decide which applicants receive grants is set for Dec. 18.
“All of these are really difficult decisions to make,” said Assistant City Manager Tansy Hayward, Tacoma’s new human services director. “It’s a tough call when there are limited dollars. But in our case, we can’t fund everything.”
Johnson conceded that Metro Parks’ applications likely didn’t demonstrate how its programs fit the city’s funding criteria as effectively as they could have.
“We transferred from a noncompetitive process to a process where we’re competing against a lot of other worthy applicants that were used to going through it,” she said. “They’re practiced and know what it takes (to win funding).”
Also left in limbo by the city’s grant process was the Sozo Late Night program — an evening and late-night intervention program for at-risk youths offered at five Tacoma locations.
Last week, parks officials agreed to recommend eliminating the Sozo program before getting some good news: Savings from city employee health care costs recently freed an additional $600,000 for human services grant funding. Tacoma’s Human Services Commission reconvened to allocate the windfall, recommending $100,000 for the Sozo program. If approved, that allocation would save Sozo for the year.
Other Metro Parks programs aren’t likely to win such a reprieve. Parks officials will recommend eliminating an outdoor recreation training program for teens, transferring funds earmarked for it back to the general fund, to be used as needed for other outdoor programs.
The district has committed to continuing the Summer Meal Program — a USDA free lunch program meant for poor children that Metro Parks has administered for decades at designated playgrounds.
The park district must take funding from other programs to keep it going, Johnson said. But now, supervised play activities that have traditionally accompanied those meals would rotate from site to site.
Metro Parks also will keep its “active independent living program” alive for people with autism, Down syndrome and other mental disabilities, Johnson said. Dating to 1955, the program — which now provides recreation activities for 489 people — would need to use all funding set aside for 2014 just to keep it going next year, she said.
“Beyond 2013, there are no guarantees,” Johnson added. “We’ll need to spend the year looking county-wide for potential partners to help us keep this program alive.”
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542
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SHUT OUT
Metro Parks Tacoma submitted $1.7 million of human services grant requests to the City of Tacoma, seeking funding for five existing and two new programs for the 2013-14 biennium. None of the park district’s applications received funding recommendations during the city’s initial competitive grant process.
Here’s how the city’s Human Services Commission rated Metro Parks’ applications based on a 100-point scoring scale.
OUTDOOR ADVENTURE YOUTH LEADERSHIP & APPRENTICESHIP
Program type: Existing.
Program description: An outdoor recreation job training program for high school students.
Amount sought: $130,000.
Score: 69.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 78.
Scoring comment: “Weak connection to the strategic priority. Appears to be short-term internship program for Metro Parks rather than an employment training program moving youth toward economic stability.”
ACTIVE INDEPENDENT LIVING FOR THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED
Program type: Existing.
Program description: Sports, social and recreational activities for people with developmental disabilities.
Amount sought: $170,000.
Score: 70.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 87.
Scoring comment: “Weak connection to the strategic priority. It is unclear how the program increases self-sufficiency of the clients serviced and appears to be more recreational in nature. High number of individuals served (489). Did not appear to have a strong system to measure effectiveness.”
ACTIVE INDEPENDENT LIVING FOR SENIORS
Program type: New.
Program description: A social program with recreational and exercise classes for people ages 55 to 88.
Amount sought: $96,000.
Score: 63.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 87.
Scoring comment: “Weak connection to the strategic priority. It was unclear how the program increases self-sufficiency and appears to be more recreational/social in nature. Services appear similar to the city’s two senior centers. Level of effectiveness unclear. No past performance reference provided.”
FREE SUMMER MEAL DISTRIBUTION
Program type: Existing.
Program description: A collaboration with the USDA to distribute free lunches and snacks to youths during the summer and after school during the school year.
Amount sought: $160,000.
Score: 76.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 84
Scoring comment: “Weak connection to the strategic priority. Unique in servicing kids in schools and at playgrounds, but does not target low-income clients. Weak rationale for effectiveness. High administrative costs. No visible linkage to community-wide food system. Unclear how cultural competency plan is implemented.”
ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OUTREACH
Program type: New.
Program description: Environmental education and recreation program at South End and East Side elementary schools.
Amount sought: $140,000.
Score: 59.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 76.
Scoring comment: “Makes a connection to the strategic priority. Unique program. Funding sources could be diversified. Program does not target low-income youth, open to everyone. Does not demonstrate capacity and/or ability to meet (outcome based evaluation) system requirements (limited evaluation period and does not present a sound implementation plan).”
SOZO OUT OF SCHOOL AND LATE NIGHT
Program type: Existing.
Program description: Evening and late-night intervention program for at-risk youths aged 12 to 21, offered at five locations within Tacoma.
Amount sought: $270,000.
Score: 75.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 80.
Scoring Comment: “Makes a connection to the strategic priority. Committed volunteers. Limited programming on the East Side. Lacks a substantive evidence based program. Quality and effectiveness are questionable. Does not offer a convincing rationale for system impact.”
(This program received a $100,000 funding recommendation after additional funds became available after the scoring process.)
SPARX
Program type: Existing.
Program description: In- and after-school program working in nine Tacoma middle schools to keep youths healthy and safe.
Amount sought: $770,000.
Score: 60.
Lowest score to receive funding in category: 80.
Scoring comment: “Weak connection to the strategic priority. Provides positive role models. Does not fully describe how they target at-risk youth and/or prevent youth violence. Program appears expensive given the intensity of services offered.”
Source: City of Tacoma Human Services Commission
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