The cavalry is not coming. We are the only people we can expect may ride to our rescue. And those of us who are struggling to survive are under relentless attack now and for the foreseeable future. The federal government is about to retrench. COVID funding, which supported local governments, nonprofits and religious organizations, is gone. The remarkably effective federal child tax credit has also been eliminated after having been deployed for a short while, despite reducing child poverty to an all-time low of 5.2%. Child poverty has now more than doubled to 13.7%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Boulder County, the child poverty rate in 2023 (the latest figures available) was 8.2%.
The 2024 budget for Boulder County was $653.1 million. The $4 million cuts proposed for 2025 reduces this year’s $12 million safety net contributions by one-third but is only 1.6% of the County’s total budget. Are there really no additional savings to be found elsewhere in that budget? Savings less likely to cause the harm these proposed cuts will impose on our most vulnerable residents? In fact, the families of many Boulder County workers live in Adams, Broomfield, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld County — their safety net needs are also substantial, but they’re not even on our radar. If Boulder County can’t maintain, let alone provide more meaningful support, who are we, and how do we sleep at night? The needs are real. The support begrudging and inadequate.
Tuesday’s election results are still coming in, but one thing is clear: local government, communities and neighborhoods who care for those in need are on their own. Deportation, tariffs, deregulation and relentless housing cost increases will likely cause more inflation and will certainly provide less support for the most vulnerable among us, particularly families and their children.
Women didn’t think they were in a patriarchal war, but the boys knew. Given the way exit polls are characterizing Tuesday’s results, young men who often haven’t participated in elections joined with blue-collar workers throughout the country to provide the president-elect with his winning margin. Why they believe his policies will help is not clear. We have our work cut out for us. First, to listen. Second, to understand. Third, to work together with the people whose lives and futures will be harmed to mitigate the selfish, heartless, and counterproductive policies that have been promised by the new administration.
Ed Byrne,
“The growing enormity of this crisis is becoming quite alarming,” so said The Executive Director of OUR Center. Wow. This isn’t just a crisis, which to me already sounds alarming, but an enormous, growing crisis. And even then it is only “becoming quite alarming.” Everything is a crisis these days. We’ve made the word meaningless, along with “existential” and “systemic,” where 90% of the people using those words couldn’t define them.
The trend to exaggerate every issue is deemed necessary to get people to act. Global warming catastrophists have openly admitted this because despite saying the sky is falling for thirty years and spending countless trillions of dollars, fossil fuel usage is not only not decreasing but is hitting record highs, year after year. Oh, and the sky hasn’t fallen. But it’s bound to fall tomorrow.
Infused with Biden-era, COVID-panic cash, nonprofits became addicted to the slush fund. And now it’s run dry. Withdrawal is a pain.
I’ve been advocating in these pages to divert fantasy climate funds to the homeless situation, but even if we do that, it won’t be “enough.” We tax ourselves heavily in Boulder County. I can’t remember when a local tax proposal didn’t pass. And our taxes go to these non-profits.
Here’s one example of the “crisis” hitting non-profits. One Longmont charity will still be able to fund their two part-time housing helpers but won’t be able to supply them with free RTD bus passes. The horrors! Well, now the enormity of this growing crisis is clear. Wait. That isn’t right. It’s the enormity that is growing. Either way, cut back on those lattes and spend your money where it counts.
Instead of crying wolf, I’d love to see non-profits tout their effectiveness on their web pages. Front and center. Something like, “For every $1,000 in funds, we provide x nights of shelter, y meals, and z hours of rehab counseling.” Or whatever their bailiwick is. Otherwise, it just seems like a black hole to me. We pour resources into these groups. If we could see positive results, we’d be motivated to pour in more resources, whether via personal donations, taxes, or both.
Boulder City Council says it was surprised by these cutbacks and, despite it being a crisis and their 2025 funds aren’t spent yet, their hands are tied. Don’t they know it’s a crisis? Of course, they know. It must be that the entire city budget is being spent on even more enormous crises. All half-billion-plus dollars. I’m impressed by how calm we are all remaining.
When everything is a crisis, nothing is.
Bill Wright,
As a child of the 1950s, I lived above two safety nets, one federal the other corporate. They were food stamps and Plaid stamps. Plaid stamps were issued by our local A&P store, a one penny stamp for each dollar spent. After Saturday morning shopping my job was to lick the back of each stamp and place them in a booklet which upon completion could be taken to a redemption center. My single mom saved up for a kitchen radio.
Food stamps were not stamps at all, but coupons that resembled currency. To relieve the stigma of charity, soon to be called welfare, portraits of Jefferson and Hamilton helped to replicate paper currency. In a small way both these protocols provided stability in the uncertain world of my youth, small guardrails that kept us from falling off the embankment of poverty. Today that embankment is a cliff, and the fall can be lethal.
The social contract implicit in our democracy is that we support, through our taxes, the common good.
Nutritious food, adequate housing, health insurance, educational opportunity for all within our borders establishes the stability that is the foundation of progress. Supporting non-profits and federal programs of social uplift is an investment not a drain on the economy. Non-profits are the bridge that links individuals to community and their vigorous support is a necessity. It’s about relationships.
Those who are experiencing financial difficulties or mental health concerns are not “the other” but members of our community. We must keep the safety nets strong.
EFAA, Emergency Family Assistance Association is one of the many worthy non-profits that help to stabilize and transform families, through advocacy, food assistance and temporary housing. EFAA creates a caring community of volunteers mobilized to make a difference.
The etymology of the word “safety” comes from the Latin, salvus which means “to save.” Public schools provide enduring safety, they are the redemption centers of our society. School is the ultimate vehicle of advancement. It was my salvation. A safe school that provides a quality education, literacy and confidence is the strongest foundation of a just and thriving America.
If you are part of a religious community, make sure your worship includes action. Whether a mitzvah or a blessing, faith without good works is dead. Strengthen the nets and the guardrails because the future is not a place we are going to, but a path to be forged and it must be wide enough for everyone.
Jim Vacca, jamespvacca1@gmail.com
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
