Nonprofits plead with Montgomery County commissioners not to cut their funding

The Montgomery County commissioners heard four hours of emotional testimony Thursday from representatives of nonprofits that would lose their subsidies under the proposed 2013 budget.

The elimination of earmarks for the 17 agencies totals less than $1 million out of a $411 million budget, but it occupied nearly all of the morning and evening public-comment hearings.

Elmwood Park Zoo representatives brought an adult eagle, Noah, into the boardroom to demonstrate the zoo's educational programs. An official from the Women's Center of Montgomery County suggested that domestic violence might go up if funding were cut. The codirector of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania said the agency would have to close its Pottstown office and turn away many low-income, elderly, and disabled residents. The Norristown Police Athletic League said it would have to close its youth center in the afternoons, even as the city struggles with rising violence and crime.

And the ARC Alliance, which helps families of people with intellectual disabilities, brought clients and staff out in force to lobby for continued funding.

The alliance, which last year received a $37,000 subsidy, is down from three advocates in Montgomery County to one - director of advocacy Sharon Jones. Her job would be eliminated if the earmark is cut, chief executive officer Paul Stengle told the commissioners Thursday morning.

Several mothers spoke warmly and tearfully of Jones, who they said works day and night. One brought her 14-year-old daughter to hand out drawings to the commissioners; another brought her young son, who has cerebral palsy.

"We really need Sharon and the ARC to help parents like me who don't know anything," said Erin Dickey, a single mother of two special-needs children. When her son's teacher said he had a disorder, Dickey said, she didn't want to give him medication.

"I didn't know what was the best thing for my son," she said, but Jones helped her switch school districts and negotiate an individualized education program - without medication.

Jones' own daughter testified as well.

"Your budget cuts would put my mom out of a job," 15-year-old Tasha Jones said.

Commissioner Josh Shapiro thanked the speakers for their input but noted that the alliance gets $1.5 million in contract funding from the county and is likely to get more as the county shifts support services to private agencies in a few months.

Commissioner Leslie S. Richards said the county would ask business leaders to boost contributions to these charities, and keep donations local. Another speaker, who identified herself as an organizer with the Obama campaign, said she would mobilize volunteers to raise money for the organizations that need it most.

At one point, a speaker recalled that the Victim Services Center helped him recover after his daughter's murder - a case that was prosecuted by then-Assistant District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.

Castor, later district attorney and now a commissioner, said he had personally worked with many of the speakers, and that "we know they do good work." But in the end, he said, there just isn't room for them in the budget. "It hurts my feelings that we can't do everything for everyone."

Shapiro noted that the 17 organizations represented less than 1 percent of the nonprofits in the county and that none of the others received funding.

"We have heard every single word that's been said," Richards said, calling the decisions "heartbreaking."