Social service providers in Juneau say they’re worried about fallout if the Juneau Assembly decides to cut city funding to some of Juneau’s most critical social services.
On Monday night, multiple providers testified during the Assembly’s regular meeting to advocate for the city’s continued funding of social service grants.
Kaia Quinto is the executive director of Juneau Housing First Collaborative, also known as the Glory Hall homeless shelter. The shelter offers more than 15,000 emergency beds and serves over 60,000 meals to patrons in Juneau each year. Quinto testified that the shelter relies on the Assembly funding the endowment to provide services to Juneau.
“These funds are crucial and essential services cannot be provided without them,” she said. “We cannot afford to lose these critical safety net programs.”
Each year since 2016, the Assembly has provided a block of funding to the Juneau Community Foundation, a local philanthropic organization. The foundation then combines it with additional funding from its Hope Endowment program and disperses the funds as grants to organizations in Juneau that address social issues such as homelessness, food insecurity, suicide and substance misuse.
But this budget season, the Assembly is faced with a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall, which will likely result in cuts to some city services. Last year, the Assembly approved just over $2 million toward the social service grants, but some providers are concerned that some of that funding could now be at risk. The $2 million included recurring and one-time funding.
Representatives from JAMHI Health and Wellness, Southeast Alaska Food Bank, Catholic Community Service and Alaska Legal Services Corporation also testified at the meeting.
Dan Parks, the executive director of the Southeast Alaska Food Bank, said demand is at a record high. He said a cut to social services would have a negative ripple effect throughout the community.
“Hunger doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s an indicator, a canary in the coal mine, if you will, of other social ills,” Parks said. “If the city wants to help us reduce the amount of people in our line, we need investment in mental health care, investment in affordable housing, affordable child care.”
Juneau’s Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the city manager’s draft budget does not recommend any cuts to the grant funding. The Juneau Assembly will begin making budget decisions — including any cuts to services — once the city manager releases the draft budget this month.
