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ECR facing cash crunch Decline of grant funding threatens services offered to area youth
Ely Community Resource is scrambling to come up with additional funding to maintain the services it currently offers to area youth.
The local nonprofit, which has existed since 1978, is facing a budget crunch after losing two key sources of grant revenue.
Julie Hignell, executive director of ECR, said Wednesday that the group is pursuing numerous other funding sources and that he remains “very hopeful we will find help.”
But Hignell also cautioned school board members, during a visit to Monday’s regular meeting, that a continued shortfall could prompt changes.
“For summer I think we’re going to make it but I’m unsure about the school year,” Hignell told the board.
She later added that “I don’t want to lose. We have a really good team of people who are very well connected with our our kids. I’d hate to lose our momentum and lay somebody off.”
ECR has five full-time staff and assorted part-time help, and provides numerous services and programs to local youth and families.
Thanks to expanded grant funding, ECR has offered a “Wolf Pack” after-school program for students from kindergarten through fifth grade, after school on weekdays from 2:50 to 5:30 p.m.
About 50 students participate in that initiative, which includes help for reading and math, indoor and outdoor interactive games and field trips.
ECR also helps staff the city’s recreation center, provides homework help to middle and high school students, coordinates the Key Club leadership program and a youth mentor program, hosts reading programs and special interests clubs, and provides a family resource facilitator to work with students and families.
The organization regularly wins the praises of elected officials for the work it does within the community.
School board Tom Omerza endorsed the efforts Monday, saying its vital the community recognizes “the importance of having an ECR, of having a support system outside the classroom like we have in town.”
Omerza hailed the work of both ECR and Young Life and “how important a role they play in helping kids in our community.” School board chairman Ray Marsnik agreed and said “it would be a disgrace if you have to close up because of funding.”
Hignell soothed some concerns later in the week and said the organization will continue to operate, but she highlighted several challenges, including one grant from the U.S. Department of Education that fell from $150,000 over two years to just $44,000.
Some of those funds could be recovered over time as Hignell said “our type of programs will be moved to the new department of children, youth and families,” at the state level.
But that department is not yet in existence and Hignell conceded that “it puts us in a bind,” leaving a gap in funding.
Hignell said she has been in contact with both state lawmakers and staff for both U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D).
“Federal funding was given to the states that helped everybody develop these programs but there doesn’t seem like there was any handoff or help in looking to the future for the states to take it over.”
That’s one of the prime sources for ECR’s pending shortfall, although Hignell said the group is looking at numerous other new funding sources, and has reached out to entities including the Northland Foundation and St. Louis County.
Hignell outlined the myriad ways that ECR supports local youth, including aiding school staff.
“ECR exists to support our school and kids,” she said. “We’re able to help out when somebody gets sick. When families have trouble or kids have behavior troubles at school or there’s an academic issue, we’re often asked to reach out to their family and to see how things are at home.”
Hignell also stressed the importance of the entity’s family-related resources.
“We’ve been in existence since 1978, but even we were a little surprised with some of the issues our kids are trying to deal with,” she said.
The after-school program has taken off and Hignell said “we’re getting good feedback from teachers and parents and seeing progress made in reading and math and social skills, and we’re working closely with elementary teachers trying to use the same language with kiddos who struggle with behavior.”
A fee for service model for ECR is challenged both by families’ ability to pay and often restrictions in place by granting agencies that prohibit the nonprofit from assessing fees.
“When we experimented with asking for a fee, a lot of those families decided the kids could just go home, and then we’re losing out on opportunities to help them catch up,” said Hignell.
ECR is continuing to scour for grants and “we have found some optimistic possibilities,” Hignell indicated this week.
Contributions to the nonprofit may also be made online, via a Paypal link on the group’s website at www. elycommunityresource.org.
