Safety Net Support Program

Collaboration with the Association of Community Services

During 2003, a state budget deficit of over $1.8 billion was looming, with cuts to nonprofit health and human service programs anticipated. The impending deficit - through likely cuts to public agencies - was also anticipated to place added burdens on nonprofits, which would need to fill the slack.

The Safety Net Support Program initiated by The Horizon Foundation included grants to organizations providing emergency assistance, such as the Grassroots shelter for people who are temporarily homeless.

Intensive discussions carried out by the Foundation at the community level indicated that emergency assistance, protective services, counseling and other programs were in jeopardy. Pending actual cuts, there was a high probability that Howard County residents currently at risk would see their risk increase.

In order to gauge the potential impact of these economic changes and other challenges facing safety net organizations, the Foundation convened a series of meetings with the executive directors and board chairs of the Health Alliance; Grassroots; Foreign-born Information and Referral Network (FIRN); the Domestic Violence Center; Family and Children's Services; and the Sexual Trauma, Treatment, Advocacy and Recovery Center (STTAR).

These meetings were co-sponsored and cochaired by the Association of Community Services (ACS). The discussions culminated in a highly responsive initiative called the Safety Net Support Program. The program's purpose is to bolster the survivability, effectiveness and efficiency of safety net providers in the county. Based on a series of onsite visits conducted in tandem by ACS and Horizon, specific needs were identified. These needs were accommodated in a nonproject grant made to each organization by the Foundation, totaling $270,000.