Severe Budget Cuts Hit California Seniors Hard

April 6, 2003
Sacramento County plans to slash $24.3 million in funding for scores of community-based programs helping to improve the lives of needy people and families, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The news jolted nonprofit groups, public agencies and private consultants contracted to provide social programs in neighborhoods. Many are scrambling in a weak economy for grants, corporate donations and other funding sources to keep their doors open after the public money runs out June 30.

Threatened programs include senior centers, homeless shelters and home visitation.

The Department of Human Assistance is struggling to fill a $56.1 million budget deficit next year, resulting mainly from a drop in state and federal welfare spending, Deputy Director Daniel Kim said.

One contractor, Stanford Settlement Inc., would lose four contracts totaling $321,000 -- 40 percent of its entire budget -- to provide services for children, teenagers, seniors and neighborhood outreach.

"I have one word to describe it: devastating," Executive Director Sister Jeanne Felion told the Bee. "I have to meet with our board to look at alternatives and worst-case scenarios. But I've been trying not to think about it, quite frankly."

Stanford Settlement Senior Center on West El Camino Road provides activities, transportation, lunch and companionship for 50 to 70 elderly clients five days a week. The program is a lifeline for 60-year-old Deanna Davis, a retired Sacramento police officer who lives alone. Disabled with heart problems, Davis relies on the center for basic needs of food, companionship and transportation.