In fiscal year 2011-12 funding requests for Mesa nonprofits totaled about $3.7 million while funding levels are $3.1 million, Ms. Albright explained June 13 to the city of Mesa Community and Cultural Development Committee.

Pending requests for fiscal year 2011-12 will be met because of unallocated CDBG dollars totaling $948,977 that can be used for next fiscal year requests, but according to Ms. Albright more federal cuts may be coming. "We were not allocated the amount we approved," she said at the meeting of the $3.7 million in contracts compared to the $3.1 million allocated by the federal government. "We had to look at how we were going to fund everybody."

Mesa Councilman Dave Richins, who is chairman of the subcommittee, says Mesa is preparing for a significant reduction in federal allocations for grant programs."We need to do as few CDBG projects as possible," he said at the meeting. "We just can't handle 30 projects anymore."

Members of the subcommittee include Councilmen Christopher Glover and Scott Somers.
The shift in dollars available is changing how nonprofits approach the quest for public dollars, Ms. Albright points out."We are seeing a trend in more project-based applications," she said of organizations pooling applications and resources to offer social services to Mesa residents. "There are lots of things happening in reference to things changing."

Collaborative approach
Mike Hughes, A New Leaf CEO, says outreach efforts conducted by nonprofit entities like Save the Family, A New Leaf and Marc Center are beginning to revolve around permanent housing.
A New Leaf, Save the Family Foundation and Marc Center have formed a community council because Mr. Hughes says the business of nonprofits generating revenue is changing.
 

And those changes have to occur for real results to be realized, according to Torrie Taj, A New Leaf executive vice president of resource development."We are serving people in our emergency services division then they have to be sent outside of Mesa," she said in a June 14 phone interview. "We want them to stay here after we serve them."

Mr. Hughes says new approaches are rapidly emerging. "We are trying to find a way to end homelessness," Mr. Hughes said in a June 14 phone interview. "There have been all of these approaches, but the one identified by agencies that is working is to find ways to help put these people through supportive housing."
 

According to Mr. Hughes, supportive housing is a permanent place of residence where someone fully rehabilitated from life on the streets can begin to re-enter society productively through support services of outreach agencies, but the home is their own and there is no time limit on residency.
Programs in Mesa revolve around time limits depending on where the client is on the social-need spectrum, Mr. Hughes says.

"The goal is to work in collaboration and find ways that we can better impact this communitywide program," he explained. "We are finding that this approach is having a significant impact because housing is probably the most important road block that causes so many of the other problems."
The community council is eyeing a 20-unit apartment complex at the corner of Horne and Main streets to be converted into a supportive housing complex to be run and facilitated by A New Leaf, Save the Family and Marc Center, Ms. Taj says.

Through a grant application at the city of Phoenix and a 10 percent match by the city of Mesa, Ms. Taj says she is optimistic the idea will become reality."We have applied at the city of Phoenix for Neighborhood Stabilization Program dollars and they are going to be looking at our application," she said of the joint endeavor. "We have applied for those dollars, it is about a $1 million project where we need a 10 percent match from the city of Mesa."Mesa's contribution would be $100,000, Ms. Taz points out."We are proposing to purchase and rehabilitate one 20-unit apartment complex and call it the Desert Leaf Apartments," she explained. "We are transitioning into vision work ... we are looking to Mesa to create this initiative."

The joint venture theoretically would support needs of at-risk youth, the chronic homeless and mentally handicapped members of the Mesa population, Ms. Taj contends."We want 10 of these units to be specific to young adults over the age of 18, homeless families or individuals served by the Marc Center," she pointed out. "The other 10 units would be at fair-market base or below."
The key to making a program like this work is to blend the needy with the every-day citizen, both officials agree."You put them into your housing and you wrap your services around them," Ms. Taj said. "The people who have been chronically homeless will start learning that the services are here in their community."

The change
Randy Gray, Marc Center president and CEO, says unparalleled economic times call for new approaches to the business of nonprofit entities."Given the economic environment we are experiencing right now, it is absolutely essential that nonprofits work smarter and collectively," he said in a June 15 phone interview. "They need to be on a continuous service model."

That continuous service model can only be achieved through collaboration, Mr. Gray contends.
"What I am seeing evolve is the formation of LLCs where there is a partnership of agencies of a carved out service niche," he said of a project like the Desert Leaf Apartments. "That's the evolution that the agencies will have to do if they are going to survive." Collaboration is the keystone for nonprofits to continue to survive in uncertain economic times, Mr. Gray says.
"The collaborative initiative is absolutely germane - and that is the bottom line," he said. "We recognize that in each of our three agencies we are in desperate need of housing with support services. We do have a need here in the East Valley communities."
 

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith agrees homelessnees and social services attached to the issue provide a need for collaboration of nonprofits specializing in social services."We are talking about these people who are past the rehabilitation phase. This is the final step that they are preparing them for," he said in a June 15 phone interview of supportive permanent housing. "The transitional phase is one toe in the water."

Mayor Smith says he is for long-term success rather than band-aids for a larger problem.
"The idea is long-term help, recreating productive human beings that can be a benefit to society," he said. "That is what we want to accomplish." But supportive permanent housing will only work at the right place, Mayor Smith says."There are right places to do this, but this is a need that is not going away," he said. "The city of Mesa has always been, and I know I have been, that there is a right place for this to be done with the right groups."

Sidebars:

Marc Center
Marc Center is a private not-for-profit organization providing educational, therapeutic, rehabilitation and social services to children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities and behavioral health challenges.
Source: Marc Center

Save the Family Foundation
Family homelessness is damaging to everyone it touches. Save the Family empowers families to conquer homelessness and achieve life-long independence. We envision communities free from family homelessness.
Source: Save the Family Foundation

A New Leaf
A New leaf has been helping families ... changing lives for nearly 40 years with over 25 programs Valley wide including homeless and domestic violence shelters, youth and community programs. With more than 300 employees, a financially supportive Foundation and the benefit of over 15,000 volunteer hours a year, A New Leaf provides services to nearly 20,000 individuals annually.