Moore: Will RI Government Rules Close a Key Nonprofit?
Monday, July 25, 2016
Rhode Island needs legislative grant reform—but that doesn’t mean we should be throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water.
Yet that seems to be the case with at least one excellent non-profit organization, located in the heart of South Providence, which provides much-needed daycare services for lower income individuals as well as nutritional needs for lower income individuals and families in the form of a food pantry.
Called South Providence Neighborhood Ministries, and located on 747 Broad Street, it's an excellent non-profit program that’s staffed primarily by volunteers and a skeleton staff. Yet the potential loss of a legislative grant next year as well as the inability to abide by stringent DCYF regulations has imperiled the program to the point where it might not be in existence come next year—and that’s a shame considering all of the good work that I’ve seen personally there since two of my friends are dedicated volunteers at the food pantry portion of the program.
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House legislative leadership, partially reformed the legislative grant system this year by making non-profit organizations seeking such grants apply for them. Previously, the legislative grant system was very-much run like the Wild West, where all the organizations had to do was get the ear of a legislator and they would be receive a grant if the legislator was in the good graces of leadership. Most of the legislative grants go to very worthwhile organizations like South Providence Neighborhood Ministries.
For every questionable program like the one run by former House Finance Committee Chairman Ray Gallison, there are scores of programs like this one. That was never the question. The problem was always with the process. So the legislature should be fixing the process. But let’s make sure good programs don’t fall by the wayside as a result.
That’s what could happen in this case.
Deserving of a Grant
Yvette Kenner, who serves as the organization’s Executive Director, said that the legislative grant reforms could, unintentionally, prevent the organization from receiving its annual $3,300 grant.
“We haven’t received the RFP yet…but what the basically said was ‘you’re going to have to apply like everybody else’, but they have certain categories that you have to apply for. And unfortunately, I don’t seem to fit into any of those categories,” said Kenner.
“Because there are none of education, and there are none for hunger.”
Losing $3,300 won’t be the death knell to the program. But it certainly will hurt.
“There’s always a trickledown effect,” said Kenner.
DCYF Regulations
Let’s face it: the South Providence Neighborhood Ministries deserves more state government help—not less.
It’s not just the potential loss of the legislative grant that is endangering this program’s existence. New DCYF regulations pose an even bigger threat.
In 2013, DCYF made a new regulation in that required all daycare centers must be located above ground, for some reason. The daycare center portion of the organization is located in the basement of the building.
“We’re still trying to find a location, within our desired community…that will be affordable and feasible so far as DCYF is concerned and the Fire Marshall is concerned to meet all the necessary codes,” said Kenner. “It’s tough”.
The DCYF has granted waivers to the organization for the last few years, but Kenner has been notified that those waivers won’t be forthcoming in the near future. That’s left Kenner in a serious bind.
A New Location?
The food pantry serves over 500 families, including over 1,900 individuals during an average week. To lose that program would seriously hurt all those people--many of them children.
It also would be a shame to lose this child care program. There, on any given day, the children will learn about the dangers of bullying and how to help prevent it, the importance of proper nutrition, how to best prevent colds and the flu, and also get help with their homework. Visit the program and meet the children and you’d almost assuredly be impressed by just how well-behaved and respectful these youngsters are--particularly for their ages. What happens if we lose this program? Will the children be forced to fend for themselves?
All this means we cannot lose this organization. Certainly the DCYF has its reasons for enacting this new regulation. But the DCYF should be working alongside South Providence Neighborhood Ministries to find a new, logical relocation point. An organization that does excellent work for some of the lowest income residents of the state shouldn’t be left to contend with new regulations without the assistance of the governing body that enacted them.
If the DCYF is really about protecting children, it should be helping to keep this program going—not endangering its existence.
The situation at South Providence Neighborhood Ministries shows us that excessive government regulation isn’t a burden to just the business sector, but all sectors.
Let’s hope that the Rhode Island state government sees itself as an ally of South Providence Neighborhood Ministries and works with the organization to keep its doors open. We’ll all be better off for it.
Russell J. Moore has worked on both sides of the desk in Rhode Island media, both for newspapers and on political campaigns. Send him email at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @russmoore713.
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