4/27/2010 - Policy Alert: Senate Version of Georgia's FY 2011 Budget

Most of us know by now that the GA House passed its version of the GA FY 2011 budget with more than $3.6 billion in cuts.
 
The Senate is now taking its own crack at the budget.  As of April 21st one of the more startling proposals is to cut the Department of Community Affairs budget by another $2 million.  Here is the current status and why it matters to nonprofits:

1.  Current Status:  The House took $2.4 million from DCA, an amount that Commissioner Beatty agreed to.  The Senate, however, took an additional cut of almost another $2 million.

2.  What will be eliminated:  Regional representatives that perform local government assistance such as with Community Development Block Grants, Opportunity Zones, Communities of Opportunity, the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing and other programs.

3.  Why nonprofits should care:  These funds pay for staff that help local governments in regions prepare proposals to leverage CDBG and other federal funds.

CDBG is particularly important because it is a very flexible funding source that can be used to develop nonprofit facilities and services.

Local governments outside the metro region usually do not have in-house expertise in these areas which is why the cut would hurt regions outside of Atlanta.