Federal cutbacks could force CAP closures

SANDPOINT — The impoverished in North Idaho could find themselves with fewer resources than ever if proposed federal cutbacks deliver a killing blow to Community Action Partnership offices.

Organization officials are mobilizing the community to protest against a section of President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget request that would cut the Community Services Block Grant, decreasing CAP’s funding by 50 percent.

“I can tell you right now that if that went through, this office would close immediately,” CAP community engagement liaison Shirley Paulison said.  

The federal block grant is distributed to the states, which use the funding to foster local efforts in maintaining economic stability.

Without that funding, CAP offices in Sandpoint, Moscow, Orofino, Kamiah and Grangeville would shut down immediately. Food banks or offices in Coeur d’Alene, St. Maries, Kellogg, Bonners Ferry and Lewiston-Clarkston would shortly follow after depleting reserves.

The Bonner Community Food Center would not be affected by the grant’s termination.

CAP officials said that communities didn’t only stand to lose valuable resources and programs in assisting the poor. Their ability to use federal dollars to leverage additional funds into the community would also be eliminated. And their progress in building social networks for the poor would stop immediately.

Those consequences would be felt even more severely in rural areas like Bonner County, according to Paulison.

“There are more than 6,000 people here that live under the federal poverty line,” she said. “And take into consideration that that’s an archaic measurement. We’ve helped many people that are above the line but still need help.”

 CAP offices everywhere are mobilizing their communities in an effort to save services. Officials plan to collect letters from the residents protesting the cutback and mail them en masse to Idaho’s legislators and the president.

To assist the effort, direct your letter to the appropriate elected official but mail or deliver it to CAP’s office at 1506 Baldy Mountain Road, Sandpoint, ID, 83864.