After Federal Funding Cuts, United Way of King County Says Sustaining Programs Will Be a 'Struggle'

Last month, United Way of King County (UWKC) issued a statement on how the elimination of key federal funding resources would impact community services throughout King County.

Sara Seelmeyer, associate director of Ending Hunger at UWKC, said that "some of these federal funding cuts are so large that it's a struggle to imagine philanthropy being able to fully fill those gaps."

UWKC connects volunteers and about $80 million in funds and donations to service organizations and government jurisdictions. UWKC says the loss of funds that are distributed through their organization will impact communities needing critical services throughout the South End.

Emergency Food Service Program Impacts

In January, the Trump administration froze funding for the federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), which supports critical services such as food, rental, and utility payment assistance. These funds flow from FEMA through UWKC to local organizations providing support for food and shelter across King County. UWKC's chief impact officer, Regina Malveaux, noted the freeze on these funds meant a loss of $970,000 for this year. Last year, 29 organizations, including South Park Senior Citizens and White Center Food Bank, received EFSP funds through UWKC.

Marlo Klein, UWKC's senior impact manager, said in an interview with the Emerald, "[UWKC] is still waiting for information from United Way Worldwide, who oversees the entire program, [about] whether those funds [will] be available again."

In the South End, Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) received $40,000 in EFSP funds last year, which paid for menstrual products, supplies, and food. Kathy Ulrich, RVFB's development director, said that the federal cuts are coming at the worst time in our economic landscape. "A concern is with a potential looming recession, there could be a drop in large foundation gifts, large individual gifts."

To supplement the potential loss of this income, Ulrich said that RVFB will stress the importance of smaller donations while trying to recapture the attention of former donors who have not given in a while.

How Cuts to AmeriCorps Impact United Way King County

United Way King County recently suffered another hit: funding cuts to its service labor force. Seelmeyer said that on a late Friday afternoon in April, close to 1,000 grants nationwide were cut by $400 million. Those grants funded AmeriCorps' stipended volunteer positions. United Way King County lost two AmeriCorps grants, effective immediately.

AmeriCorps is a federal agency that deploys service members to community and national service projects. AmeriCorps members receive a minimum living allowance for service work in communities. UWKC relied on AmeriCorps members to assist in the organization's robust home-delivery food service.

Seelmeyer said the two terminated grants funded about 60 AmeriCorps positions across King County, including in South Seattle.

Hannah Gauntz, United Way's home delivery program coordinator, noted that United Way was able to pool together funds to offer the AmeriCorps members minimum wage payments through May 30 while organizations and AmeriCorps members look for future solutions or employment.

UWKC's summer meal program serves 20,000 youth daily across King County and utilizes the help of AmeriCorps volunteers to facilitate meals.

"AmeriCorps members are integral to almost all of our programs at United Way," said Seelmeyer. "We are working to mitigate harm wherever possible and support AmeriCorps members in this transition. It is definitely an alarming cut."

Seelmeyer said supplementing the lost EFSP funding from FEMA will be a difficult task. "We are continuing to actively fundraise to support critical needs, and are particularly prioritizing urgent, basic needs and community well-being that arise," she said.