SANTA CRUZ >> President Trump’s budget blueprint for 2018 emphasizes fiscal responsibility and reduces or eliminates hundreds of programs “to redefine the proper role of the federal government,” according to a document sent March 13 to Congress, which under the Constitution has the “power of the purse.”
What could this mean for Santa Cruz County, which has many nonprofits and grantwriters who have been successful at winning federal funds?
Here are some of the potential impacts if Congress follows the president’s lead.
UC SANTA CRUZ
UC Santa Cruz, the largest employer in Santa Cruz County, received $106 million in grants and contracts for research in 2015-16, according to Scott Hernandez-Jason, the university’s director of News and Media Relations.
The National Institutes of Health provided $39.3 million, NASA, $27.8 million, and the National Science Foundation, $17.4 million.
A high-profile recipient is the UCSC Genome Browser, one of only two public major genome browsers in the world — the other is in England. Typically federal grants have been awarded for five years, with $18 million awarded in 2012 in a grant due to end June 30.
This covers about 20 full-time equivalent technical and staff staffing, equipment, travel and outreach, according to Ann Zweig, senior engineering and project manager at UCSC Genome Browser.
The president’s budget calls for reducing federal work-study, a $1 billion program, “significantly” and reforming it to ensure funds go to “undergraduate students who would benefit most,” but does not provide further details.
UCSC paid $2.4 million in federal work-study awards to 1,361 students working on campus and $864,668 to 310 students in federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, a program Trump proposed to eliminate.
The campus awarded $120.9 million in federal financial support to 11,147 students, with $71.9 million based on need going to 9,878 students.
Since the president’s executive order barring entry barring entry by nationals of six countries from the Middle East and Africa, some universities have seen a drop in applications from international students who pay a higher tuition than in-state residents.
That is not the case for UCSC.
“Graduate applications have reached a new high,” said Hernandez-Jason. ”As you might imagine, international students are nervous. We are committed to supporting them.”
SMALL BUSINESS LOANS
The president’s budget calls for eliminating the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution program, which awarded three grants from 2009 to 2013 totaling $3.6 million to Santa Cruz Community Credit Union for loans to small businesses and micro-businesses to create jobs in the wake of the economic crisis.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The Trump budget eliminates funding for the Community Development Block Grant program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, saving $3 billion, citing a lack of results.
The program provided a $1.5 million grant for the nonprofit Dientes dental clinic to add chairs in Santa Cruz to see more children.
LEGAL AID
California Rural Legal Assistance, which has a Watsonville office assisting 500 low-income families a year with housing, public benefits, labor and education matters, gets half its funding from the federal Legal Services Corp., one of the agencies the Trump budget proposes to eliminate.
Legal Services Corp., established in 1974, is funded through the federal Department of Justice to assist nonprofit law offices to people unable to afford legal counsel.
The local office has a staff of six, two lawyers, two paralegal community workers and two clerical support staff, helping workers recover unpaid wages, assisting victims of housing and employment discrimination and defending students against improper school suspensions and expulsions.
ARTS, CULTURE
Arts Council Santa Cruz County has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts for the last five years totaling $170,000, according to director Michelle Williams.
Organizations such as Senderos, Watsonville Film Festival, Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Japanese Cultural Fair, El Sistema, and dozens more, as well as many dozens of individual artist projects, have been funded by NEA dollars, she said.
The Trump budget proposes to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts, currently budgeted at $148 million.
MUSEUM EXHIBITS
The Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz, known as MAH, has received grants in the past five years from three federal agencies are slated for closure in Trump’s budget proposal.
Museum director Nina Simon said the foster youth museum exhibition project, which is to open in July, got $40,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and $30,000 from the California Arts Council, which is funded by NEA.
The current “We Who Work” exhibit by Hung Liu got a $5,000 CalHumanities grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Visitor engagement experiments received $20,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
VOLUNTEERS
The Retired & Senior Volunteer Program & AmeriCorps, part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, are proposed for elimination.
Both have had an impact locally, enabling retirees to avoid isolation and live healthier, and enabling young people to get job training and be involved in their community as they earn money for higher education.
Karen Delaney of the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County said the RSVP program, with $66,000 in federal money, provides recruitment, insurance and support to 640 seniors who are matched with schools, nonprofits, and parks and government offices. She said she values their services at $2.8 million.
AmeriCorps, with $122,000 in federal money, supports 10 AmeriCorps members who work one year full time in exchange for a modest stipend and some funding to continue their education. Each AmeriCorps member recruits 150 more volunteers, and Delaney said she values their services at $568,000.
SUPERFUND
A cutback of 31 percent is proposed for the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees a Superfund site at the former Watkins-Johnson plant in Scotts Valley. The budget calls for reining in Superfund administrative costs and emphasizing efficiency and a $4 million increase for a total of $2.3 billion in loans to finance water infrastructure.
HOMELESSNESS
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness published the nation’s first comprehensive strategy to end homelessness, used by Project Homeless Connect, now known as Santa Cruz Connect. The “Opening Doors” strategy aims to end homelessness among veterans by 2015 and among children and families by 2020.
NOAA
Santa Cruz is the home of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 110 Shaffer Road, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Department of Commerce, slated for a 16 percent budget cut.
The Economic Development Administration, which provided a $40,000 grant in 2009 for Capitola to assess its infrastructure, is slated for elimination, along with $250 million for “NOAA programs supporting coastal and marine management, research, and education including Sea Grant, which primarily benefit industry and state and local stakeholders.”
WILDLAND FIRES
A 12 percent cut is proposed at the Department of the Interior, parent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service. The budget for wildland fire suppression was set at the 10-year average.