FORT SMITH -- Fort Smith city directors are scheduled to consider on June 2 a resolution that would cut funding for an organization aiding the homeless that is not connected with a homeless campus being backed by the city.
The resolution would result in Next Step Homeless Services losing nearly $17,000 in funding it received from the city this year, City Administrator Ray Gosack said.
Amy Sherrill, Next Step's executive director, said she does not want to get into a funding battle with the city. If the 13-year-old nonprofit organization's funding is cut, its work will continue at its downtown location as an entry point for people seeking help to exit homelessness.
The loss of city funding would hurt that effort, she said, but Next Step would then seek more money from donors in the community.
Gosack said Friday that he had not drawn up the resolution for the June 2 meeting. But he said it would say that board policy would not provide funding for homeless services that duplicate those at the Riverview Hope Campus.
Next Step Homeless Services had entered into a memorandum of understanding to be an anchor tenant at the campus, which will be located in a vacant Riverside Furniture building south of downtown. The Old Fort Homeless Coalition, of which Next Step is a member, has raised the $1.9 million needed to buy and renovate the building for the first phase of the campus.
But a letter to supporters dated Sept. 12, 2014, said Next Step was pulling out of the agreement because, among other reasons, two other anchors at the campus -- the Salvation Army and the River Valley Regional Food Bank -- had dropped plans to move there. The coalition also lacked a business plan for the campus, according to the letter.
"Irrespective of where Next Step is located, Next Step will always remain a legally separate entity and have a requirement to raise funds separately for our specific mission: To seek solutions to homelessness through individual case management with direction toward self-sufficiency," the letter stated.
The proposed resolution grew out of discussions directors had at a May 18 brainstorming meeting.
Mayor Sandy Sanders said the conversation was meant to focus city funding to support established goals, one of them being the development of the Riverview Hope Campus.
"So the concept is to focus the city funding on those services that support those goals," Sanders said. "It does not apply to all organizations, just primarily to avoid the duplication of services."
Once established, the campus would have a 75-bed, low-barrier shelter; medical and mental health services; meals; adult education classes; laundry; personal and bulk storage; and rooms for meetings and worship services.
Several agencies have committed to providing services at the campus when it opens. Among them are Mercy Hospital, Fort Smith public schools, Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center, Veterans Administration and the Crisis Intervention Center.
City Director Kevin Settle said if the directors' goal is to support Riverview Hope Campus, they will have to decide whether to continue to fund other agencies that help the homeless.
"I think from the city's standpoint, we should utilize any funds toward making that goal a reality, consolidate all the homeless agencies together," he said.
Sherrill said Next Step provides services for the homeless offered by no other organization in Fort Smith. It has five case managers who work with individuals on challenges they face in exiting homelessness.
The case workers also help homeless people by referring them to other nearby organizations, such as the Salvation Army, Good Samaritan Clinic, the Community Rescue Mission or to one of three transitional homes that Next Step supports.
Next Step is getting $16,950 this year from the city. Of that, $12,000 is from Community Development Block Grant funds, which are federal funds administered through the city, and $4,950 in outside agency funds.
The city also provides Next Step with about $1,800 a year worth of transit system passes to help its clients get transportation to needed services, Sherrill said.
Metro on 05/26/2015