A Menlo Park program that provides job training and housing for veterans recovering from drug and alcohol problems could see all of its funding disappear as part of proposed cuts in federal spending.
After learning of the proposed cuts this week, officials at the Next Step Center were scrambling to contact congressional representatives in a bid to preserve funding for a program they argue saves taxpayers money in the long run.
"This whole program is about getting people off government entitlements and securing them with their own income," said William Howell, a research assistant at the center, whose offices are located at the Veterans Affairs hospital on Willow Road.
The center, which started in 1988, last year registered 711 veterans in its program and helped find jobs for more than 500 of them--almost all of whom had been homeless or were recovering from drug and alcohol problems.
"You get them into a job, they're paying taxes . . . it turns the whole formula around," Howell said in explaining how the center works to make veterans in its program self-sufficient.
In addition, the center provides temporary housing for up to 25 veterans at three homes it operates in East Palo Alto and San Mateo. The housing helps formerly homeless veterans establish residency, which is crucial in landing a job.
Federal funding for the program in the amount of $450,000 annually comes in equal shares from the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and the Job Training and Placement Act, Howell said.
"We really depend on those two acts for everything we do," he said. "If this falls through, the whole thing goes down the tubes."
Officials at the center this week began contacting several non-profit advocacy groups that were expected to defend the program during congressional hearings in Washington, D.C., to decide what level of federal funding those two acts should receive.
They were also trying to schedule meetings this weekend with several California congressional legislators to urge their support for continuing funding of the two acts.
"We're all aware that Congress is cutting," Howell said. "Now, it's our turn to explain why we're important."
--Rufus Jeffris
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