Soul Food

Homeless shelters already strapped for the cash they need to combat homelessness might have to look to more private donations instead of federal and state funding. The Shalom Community Center, a local humanitarian aid agency, held a press conference Tuesday to discuss the increasing problem of dealing with homelessness and hunger in wake of budget cuts. The main issues addressed were the setbacks faced by agencies such as the Shalom Center because of federal funding cuts. \nJoel Rekas, executive director of Shalom Community Center, discussed ways that his organization helps the needy, with adequate funding.\n"What we do is we meet basic, immediate needs for people of the community," said Rekas, whose organization is volunteer-driven and mostly funded by private donations. \nAs well as serving about 150 people lunch every day, the Center offers other services such as providing a mailing address and giving financial and emotional support.\n"Much of what we do is intangible, many of these people simply lack the confidence to go out, get a job and succeed, and we work to build their confidence," Rekas said. \nThe Shalom Center worked with the Indiana Public Interest Research Group to execute "The 2004 Survey of Hunger and Homelessness in America," a study of aid agencies across the United States. The results found 78 percent of shelters turned away people in need of emergency shelter nationwide and 23 percent turned away people in need of food. \nINPIRG members such as junior Patricia Winkler hopes the shelters use these findings to their advantage when lobbying the legislature for social service funding.\n"This will be a basis for more advocacy. With these statistics as a reference, it will make for a more pointed case in our favor," Winkler said. "We wanted to get an idea of the level of need in the community," \nThe George W. Bush administration recently proposed to cut $1.8 billion from the Community Development Block Grant, a program that has existed since 1974 within the Department of Urban Housing and Development. The grant funds local programs to help the homeless nationwide.\nSocial service cuts, however, are not new, nor are they limited to the current administration, said Sabrina Williamson, assistant professor at the IU School of Social Work.\n"This has been a growing trend in the last few presidential administrations," Williamson said. \nWilliamson described a process called "devolution," in which the federal government gives less money to the states, and therefore the states are less able to allocate the aid needed in their specific region. She said this problem, more than anything, has been financially harmful to social services across the United States.\nBloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan gave an account of the local problem of homelessness, as well as his plans for reversing the problem. \n"The Jack Hopkins Social Service Fund of Bloomington uses actual city money toward the community," Kruzan said.\n"People usually think of social service as something that only the liberals strive for. In fact, it's a very conservative action on the part of government. Investing money directly to aid agencies will help ease the tax burden on citizens, and also prevent more serious problems down the road. Investing in people will pay dividends." \nKruzan also added that homelessness often correlates with a lack of access to resources needed to get jobs.\n"Many times there are plenty of jobs available to people who desperately need them," Kruzan said, "but either they lack transportation, or they are hindered in some other way from applying for the job," \n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Beal at mdbeal@indiana.edu.