Pa. nonprofits wait for budget cuts to take hold

Nonprofit groups across Pennsylvania are still assessing how state funding cuts will affect their day-to-day operations.

It’s not that United Way of Pennsylvania President Tony Ross was expecting more funding.

He says community-based family centers, for instance, were already adjusting to a new, smaller-funded reality when this fiscal year’s spending plan was finalized.

“I can tell you that family centers are closing; there have been layoffs of staff and other programs already,” Ross said. “There will be more staff reductions and service reductions, there’ll be things like waiting lists, people turned away for service.”

The final spending law restores about $3 million, but Ross says he thinks that’s still about a 50 percent cut from last year’s budget.

Other areas that saw sharp reductions include a mortgage-assistance program, early childhood education funds for school districts, and funds for county-run human service programs.

Ross says those programs may have benefited if more of the state surplus were used.

That surplus, on June 30, was more than $785 million. Less than $300 million will be used in this year’s budget.