skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Proposed Fed Cuts: MA Community Action Agencies on Chopping Block

play audio
Play

Monday, March 14, 2011   

BOSTON - As Congress debates budget proposals, including $66 billion in cuts to non-discretionary spending, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center is looking at how residents in the Bay State could be affected. One of several items it has found on the chopping block is the Community Service Block Grant, which provides funds to hundreds of community action agencies around the country, including 24 in Massachusetts.

Joe Diamond, executive director of the Massachusetts Association for Community Action (MASSCAP), the statewide association of community action agencies, says that is an important item.

"Community Services Block Grant is a very flexible resource that community action agencies rely on so that they can provide effective, innovative services that address local needs."


Diamond says community action agencies use a variety of funding sources, including federal, state and private funds. Without the grant money, he says many of their anti-poverty efforts - even such programs as free tax filing assistance - will be compromised.

"Most agencies, if they were to lose Community Services Block Grant, would have to curtail or stop their Earned Income Tax Program Credit Program. That program, through community action agencies, brings in about $22 million to about 15,000 individuals and families across Massachusetts."

Diamond says the grant is critical to such programs as job training, adult education, and foreclosure assistance. If the federal budget cuts are approved, funding for the Community Services Block Grant would be eliminated for the remainder of this fiscal year (FY2011).

Facts At A Glance: Impact of Proposed Federal Budget Cuts on Massachusetts' Residents is online at
www.massbudget.org





get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021