Latest news with #CrisisCenter
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Carthage Crisis Center to welcome new director
CARTHAGE, Mo. — The Carthage Crisis Center will hold a reception next week for its new executive director. The event is planned to welcome Eileen Sherlock, who started three weeks ago, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 13, in the dining room of the Crisis Center at 100 S. Main St. The reception will also recognize Jim Benton, who led the shelter for more than nine years. 'We are confident that Eileen's experience and expertise will significantly contribute to achieving increased ministry opportunities for the Carthage Crisis Center,' board President Hal Andrews said in a statement. 'All of us on the board are looking forward to working with her.' Sherlock's background includes 15 years in program and business development, grant fundraising and leadership. She also directed a suicide and overdose prevention program and secured grants to support underprivileged youths in sports, promoting social engagement and equal opportunities. She also spent six months on a women's empowerment team in Cairo. For five years, she coordinated material assistance across 20 churches for a refugee resettlement program, and she spearheaded financial support for Jamaican children who could not attend school unless they were documented and had appropriate school uniforms. 'Her background in finance was very strong,' board Vice President Mark Elliff said in a statement. 'Part of what we look for to operate the Crisis Center is grants and fundraising. Her heart and concern and desire to help the homeless was a factor that you don't find often." The Carthage Crisis Center was founded in 1996 when Grace Episcopal Church joined forces with 16 other churches in Carthage to address homelessness in the city. The center operated out of a small building at Fifth and Lyons streets in Carthage and operated without a director until Brian and Marilyn Bisbee were hired to be the executive directors. In 2009, the center moved to a much larger 43,000-square-foot home at Central and Main streets. Benton and his wife were hired in 2015, and Benton announced in November he was leaving to focus on his ministry at the First Baptist Church in Jasper.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tampa Bay leaders see anxiety, confusion over White House funding pause
From college campuses to city halls to nonprofit offices, leaders across Tampa Bay were left unsettled by the possibility of losing billions in federal funding Wednesday evening after a frenetic 48 hours of confusing and contradictory messaging from Washington D.C. The White House budget office on Monday ordered a pause on all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government, calling in a memo for federal agencies to perform a 'comprehensive analysis' to ensure that grant and loan-funded programs were aimed at diversity, equity, inclusion and 'woke gender ideology.' Until that review was complete, federal agencies were instructed to 'temporarily pause' all financial assistance. The White House rescinded the order Wednesday after a D.C. court temporarily blocked the move. But not before a swath of organizations that rely on federal funding had to spend a couple of days wondering what might happen if they lost it. 'We are breathing a sigh of relief this afternoon,' said Clara Reynolds, president and CEO of Crisis Center of Tampa Bay whose federally funded services range from sexual assault counseling to support groups for veterans and first responders. The week's chaotic messaging highlights how much federal spending touches every corner of the state, and how tenuous that funding now feels for those who rely on it. Roughly 40% of Florida's state revenue in 2022 came from federal funds, according to Pew Charitable Trusts, including Medicaid, income security and COVID-19 aid. The programs and agencies up for review, outlined in a 52-page memo from the White House Tuesday, touch on issues ranging from early childhood learning to cancer research. As soon as the executive order was announced, the phones started ringing at Metro Inclusive Health, a Tampa Bay health services nonprofit that specializes in HIV care. 'It's of grave concern to patients and clients who have been calling frightened and confused,' spokesperson Brian Bailey said. 'Staff are equally concerned about their patients, including the most vulnerable, as well as their own jobs should funds for critical programs be cut.' The memo's lack of clear details and agencies' confused responses indicated that the decision had been made without input from stakeholders, said Jonathan Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education. '(It's) the exact opposite you'd hope to see in terms of decision making,' Fansmith told an online panel of higher education experts Tuesday. 'Agencies themselves are catching up to what the (budget office) memo is saying' On Tuesday night, administrators at Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services received an email from their parent organization directing staff to cease all services to newly arrived refugees. Although the budget office's directive noted that it would not halt support to individuals and that immigration efforts would be on those engaged in criminal acts, the federal government's 'confusing language' had put the organization's funding at risk, said president and CEO Sandra Braham. 'Refugees are not undocumented immigrants (and) did not enter the United States illegally,' President and CEO Sandra Braham wrote in an email to the Tampa Bay Times. 'This cease work order is not only inhumane, but it also puts the onus on nonprofits that are already underfunded while doing the work of our state and federal governments,' Braham wrote. The confusion highlighted just how deeply federal funds reach into Floridians' daily lives. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services alone approved more than $27 billion in funding in Florida. That includes nearly $58 million for research at Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center and $1.7 million for health centers across Pinellas County, according to federal data. Alayne Unterberger, executive director of the Tampa-based Florida Institute for Community Studies, was worried Wednesday that her organization could lose access to a key federal grant. The nonprofit, which provides youth mental health training, was approved last year for a 4-year, $125,000 annual Health and Human Services grant. In her application, she wrote about accommodating Spanish speakers and people with disabilities. The Trump administration's specific target on government programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion made Unterberger wary. 'When you write these federal grants, you have to have a plan for equity and accommodating disabilities,' Unterberger said. 'And that is not DEI. That is a good program.' The freeze may be on hold for now, but more disruptions may be coming. On Monday, the National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation canceled workshops to review grants for the rest of the week to ensure funding decisions meet with new federal guidelines. And Wednesday afternoon, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X that President Donald Trump's executive orders on federal funding' remain in full force and effect and will be rigorously implemented.' For now, local leaders have adopted a 'wait and see' approach to the coming days. 'We are not currently planning anything in reaction to this because we are under the impression that it has been rescinded,' Hillsborough County spokesperson Chris Wilkerson Wednesday evening. St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said in a statement that he understood the uncertainty was 'frustrating for our community,' but that city leaders were 'working across all levels of government to gain clarity on any presidential executive orders.' Until then? 'Right now, it's business as usual,' said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor. Times staff writers Juan Carlos Chavez, Jack Evans, Divya Kumar, Colleen Wright, Colbi Edmonds, Christopher O'Donnell, Shauna Muckle and Jeffrey S. Solochek contributed to this report.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Why we're looking at mental health care in Alabama
Brochures are seen at Crisis Center, a Birmingham-base United Way associated resource serving individuals facing personal crises and mental health issues in central Alabama, on Monday July 3rd, 2023. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) When Alabama lawmakers focus on actual issues, they tend to avoid or overlook specifics. Things like the scope of a problem. Take broadband. For years, state leaders talked endlessly about the need for high-speed internet. Alabama had to push money into broadband, they said, or we couldn't conjure the jobs that put a state legislator's mind at peace. I don't think anyone would oppose better internet access. The problem was that no one could say what exactly the issues were. The state didn't release its own broadband map until 2022. Former Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, once proposed using $800 million of a $1.7 billion COVID aid package to expand broadband, but no one could say if that was enough, too much or too little to wire the state. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX There's similar talk about the importance of supporting access to mental health services. And a similar silence on the details. What exactly are the mental health challenges in Alabama? And where does our state stand in responding to them? Today we're beginning a five-part serieson mental health in our state that tries to answer some of those questions. Broadly speaking, the challenges are many, and the state is still rebuilding from devastating cuts about 15 years ago. Facing shortfalls in the 2009-2010 recession, lawmakers gutted mental health funding. The Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) struggled to recover that lost funding over the past decade. It took over a decade for the department to get back to the funding levels it had in 2008. And in real terms, it didn't get there until 2023. Give credit to legislators for making those investments in recent years. That money is going to build crisis centers, facilities that act as an emergency care system. But there are many other challenges. Getting coverage for mental health services can be difficult. The state lacks an adequate number of providers. There has been an increase in diagnoses of mental health conditions among students since the COVID-19 outbreak. Many people with mental illnesses who end up in jail go through a system that is poorly equipped to provide treatment, medication or the support they need. That can have deadly consequences. There are also innovative programs taking shape in Alabama. Like trying to put mental health professionals in schools to help students. And training law enforcement officers to find the best ways to work with people going through a mental health crisis. Some of the state's challenges don't necessarily reflect problems. It's far better to have students willing to discuss their challenges than biting their lips and imploding, or turning to nonprofessional resources to cope. Still, there are clear steps the state can take to address the issues. Jails cannot be places for people struggling with mental health. In the short term, Alabama legislators should work with counties to improve screening systems and help counties get medication to people in jail, either by stocking it or (more likely) finding ways to deliver medication that people confined prison may already be taking. In the long term, lawmakers need to continue investing in diversion programs and get the criminal justice system out of the business of mental health care. The state also needs to find ways to attract providers to the state. This is already a challenge in bringing medical professionals to Alabama. It's hard to encourage health care workers to come to a state where health care policy seems like an uncle's rant on Facebook. You could offer programs like rural health care incentives the state already extends. Making it easier for people to access mental health services — perhaps through Medicaid expansion — could help on that front. Rebuilding the state's mental health system will be a years-long, and maybe decades-long project, requiring political will and patience to try new things. We hope this series on the issue helps people find that way forward. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
