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Proposal to eliminate Iowa commission could put at risk $14 million in AmeriCorps funding
Iowa Council on Homelessness would also be axed as homeless counts continue to rise
Sep. 24, 2023 5:00 am, Updated: Sep. 25, 2023 7:18 am
Recommendations by a state panel to cut or consolidate more than 100 administrative boards and commissions in Iowa could put more than $14 million in federal funding at risk to local nonprofits and public entities.
And it may hinder efforts across the state to identify issues, raise awareness and secure resources to provide safe and affordable housing at a time when homelessness in the state and across the country is on the rise, according to federal, state and local nonprofit leaders.
A state panel released recommendations at the end of August to cut or consolidate Iowa’s 256 existing boards and commissions. The action is part of Gov. Kim Reynolds’ state government reorganization plan, signed into law earlier this year.
Among the boards and commissions proposed to be eliminated is Iowa’s Commission on Volunteer Service, also known as Volunteer Iowa. The 19-member commission appointed by the governor is in charge of overseeing federal funding through the AmeriCorps program in Iowa.
Boards and Commissions Review Committee to hold final meeting Monday
A state panel tasked with reviewing Iowa's boards and commissions and recommending some for elimination or consolidation will hold its final meeting at 10 a.m. Monday. The meeting will be held in the Old Supreme Court Chamber at the Iowa State Capitol.
Members of public interested in attending virtually should email kollin.crompton@governor.iowa.gov to receive additional information.
The committee will discuss the draft report of its final recommendations to the governor and the state Legislature. The committee is required to submit its final report to Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature by Sept. 30.
In the committee's preliminary recommendations, it proposed cutting or consolidating more than 100 state boards and commissions. Dozens of affected members and stakeholders showed up at a public hearing this month and argued against eliminating some boards.
Federal statute requires states to have a state commission to remain eligible for these funds, which are distributed to address “critical community needs,” from construction of low-income housing to after-school programming to local disaster response to local food pantries.
In May, the commission announced it was awarding 21 grants to AmeriCorps state programs in Iowa totaling $9.45 million in federal grants, including Habitat for Humanity of Iowa, Green Iowa AmeriCorps at the University of Northern Iowa, Disaster PrepWise at the University of Iowa and Iowa Afterschool STEM AmeriCorps.
2022-2023 Volunteer Iowa AmeriCorps Service Site Map
The commission also announced $4.85 million in Segal Education Awards, which are given to former AmeriCorps members to pay back student loans or to pay for current education expenses.
Those federal funds — totaling $14.3 million — could be at risk if the commission is eliminated, said Rachel Bruns, chief engagement officer of America’s Service Commissions. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organization represents and promotes state service commissions across the United States and its territories which oversee AmeriCorps.
The result would “create an unintentional and devastating impact on the nonprofit community across the state of Iowa,” Bruns wrote in a letter to Iowa’s Boards and Commissions Review Committee.
Bruns said members of the review committee have not responded to her requests to speak with them about the recommendation.
She said she has spoken with Volunteer Iowa board members and grant recipients who were caught off-guard by the recommendation to eliminate the commission, which has historically benefited from “strong bipartisan support.”
“There has never been any indication that there would be any reason to see a recommendation like this,” Bruns said.
Former longtime Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, established the commission in 1994. And Gov. Reynolds and Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg have been long-standing champions of the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service and regularly participate in their programs, including the Governor’s Volunteer Awards.
South Dakota only state without a service commission
David Faith, deputy attorney general and subcommittee member of the review of Iowa’s human services boards and commissions, said during last month’s meeting the subcommittee’s recommendation came because members found that AmeriCorps grants could be distributed to Iowa organizations through other means, according to reporting from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Faith said the recommendation was proposed after subcommittee members “discovered that this can be handled at the agency level,” and that an “alternate structure for applying for these grants can be created.”
Faith did not responded to a request for comment on the recommendation.
“The Committee has looked into this and believes there is a solution that will not impede future federal funding,” Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen, chair of state Boards and Commissions Review Committee, said in an emailed statement. “More will be discussed at the Boards and Commission Review Committee meeting on Monday.”
Bruns said it is possible for Iowa to apply for an “alternative administrative entity.” However, that entity would need federal approval and would still require a board.
While individual organizations in Iowa could still apply for AmeriCorps funds if the commission were eliminated, she said, the state would automatically lose roughly $3 million to $4 million in formula funding. It would also mean the Iowa organizations currently receiving AmeriCorps state funds would have to apply directly, which means competing with large national nonprofits and other state service commissions across the country through the federal funding process.
“Generally speaking, a smaller community-based nonprofit in Iowa would probably not be able to compete,” Bruns said.
It would also disqualify the agency overseeing the administrative entity from receiving AmeriCorps funding, Bruns said.
So, for example, should the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services become responsible for distributing AmeriCorps funds, HHS programs currently receiving grants could no longer receive funding or participate in those programs under federal statute.
An HHS spokesperson said the agency is watching the recommendations closely, but could not speculate on impacts to programs and services.
The committee’s final recommendations will require legislative action to implement.
Only one state, South Dakota, does not have a state commission to distribute AmeriCorps funding, Bruns said. As such South Dakota only receives one AmeriCorps grant through the federal program because there is no state commission. Twenty Iowa organizations are currently receiving AmeriCorps funding.
“Currently 90 percent of all AmeriCorps State programs are administered through a state service commission board of commissioners,” Bruns said. “And of those 90 percent of programs, they’re receiving about 75 percent to 80 percent of the total cost of funding. So state service commissions play a really important role in helping to provide training and technical assistance to these organizations to receive these funds.”
Bruns said she hopes the recommendation is a misunderstanding of federal requirements, and that the state panel will change its final recommendation to continue the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services.
Proposal ‘devastating’ for cities, schools and nonprofits
Last year, more than 7,800 people volunteered throughout the state through AmeriCorps, serving at more than 800 locations across Iowa, including schools, food banks, homeless shelters, health clinics, youth centers, veterans' facilities and other nonprofit and faith-based organizations.
Ashley Coffin is director of Green Iowa AmeriCorps based at the University of Northern Iowa. The statewide program focuses on environmental stewardship through conservation efforts, energy efficiency, environmental education and outreach, and disaster response efforts.
The group partners with roughly 25 host organizations — including schools, city governments and nonprofits — each year to place more than 100 AmeriCorps members who serve for 11-month or three-month service positions.
Its funding funnels through Volunteer Iowa.
“And without it, Green Iowa wouldn’t exist, realistically,” Coffin said. “The reality is our AmeriCorps grant, which funds over 50 percent of our total funding as a program, all has to funnel through Iowa’s state commission. … They are just a key step in the process for organizations like ours to access federal funds that are serving Iowans. It would be really, really devastating for us to see something like the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service be eliminated.”
Like Bruns, Coffin said she hopes the recommendation to eliminate the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service is a misunderstanding and that the state panel will reverse its recommendation.
Jeff Capps is executive director of the Iowa Children’s Museum in Coralville. It serves as the fiscal sponsor for an after-school science, technology, engineering and math program that relies on AmeriCorps volunteers and funding.
“After-school programs are only becoming more and more needed,” he said. “Engaging those children in programs that are effective and having somewhere safer for them to go — that’s just critically important. Programs like the one we support with AmeriCorps are doing that work day in and day out, and are ensuring these kids have great opportunities and parents and families have the peace of mind that their kids are not just being cared for, but that they’re having a wonderful, nurturing experience.”
Capps fears the “tremendous negative impact if” Volunteer Iowa “were to dry up or be diminished in any way.”
“Volunteer Iowa is a central part of making that (STEM after-school program) go. In fact, they are the drivers of that program,” he said. “It’s a federal program, but there has to be … strong oversight and there has to be strong support at the state level to be a unified program and program that’s going to be successful.”
As homeless counts rise, proposal would cut Council on Homelessness
The Boards and Commissions Review Committee also recommended eliminating the Iowa Council on Homelessness.
State and local housing advocates warn eliminating the statewide planning and coordinating body could leave Iowa open to missing federal resources to combat homelessness at a time when shelters across the state are full and needs for safe, affordable housing are rapidly increasing.
Homelessness in cities and states across the country, including in Linn and Johnson counties, is on the rise following the end of federal pandemic aid.
Organizations that count homeless people have seen increases in the number of unsheltered individuals in Linn and Johnson counties.
Homelessness rates nationally and locally have been climbing since 2017. The number of people living outdoors in Cedar Rapids has more than quadrupled during that time.
More than 2,400 people were homeless on a given night in Iowa, according to National Alliance to End Homelessness data.
As the state’s only official body charged with providing counsel to the governor and legislature on policies to address homelessness in Iowa, the recommendation “seems like it’s probably not the right move,” said Dan Garrett, chair of the Iowa Housing Partnership.
The group advocates for policy and legislation to increase accessible, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households in Iowa.
“What I can tell you from a national viewpoint and a statewide standpoint is homelessness is reaching critical levels, and it seems premature to remove something” that serves as a “conduit to have serious discussions about how we address homelessness in the state of Iowa.”
Tim Wilson, chair of the Iowa Council on Homelessness, said state staffing to address homelessness is limited and spread across multiple agencies. Without it, there would be no forum for coordinating communication and resources, leaving Iowa open to missing opportunities for much-needed federal resources.
Governance and funding streams for federal Housing and Urban Development programs in Iowa are currently divided among four different units. The council provides a venue for statewide planning and coordination leading to more efficient and effective use of limited resources, Wilson said.
Additionally, the council has undergone extensive revision of its structure in the past three years to streamline, expand and coordinate services and resources.
“Eliminating the Council before it has a real chance to demonstrate added value under the new structure does not make sense,” the council wrote in a statement to the Boards and Commissions Review Committee.
The 20-member council holds bimonthly meetings attended by homeless service providers in Iowa and individuals who have experienced homelessness.
“The ICH is unique in its purpose ensuring a regular convening of statewide stakeholders to collaboratively problem solve,” the council said in its letter to the state panel of its recommendation. “In summary, the Iowa Council on Homelessness is neither redundant nor obsolete. The issues we address and the Iowans we serve have no other discussion forum at a time when needs for safe, affordable housing are increasing rapidly.”
Alicia Faust, a Cedar Rapids resident that has worked within homeless services since 2010, echoed the council.
Faust, too, worried elimination of the council would put at risk funding the state receives to support the costs of operations of shelters for people without housing and domestic violence victims, and evaluation and reporting of services for those experiencing homelessness.
“Without an advocating body it leaves Iowa open to missing opportunities for those new and much-needed federal resources to combat homelessness,” Faust said. “The worst case scenario is it puts more pressure on homeless service agencies that are doing the boots on the ground work to also have to engage in advocacy on a higher level to receive more funding … to create and sustain affordable housing across Iowa.”
Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com
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