It gets old. In another Asheville City Council agenda item, a local “catalyst for individual, family, and community change” informed us it “confronts and solves the problems that cause poverty.” First and foremost of the catalyst’s accomplishments was accepting and spending federal stimulus. Two other activities that made the top of the list were implementing best practices and expanding capacity.
The big change for us in 2009-10 came on the heels of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). As our elected officials and grantors hammered out the details, we evaluated our capacity and beefed up our systems to manage the surge of new funding.
President Obama signed ARRA into law on February 17, 2009. In August, we received our first ARRA grant award – 214,000 for general Head Start operations. In September, we received an additional $740,000 for Life Works. That deal: Hire a new Program Manager and five Coaches, double our customer service numbers and spend it all by September 30, 2010. In November of 2009, state authorities approved our largest ARRA-related grant for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), $1.4 million, which represents 40% of our 3-year allocation.
The organization also upgraded its email to Google.
Accounting for expenditures, the catalyst shares:
With these funds we [after hiring people and giving pay raises] . . . spent over $150,000 on vehicles, high-tech equipment, tools and materials, all of which stimulated private sector production.
On slide 8 of the presentation, it presents a formula for return on investment as well as a verbal explanation. If there is a mathematician who can explain what they are saying, please call us both a psychiatrist.
In return for accepting the money, the organization was subject to ten audits this year, and it celebrated an auditor’s statement that it had complied with GAAP in its presentation of financials.
To me, this says: Close your eyes while you “tax and print” more families to the other side of the poverty margin. I’ve complained enough.
