Officials hope for help raising operating funds

A public meeting to save the center will be at 7 p.m. Monday.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The chairman of the Rebecca Williams Community Center's board of directors is hopeful that local residents will support the center and restore it to financial health.
"We are at a critical stage, but we do feel confident that the community will surround us, and we think that we can get back on a solid footing," said Hugh Evans.
Faced with a financial crisis, the 81-year-old center closed Wednesday, laying off its staff. Evans said he hopes it can reopen in two to three weeks.
While closed, the center will be engaged in strategic planning and fund raising, said Lynncheryl Gadson, its executive director.
"Hopefully, we'll have an infusion of some cash that we can open the doors back up with because that still is the critical issue -- the cash flow," she said.
What's needed
The center estimates it needs about $200,000 to sustain its operations over the next six months.
A public meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday in the center's "club" building at 760 Main Ave. S.W. The meeting will address the center's financial crisis and strategies for overcoming it.
Center officials said the financial predicament stems from a decline in federal, state and local funding, along with a decline in donations from individuals and businesses. They said funding from local agencies decreased 30 percent to 40 percent over the past two years.
With a $1 million annual operating budget, the center receives funds from United Way, Trumbull Lifelines and the United Methodist Church. "We've had declines from all of our major funders," Evans said.
Owes on mortgage
The center owes $279,000 on a mortgage for its education building at 421 Main Ave. S.W. -- a renovated former hardware store the center began occupying five years ago when it outgrew the "club" building. The center has met all its payrolls, but couldn't continue to do so, Gadson said.
The nonprofit center, which serves about 1,600 students a year, offers early childhood education, tutoring, family counseling, a job readiness program, gymnasium programs, a summer camp and tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse prevention programs.
"That would be a blow" if the center couldn't reopen, said Mayor Michael O'Brien. "They do a great job with the youth in the community, and they've been doing it for 80 years."
If the center fails to reopen, the clientele would have to be accommodated in board of education-sponsored after-school activities, O'Brien said. "In the last 10 years, if you are a nonprofit agency in the state of Ohio that relies on state and federal funding, you're in trouble because of the state cuts and the federal cuts."
To cut expenses, the center has reduced staff by the equivalent of 10 full-time positions over the past two years, bringing it to the equivalent of 15 full-time staff members when it closed, Gadson said. It has also cut employee health benefits and made employees pay more of the cost of health coverage. The center is considering consolidating operations into one building.
Grant applications
To generate more revenue, the center needs to hire a grant application writer to capture more grants for its programs, and plans to collaborate with other agencies to get major grants, she said.
Because it serves a low-income population, the center is reluctant to raise charges for programs that have participant fees, Gadson said.
"Our staff is very dedicated. The children and teens come here every day, and we've made a lot of impact on a lot of kids," Gadson said. "We all have a mission here that we should embrace in our hearts as a community."
milliken@vindy.com