The $200,000 grant will go to the Cape Fear Continuum of Care, a governmental organization that serves as a pass-through for state and federal money that provides services for the homeless.
The Endowment’s announcement came on the heels of the new New Hanover County budget, which cut $27,300 allocation to the CoC.
But Homeless Services Director Andrea Stough says the timing is a coincidence — the CoC had applied for the grant last year, and didn’t know it was on the chopping block at the county.
“So that's challenging, for sure. And then there's just a lot of uncertainties around all of our funding sources right now," she said.
The CoC's budget is under $200,000 annually, but its role as the lead agency allows it to direct $800,000 in federal and state grants each year. Without a lead agency to do that, the grants would go to other communities.
It’s unclear whether cuts at the federal level will impact the CoC, but Stough remains committed to the key services the organization provides, including the Coordinated Entry system.
That’s what the endowment grant is meant to sustain: a universal database of every homeless person accessing services, which can help organizations work together and avoid duplicating efforts.
"HUD asked each COC to have a coordinated approach to make sure that folks are accessing the system so that they have equity. It's a fair and transparent process that we are serving the most vulnerable," Stough explained.
The Endowment grant may allow the CoC to staff up, meaning they can place staff in the Day Shelter, alongside street outreach staff, and in homeless shelters to run evaluations and get the unhoused on appropriate waiting lists. But with cuts at the county and the federal level, the Endowment grant may be what sustains the CE program at current levels, rather than allowing it to grow.
"I want to be very clear that the budget piece hasn't been worked out yet, because we just found out we got it, and have been recalibrating for some other losses that we weren't anticipating," she explained.
And Stough is hopeful that there will be more funding for direct services: there still just aren’t enough services to go around, she said.
“We're kind of the waiting room and trying to get folks to all of these different community partners," she said. "And so we know, no matter how effective the waiting room is, no matter how pleasant the waiting room is, we still need places for those folks to go.”
