In a sea of matching teal shirts, dozens of nonprofit groups gathered outside the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in downtown Miami on Wednesday with a stern message for Miami-Dade Commissioners: Funding cuts will hurt the most vulnerable and cost taxpayers more money in the future.
“Let me remind everyone here today that our organizations are not luxuries. We are lifelines,” said Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center Executive Director Gepsie Metellus. “We are essential to our community's well being.”
Metellus was among 63 local nonprofit leaders who have come together as “The Advocacy Collective” to urge full funding restorations to their programs. The current county budget proposal is providing 70% of requested funding, or about $11.6 million of $16 million.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s proposed budget is nearly $13 billion and has said the county is facing a $400 million shortfall because of higher expenditures and the end of COVID-19 pandemic funding dollars from the federal government.
At Wednesday’s press conference, numerous speakers repeated again and again: “70 percent is not enough.”
READ MORE: Community groups, advocates fear Miami-Dade's proposed budget will hurt county's most vulnerable
Miriam Singer, President and CEO of Jewish Community Services of South Florida, which organized The Advocacy Collective, said the proposed budget “slashes essential funding to trusted safety net community-based organizations, the very community based organizations that have served our community with high quality and integrity and results.”
She argues that cutting funding to childcare, food assistance, mental health support and disability programs will cost the county more money in the long-run.
One example is New Hope CORPS, which offers drug abuse services and a residential treatment program. The agency’s executive director, Stephen Alvarez, told WLRN that treating drug offenders — instead of incarcerating them — is more cost-efficient.
“It doesn't make business sense, and it's not humanistic,” said Alvarez, who notes it costs $225 a day to keep someone behind bars.
Fabiana Moran, of the Fellowship House, an organization that supports adults with mental disabilities, told WLRN that her non-profit helps people avoid prison by rehabilitating those with severe mental illnesses.
[A funding cut] is only going to lead to further homelessness [and] persistent mental illnesses, leading to incarcerations,” Moran said.
The second public hearing on the county budget will be held Thursday, September 18 at 5 p.m.
It is at the Stephen P. Clark Center, 111 NW 1st Street, 22nd Floor, Miami, FL 33128.
Learn more about the county budget here. You can find contact information about your commissioners here.
