Fearing funding cuts at the Five Towns Community Center

Cuts in funding for youth services that are provided by many Nassau County-based, private youth, mental-health and addiction-treatment agencies, including the Five Towns Community Center, would have a drastic impact on the Lawrence-based agency’s infrastructure and the community it serves, Executive Director Bertha Pruitt says.

When the cuts might be made remains unclear as the County Legislature continues to debate them. More than 1,300 families and children use various youth services at the Five Towns center, including counseling, advocacy, crisis interventions, youth employment, after-school enrichment, athletic programs and summer camp.

If the planned reductions become a reality, the center would lose approximately $400,000, and 65 percent of the staff’s salaries are youth-based. “It affects everything,” said Pruitt. “We would have to look at a different way to conduct business.”

Another agency used by Five Towns residents is the Valley Stream-based Peninsula Counseling Center, which is slated to lose $136,000 for its adolescent-chemical-dependency program, according to Executive Director John Kastan.

Pruitt said that the potential cuts have given her a feeling of helplessness. “You really feel like your hands are tied because it’s a political thing, and it’s hard to make inroads and impact the outcome,” she said. “The staff come to me and expect me to have some news for them, but I don’t. This is the first time we’ve had to deal with staff this way, and it’s very painful, especially when there’s nothing to tell them.”

In June, County Executive Ed Mangano sent letters to 43 private youth organizations and 15 mental-health and addiction-treatment agencies that receive annual county contracts for services, informing them that their funding would be eliminated in less than a month — unless, Mangano said, they could persuade three Democratic lawmakers to side with the Legislature’s 10 Republicans to approve a measure to borrow $41 million to pay the county’s tax-certiorari debts. (A certiorari is a challenge to a property’s assessment.) On July 5, the youth programs and substance-abuse-treatment agencies’ contracts were canceled.

“We will continue the fight to restore the funding of Nassau County youth and other community services,” said Peter Levy, president of the Coalition of Nassau County Youth Services Agencies. “Closing our doors will have devastating and detrimental impacts on the lives and futures of thousands from Nassau County’s most vulnerable populations. By cutting these programs, our elected officials will cost the county and taxpayers much more in both the short and long term.”

Youth Advocacy Counselor Veronica Ortiz, who has been working at the Five Towns Community Center for four years, said she was shocked when she heard about the cuts. “I was worried — not for myself, but for the families and children we service,” she said. “There’ll be a major impact, as kids won’t have a place to go or someone to speak to when they’ve had a rough day, and they might turn to other things that aren’t healthy for them. If the cuts go through, I would hope that people step up and volunteer for the youngsters who need guidance.”

Community center Director Peter Visconti said that the facility has not faced cuts like this from the county since 2000, when a 50 percent cut was proposed. “This is the worst by far,” Visconti said. “In the past we’ve had to do more with less. However, these cuts will decimate services to youth.”

Pruitt and Visconti said they believe children in the community would be severely impacted. “They won’t have a place to come after school and at night,” Pruitt said.

“A lot of kids will be in crisis,” added Visconti.

Danielle Rutledge, a Lawrence High School junior, has taken part in several community center programs in the past two years. “It’s a good way to keep me busy, and I like everything that’s being done here,” she said. “The [programs] keep kids out of trouble and help keep them active.”

To keep their six-week summer day camp running, the community center receives funding from the Nassau County Bar Association, the Inwood Civic Association and Summer Dream, a Five Towns-based organization that raises funds to send local children to camp. “Without these funds, we wouldn’t be able to offer scholarships for children to come to the day camp,” Visconti said.

He and Pruitt said they hope that with strong advocacy, there will be a positive resolution. “We’ve been talking about this for a month and a half now,” Pruitt said. “We need to be able to let parents and youth know if they will have services on a regular basis, and inform staff whether they will continue to have jobs with the agency.”

For information about making donations to the Five Towns Community Center to help support programs, contact Pruitt at (516) 239-6244 ext. 234.