"To engage and lead faith communities in Northern Virginia to improve the social condition, dignity, and economic health of those in need among us, and to be an advocate for them."

Community Ministry’s Testimony on Fairfax County Human Services Budget

CM is a 32 year-old association of churches involved with advocacy and organizing churches and church volunteers for direct service. CM's traditional concerns are homelessness, a whole range of affordable housing issues, welfare to work and, more recently the future of youth.

Fairfax County is a county with a large number of affluent families. It can, and has, generally made great strides in providing for the less fortunate among us. But In the past four years we have seen increasing budgetary pressures that threaten those services.

With increasing population and changing demographics even a "status quo" budget for human services is a step backward. CM's Board has considered the "options" for reductions in human services funding and finds some quite alarming. For example:

• Ending subsidized child care for several hundred children (options 65 thru 68)
• Scrapping a pilot after-school program (particularly in light of this Board's concern about increasing gang activity)
• Deferring opening two additional child care centers in the western area of the county (5 and 6)
• Eliminating a dental program for 3,754 low-income children (87) (CM was one of the organizations that was strongly in support of the initiation of this program some years ago).
• Reducing funding for emergency motel placement and housing assistance for homeless families (60 and 61)
• Reducing General Fund support for subsidized housing (44)
• Cuts in services to elderly and disabled still able to live independently--with a little help (58 and 59)
• Reduction in funding a contract with Fairfax Hospital for treatment of AIDS/HIV (86)
• Reductions in staffing of probation counselors detailed to gang intervention activity (90)
• Reductions in Community Services Board funding for programs related to alcohol and drug abuse by teens (122 thru 125 and 128 and 129)
• Elimination of one group home for the mentally retarded and reduction of respite care services for 110 families of mentally retarded (134 and 138)

Incidentally, CM was among the organizations successfully lobbying the state legislature for legislation to enable the provision of group homes in the county

Much is being said these days about congregations and individuals of the Faith Communities taking over human services from the public sector and, in this county, Faith Communities do provide considerable financial and volunteer resources in support of human services, but we do not believe that is realistic to expect that the kinds of service cuts proposed in these options can, or should, be handled by faith communities alone.