S
ome Jewish communal agencies
in Metro Detroit are holding their
breath as Democratic Gov. Gretchen
Whitmer and the Republican-led legisla-
ture continue to hammer out state budget
issues.
The reason for their angst is an item in
the Department of Health and Human
Services’
(DHHS) budget for state
funding of various human service agen-
cies, like the Arab Community Center
for Economic and Social Services, the
Chaldean Community Foundation, the
Arab American-Chaldean Council and the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
As of now, those organizations stand to
lose half the funding they usually get from
the state.
For the Jewish community, the impact
would be about $2 million that is usu-
ally allocated to Jewish
Family Service, JVS, Jewish
Community Center, JARC,
Kadima and Friendship
Circle, according to David
Kurzmann, senior director,
community and donor rela-
tions at Federation.
“Not a single cut has been made in any
of these agencies,” Kurzmann said. “We’
re
still hoping these funds are restored.”
Also in limbo is the Holocaust
Memorial Center in Farmington Hills,
which stands to lose $500,000 in state
funding if negotiations fail between the
governor’
s office and the state legislature
to address the issue in supplemental
spending bills.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Historically, both political parties have
supported state funding for these kinds
of human service agencies, the Holocaust
Memorial Center and other entities, like
the Charles H. Wright Museum of African
American History and the Arab American
National Museum in Dearborn. However,
this year’
s budget process was somewhat
unusual.
One week before the budget deadline,
the Republican-led legislature sent its
$59.9 billion budget to Whitmer, with-
out her input, after budget negotiations
between the two had broken down during
the summer.
To meet the budget deadline and avoid
a government shutdown, Whitmer line-
item vetoed nearly $1 billion of the nearly
$60 billion budget and shifted $625 mil-
lion within state departments through
the State Administrative Board to better
reflect her priorities. Whitmer then said
she wanted to negotiate a supplemental
spending bill with Republicans to allocate
the $947 million left over after her vetoes.
MULTICULTURAL SERVICE
AGENCIES MONIES
According to State Sen.
Jeremy Moss, D-11th
District, the Republican
budget did not provide
enough funds for the state
to meet new Medicaid work
requirements, which is why
Whitmer transferred funds within the
DHHS budget, resulting in the loss of
funding for multicultural human service
agencies.
Whitmer’
s Communications Director
Zack Pohl said in a statement to the
Jewish News: “The budgets passed by
the Republican legislature were fatally
flawed and included massive cuts to
essential state services that would force
tens of thousands of Michiganders to
lose access to health care and jeopardize
public safety.”
According to State Rep.
Ryan Berman, R-39th
District, who says he supports
state funding for multicul-
tural organizations, it was
included in the Republican
budget. “Whitmer used the
Administrative Board to transfer the money
to her other funding priorities,
” he said.
According to Pohl, Whitmer supports
funding for multicultural service agencies
“and her budget reflected those priorities,
”
he said. “The governor had to make tough
decisions to keep our families and commu-
nities safe and help Michiganders access
critical services that they rely on every day.
”
Moss said he has been assured by the
governor that restoring the funds is a pri-
ority.
“Programs created by these multicultural
organizations serve vulnerable populations
by helping people before they need state
support, saving the state money in the long
run,
” Moss said. “This must be addressed
quickly so Federation can continue to pro-
vide support to vulnerable members of our
Jewish community.
”
Kurzmann said Federation is hopeful the
cuts will be restored. “We don’
t think this is
a done deal. We’
re doing everything we can
to get the funding restored, working with
allies in both parties, and we’
re under the
impression there is a desire to resolve this
matter.
”
According to Pohl, “Gov. Whitmer is
already working with Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr.
to pass a supplemental (bill) that includes
Republican and Democratic priorities and
would restore funding for the multicul-
tural service agencies. If Republicans are
serious about restoring this funding, they
should work with the governor to pass this
important supplemental.”
22 | OCTOBER 31 • 2019
Kurzmann
Berman
Moss
BY ANMANWELL
State Budget Woes
JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jewish community stands to lose funding if Gov.
Whitmer and Republicans don’
t negotiate.
Jews in the D
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