Effects Of The Proposed Federal Budget Cuts On Latinos

[Editor’s Note: The Latino Print Network recently sent out an email newsletter detailing the effects of the 2011 proposed federal budget cuts on Latinos, we reproduce that information here.]

Cuts to Head Start directly impact underserved communities

• The Head Start Program gives low-income children in pre-school access to early childhood education and nutrition.
• About 36%, or 400,000, children in the Head Start program are Latino.
• H.R. 1 cuts the program by 20%, ousting 218,000 children and forcing 55,000 layoffs. [Office of Head Start]

Cuts to the Women with Infants and Children (WIC) program will heavily impact many Latino families’ abilities to meet their nutritional needs

• The Women with Infants and Children (WIC) program provides low-income pregnant women, postpartum and breastfeeding women, and infants and children under 5 years of age who are at risk of not having safe, nutritious and balanced meals with nutritious meals, nutrition education and health resources.
• H.R. 1 would cut funding for WIC by $747.2 million
• 59% of Hispanic families with children under the age of five participate in the WIC program

Massive cuts will impact Latinos’ access to higher education: over 1 million Latino college students depend on Pell Grants to pay for their higher education.

• Latinos are 14% of all Pell Grant recipients. [National Center for Education Statistics]
• The House of Representatives spending bill would cut individual Pell Grant awards by $845. [Congressional Research Service]

Cuts will hurt the 1.14 million Latino Veterans:

• Proposed cuts target homeless veterans by eliminating funding for new HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers.
• About 11,000 eligible veterans would be affected [CNN]

Cuts endanger Hispanic Health Services of Latinos:

• Hispanics are the largest group among the uninsured, with 38.9% going without coverage in 2010. [Gallup].

Community Health Centers provide primary care to 20 million Americans with limited financial resources, and are often located in communities that are economically distressed.

• Hispanics are nearly a third of all Community Health Center patients. [NACHC].
• Proposed cuts of $1 billion for community health centers equate to nearly 11 million patients losing health care services and 90,000 fewer jobs in communities with health centers. [Center for American Progress].
• Cuts to USDA’s Commodity Assistance Program will endanger the health of vulnerable low-income Latinos at the time of most need
• The Commodity Assistance Program provides low-income Hispanics with food and nutrition assistance through the Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program, Soup Kitchens or Food Banks, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), disaster support, infrastructure and modernization support, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. [USDA]
• Proposed cuts of $20 million to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program within the Commodity Assistance Program will endanger the health status of the 467,000 low-income individuals that participate in this program each year. [USDA, Food & Nutrition Services]

Cuts to EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Air Act will put Latinos at significant increased riskof developing acute and chronic illnesses like asthma and other pulmonary and respiratory diseases from exposure to air pollution – including greenhouse gases.

• In a major 2006 study, it was found that 30 million Latinos – at that time 72% of all Hispanics in the U.S. – live in areas that do not meet federal air pollution standards for one or more pollutants. Further, over 28 million Latinos lived in areas that do not meet the federal standard for ozone.

Cuts to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) will deprive the most vulnerable in society of food and shelter.

• EFSP provides shelter, food and supportive services for the nation’s hungry, homeless, and people in economic crisis.
• Proposed cuts of 50% to EFSP will impact Latinos particularly hard during the current economic climate, considering Hispanics are being hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis and face unemployment rates above 15%.

Cuts to the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) will result in greater unemployment among older adults.

• SCSEP provides subsidized, service based training for low income persons 55 or older who are unemployed and have poor employment prospects, with the goal of placing 30 percent of its participants into unsubsidized employment each year.
• SCSEP serves a large number of Latinos
• H.R. 1, which proposed cutting funding for the program in half, would result in less training and less employment opportunities for older adults.

Cuts to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of University Programs will hamper college and university involvement in Latino community development.

• H.R. 1 zeroes out the Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities program which provides competitive grants to HSIs to assist in local community development.
• This cut hurts both already underfunded HSIs and the low-income communities they serve.
• Riders that block funding for expenditures on particular government activities would have a disproportionate impact on the Latino community:

USCIS Citizenship and Immigrant Integration Grants were prohibited from appropriations by one rider added to H.R. 1.

• These grants help fund programs to teach immigrants citizenship classes, integrating new Americans into U.S. society and enabling them to be more successful U.S. citizens.
• One environmental rider in H.R. 1 would prevent EPA from limiting toxic emissions from cement plants, stopping the agency’s efforts to keep 16,000 pounds of mercury a year out of the air, with obvious detrimental impacts on public health, especially for Latinos, who suffer disproportionately from mercury exposure due to proximity to environmental justice sites.
• Another environmental rider in H.R.1 would prohibit the federal government from paying the legal fees of individuals or citizens groups that successfully sue it under environmental laws. The impact of this rider would be devastating for many low income and minority populations that cannot seek justice through legal action if they and their attorneys receive no compensation should they win environmental justice cases.

Recommended FY2011 Funding Levels for Programs Important to the Latino Community

EDUCATION

• William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Programs: $100 million
• Head Start: $10.9 billion
• Title III of the ESEA: Language Acquisition State Grants: $850 million
• Title I, Part C, ESEA: Migrant Education Program: $475 million
• Federal TRIO Programs: $937 million
• Special Programs for Migrant Students (HEA IV-A-5): High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP): $50 million
• Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• Title V, Part A of the HEA (undergraduate support): $175 million
• Title V, Part B of the HEA (graduate support): $100 million
• Adult Basic Literacy Education Grants (Title II of the Workforce Investment Act): $750 million
• Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR-UP): $400 million
• Development of STEM and Articulation programs (371-b-2-B.): $100 million
• Pell Grants: maintain the maximum individual award at $5,550

LABOR

• Senior Community Service Employment Program: $600 million
• YouthBuild: maintain at FY2010 funding level
• Green Jobs Innovation Fund: maintain at FY2010 funding level
• Career Pathways Innovation Fund: maintain at FY2010 funding level
• Reintegration of ex-offenders program: maintain at FY2010 funding level
• Dislocated Worker state formula grant program and the Dislocated Worker National Reserve: maintain at FY2010 funding level

AGRICULTURE

• HSI program under Title VII of the Farm Bill: $9.2 million
• HSI/HSACU Endowment Program: $10 million

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

• Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program: maintain at FY2010 level
• HSI Assisting Communities (HSIAC) under the Office of University Partnerships: $6 million

HOMELAND SECURITY

• FEMA’S Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP): $200 million

HEALTH

• Women with Infants and Children Program: $7.4 million
• Commodity Assistance Program: $ 250 million
• Community Services Block Grant under the Administration for Children and Families: $ 350 million
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): $ 3.8 billion
• Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) under the Administration for Children and Families: $2.9 billion
• Title X of the Public Health Service Act: maintain funding at FY 2010 levels