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Wheeling Watches For Community Development Block Grant Cuts

Wheeling Health Right, others would feel sting

Photo by Casey Junkins Amanda Cummins, right, a physician’s assistant at Wheeling Health Right, examines patient Tina Serevics. The free clinic received $20,000 worth of federal Community Development Block Grant money this year to help purchase medication.

WHEELING — In recent years, city leaders used federal Community Development Block Grant money for a handicapped-accessible ramp at WesBanco Arena and for restrooms at the Capitol Theatre, but also distributed funds to charitable groups such as Wheeling Health Right and the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless.

In fact, Health Right Executive Director Kathie Brown said the $20,000 in CDBG funds the free clinic received this year can allow officials to purchase up to $500,000 worth of generic medicine because the agency receives such deep discounts on pharmaceuticals.

This year, Wheeling got more than $1 million worth of block grant funds, but city leaders are not sure if they will receive any further CDBG money because President Donald Trump’s budget proposal endeavors to end the program. The president’s budget document states the CDBG program, which began in 1974, is “not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results,” while adding this move would save U.S. taxpayers $3 billion per year.

“These cuts are sensible and rational,” Trump states in his budget plan.

Although both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate would have to agree to Trump’s plan to cut CDBG, Wheeling Economic and Community Development Director Nancy Prager said the city has to prepare for the possibility of going without funding.

“This is the first year we’ve had to prepare this way,” Prager said, adding the city consults with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the CDBG program.

“It would be a huge blow to these low- to moderate-income areas. You would be taking over $1 million away that is used for street paving and to support charitable organizations,” she said.

Prager said areas of the city now eligible for CDBG projects include Wheeling Island, downtown, Center Wheeling, South Wheeling, East Wheeling and North Wheeling.

According to HUD, projects or initiatives must do at least one of the following to qualify for CDBG funds: directly benefit low-to-moderate income residents, prevent or eliminate “slum and blight,” or address a “serious and immediate threat” to the health and welfare of the community.

For the current year, Wheeling has allocated its $1,084,578 of CDBG money as follows:

∫ $334,663 for street paving in qualifying areas; ∫ $216,915 for the full salaries of two city employees and partial salaries of three others; ∫ $200,000 for payments on loans related to the clearing of “slum and blight” for the construction of the Center Wheeling Lowe’s store in 2005; ∫ $9,000 for Grow Ohio Valley gardening group; ∫ $50,000 for improvements to the playground at Heritage Port; ∫ $175,000 for improvements to playgrounds in other qualifying areas; ∫ $4,000 to help the Catholic Neighborhood Center in East Wheeling; ∫ $4,500 to help the Greater Wheeling Coalition for the Homeless; ∫ $2,500 for the Seeing Hand Association; ∫ $15,000 for the East Wheeling public swimming pool; ∫ $33,000 for the Nelson Jordan Center; ∫ $15,000 for the police department; ∫ $5,000 for the Wheeling Human Rights Commission; and ∫ $20,000 for Wheeling Health Right.

Brown said Wheeling Health Right serves nearly 20,000 patients per year with an annual budget of $1.2 million. She said losing the CDBG funding would be “devastating” for an agency already facing an uncertain future.

“It is very concerning. We use that money to purchase medications for medical and dental patients,” Brown said. “We can probably get up to half a million dollars worth of generic medicine with that because we get such deep discounts.”

Brown said with her agency already facing an uncertain future due to the ongoing health care debate in Washington, D.C., losing the CDBG money would be yet another blow to some of the most vulnerable people in America.

“We have patients who work every day — some of them have two, three or even four jobs,” Brown said. “This would be a huge blow to people who are already struggling to get by.”

The federal government has spent over $150 billion on the CDBG program since its inception, Trump’s budget states.

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