Six clubhouses, including one in Juneau, have already been shut down. Another 12 to 15 face major cutbacks, if not actual closure, said Boys and Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska chief executive John Oates.
Most of those affected are in the Bush.
"This is a very painful process," said John Dede, chair of the Southcentral Alaska chapter board. He said long-held assets are being sold in the scramble to pay debts already accrued.
The clubhouses say they are suddenly facing dire straits after learning federal Department of Justice grants, which they had come to rely on, won't be given out this year.
"It's stunning to us," said Alaska board member Cheri Gillian after learning the nonprofit wasn't getting the money. "It is really, really a difficult spot."
The six clubhouses already closed are in Juneau, Tyonek, Copper Center, Galena, Kivalina and Wrangell. Oates wouldn't say which of the other 12 to 15 are threatened if they can't come up with alternative sources of funding.
The Alaska congressional delegation and local Alaska politicians are taking note and have offered to see what they can do, but they it's unlikely they will be able to reinstate the Department of Justice money.
RAPID GROWTH
There are about 50 clubhouses around the state. Many sprang up over the past decade after aggressive growth, largely fueled by an influx of federal dollars earmarked to spread the clubs into the Bush.
"We've been getting the (Department of Justice) money for a number of years, with the direction from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America to expand our service in Alaska," Gillian said.
While clubhouses are encouraged to seek multiple sources of funding, like individual and corporate donations, too, many didn't do so. They became reliant on the grants, which were from the federal Office of Justice Programs.
Those clubhouses that depend most heavily on the federal dollars are the ones most likely to be closed, Oates said.
The budget shortfall for the Southcentral Alaska chapter, which manages all of the clubhouses in the state except for those on the Kenai Peninsula, is $2.3 million of its $8 million cash budget.
The Kenai clubhouses are also facing hard times. Of their $1.3 million budget, they were counting on $250,000 from the feds but only got $42,000, said interim executive director James Clark. The Homer clubhouse's manager will go half-time and programs will be greatly reduced.
"(The budget cuts) have been devastating," said Margaret Anderson, board member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Kenai Peninsula.
FINGER POINTING
The Boys and Girls Clubs focus on but are not exclusively for low-income families. They are places where the kids of working parents can go after school to get assistance with homework, play sports or take workshops. Some charge nominal participant fees for some activities. The Southcentral chapter says it serves 11,000 youths statewide.
Alaska Boys and Girls Club managers blame the national Boys and Girls Clubs organization for not securing the earmark it usually gets from the Department of Justice. They say the national organization messed up by thinking stimulus money it was getting was in addition to the regular Department of Justice funds, when, in fact, the $44 million in 2009 Recovery Act money essentially was replacing the Department of Justice funds.
The stimulus money had a different purpose, the national office says.
"Seemingly, it was either a miscalculation or a miscommunication between Boys and Girls Clubs national and the funding sources," said Dede, the Southcentral Alaska chairman.
But the national organization says that's not the case; they simply didn't get those grants this year, they say, and no chapter should rely on federal government handouts.
"You can't bank on support, really, from any source on a multiyear basis unless funding you receive is a multiyear grant or gift," said Boys and Girls Clubs of America senior vice president Evan McElroy, who is based in Atlanta. "It's an annual, year-to-year situation and that's the way it's been since time immemorial."
"You cannot put all your eggs in one basket because that's just not a smart way to plan," he said.
He said no part of the country has been spared. Clubs across the United States are having budget problems.
COMMUNITY LOSS
Oates said he hopes some of the Alaska closures will only be temporary, but he couldn't tell because it would all depend on coming up with money.
"The deadline is very, very short because every day we are losing more money," he said.
To try to recover the Anchorage-based organization's $650,000 shortfall, Dede said, the organization is selling its vacant land in Midtown, worth roughly $1 million, he said.
The Kenai clubhouses are looking at several ideas to raise money. Anderson would like to see an increase in fees, on a sliding scale depending on income.
Meanwhile, employees and parents of kids who go to the clubhouses are worried.
In some villages, like Kiana, the Boys and Girls Clubhouse is the only place for students to go after school, said Gloria Shellabarger, Kiana's acting tribal director.
The only other sources of funding come through bake sales, basketball game fundraisers and selling sodas and candy at bingo, Shellabarger said.
"The board is certainly going to be looking at a much more focused Alaska strategy," Dede said. "We just can't trust Washington to provide this for us; it's nice and it certainly has funded our growth but this may be our future."
Gillian said membership and attendance are up across Alaska this year. "People need Boys and Girls Clubs more than ever. ... It's a difficult time for families."
The problem right now, Dede said, is that donations to nonprofits are drying up across the board.
Susan Floyd in Galena is one of the clubhouse managers who recently lost the job because of funding cuts. She thinks the program will be sorely missed in the Interior village. "It's really hard after you put your heart and soul into something," she said.
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