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Proposed Trump cuts would hit Ashland Wednesday Mar 22, 2017 at 9:54 AM Mar 22, 2017 at 9:54 AM By Damian Mann for the Daily Tidings Local officials are bracing for the possible end of a federal grant program that has helped communities, including Ashland, enhance programs for everything from homeless teens to local parks. "The community is very anxious, waiting to find out what will happen," said Linda Reid, housing program specialist with the city of Ashland. "We don't have the money to backfill those services." Under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, the nationwide $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program would end. The 42-year-old program helps pay for services such as Meals on Wheels in many parts of the country. In 2016, Ashland received $158,000 from Community Development Block Grants, a portion of which pays for a school coordinator with the Maslow project to help homeless teens. "They may not be able to have a staff person in the schools," Reid said. In years past, the grants have helped leverage dollars for low-income housing projects, including helping build a 60-unit apartment complex on Clay Street in Ashland. The city of Medford, Jackson County Housing Authority and other local programs receive Community Development Block Grants, which are essentially taxes returned to cities to pay for local programs. Medford gets an average of $600,000 annually in federal Housing and Urban Development block grants, which help improve neighborhood parks, build sidewalks and improve accessibility for persons with disabilities. Some of the dollars go toward the Housing Authority of Jackson County, which has a zero-interest homeowner loan program for repairs such as roofs, plumbing and heating and making a home accessible for people with disabilities. Over the past 20 years, the Medford Senior Center has received about $400,000 in block grants, which have helped pay for a new heating and air conditioning system, roof and parking lot. Jackson Park, adjacent to Jackson Elementary School and the Jackson Aquatic Center off Summit Avenue, received $45,000 worth of new equipment last year, paid for mostly by block grant dollars. Other federal grant programs, including from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, may also get cut under the Trump budget. FEMA helps pay for local food bank programs, including at St. Vincent de Paul. "It's going to be a huge blow to all of the nonprofits across the country," said Rich Hansen, who volunteers as a grant writer at St. Vincent de Paul. "I continue to be optimistic we will get some of the money." His organization received $42,000 for its food pantry and $5,200 for its kitchen from FEMA grants in the current fiscal year. In addition, St. Vincent gets another $20,000 to $25,000 for both Ashland and Medford in block grants. "It is a phenomenal program and does kick-start projects," Hansen said. "We have a very aggressive program that takes people off the streets and puts them in apartments." Food and Friends, which is the local version of Meals on Wheels, typically serves more than 231,000 meals to approximately 3,026 seniors in Jackson and Josephine counties each year. Jackson County seniors received 147,399 meals, and Josephine County seniors got 83,693 meals.  Michael Cavallaro, executive director of the Rogue Valley Council of Governments, said his organization's Food and Friends program is not funded through block grants. But he said he's concerned about a proposed cut of 16.2 percent to the federal Department of Health and Human Services, where his senior meals program gets its funding. President Trump’s Budget Director Mick Mulvaney recently suggested that at-risk programs such as Meals on Wheels are ineffective, drawing criticism from Meals on Wheels programs in many states. "Mulvaney made significantly uninformed comments about the senior meals program," Cavallaro said. "We know how effective the program is." While Food and Friends usually doesn't depend on block grants, it did receive approval for an $841,000 grant for a new site to prepare meals for the program in Grants Pass. Food and Friends raised more than $500,000 in donations for the kitchen facility and dining hall, Cavallaro said. Block grants also help other organizations, including ACCESS Inc. with its housing weatherization program, Cavallaro said. "Without the CDBG funding, it would wreak havoc on our communities," he said. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.