On March 25, the Somerville Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund Board of Trustees held a meeting to begin brainstorming funding strategies to alleviate potential burdens for organizations that receive such money in the event that federal funding cuts occur.
Co-Managing Trustee Anika Van Eaton said during the meeting that the board should assess what to do regarding the remaining funds on account of a “shifting federal landscape,” which she said has the potential to impact Somerville residents and its workforce industry.
Van Eaton added that Congress is attempting to pass $4.5 trillion in income tax cuts over the next 10 years. Such a bill may impact organizations in the Somerville area, requiring them to rely more on the trust fund.
“[It] would require at least $2 trillion in cuts to a lot of other programs on the higher [education] side,” she said.
In December 2017, the Somerville City Council approved a measure requiring commercial developments larger than 15,000 square feet to pay a $3.10 per square foot linkage fee. The council concurrently created a board of trustees to oversee and appropriate these funds. Since then, the Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund has overseen these funds and distributed them via grants to educational and workforce projects. This funding creates employment opportunities for residents in Somerville.
During the meeting, Rachel Nadkarni, one of the trustees, wondered whether there was a way to “stretch” the money that the fund allocates.
“Are there alternate tools, besides a direct partner funding model, that we might be able to look at that takes the dollars to be collected and helps to stretch [dollars]?” she asked. “But that’s also a little bit of a different way of working than we have been, right?”
Trustee Jacob Luria replied that the board should create more opportunities for employers that work with the fund instead of “necessarily newer activities.”
Trustee Tom Bent similarly said his priority would be to continue with the employers that are already involved in a given program so that employees get to an “end result” regarding their ongoing funded job training.
Van Eaton went on to highlight an additional consideration, noting that some partners who receive federal funding, especially nonprofits, could be impacted.
Van Eaton mentioned a risk posed by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump where organizations “saying anything related to equity, environmental justice or DEI can’t be receiving federal contracts.”
She said such an order puts into question the reliability of federal funding, thus putting more emphasis on the fund’s financing of local projects.
Van Eaton suggested that the board’s priority should be assisting programs that work with immigrants who may be jeopardized because of their status or their family’s status.
“[I’m] thinking about how we can be meeting potential funding deficits within the landscape to support Somerville folks get jobs,” she said.
Trustee Rand Wilson added that Somerville may see a “significant bump” in unemployment if the economy were to tank.
“I would hope that the jobs trust could be there for Somerville residents who experience job loss,” he said.
Workforce Development Coordinator William Blackmer reiterated the importance of seeing people through with regard to their funded programs.
“We don’t want to give an organization two-thirds of the money just for enrolling people because then what’s the incentive to keep them in the program?” he asked.
After discussing various potential considerations and strategies to shore up projects that could face shortfalls in federal funding, the board shifted gears to hone in on a specific approach.
Wilson offered the idea of a needs assessment survey that would be sent to all the stakeholders that the fund has recently supported.
“Just putting that out there to really see what the actual need is currently and to see what they feel the future needs are going to be in the next year or so, given the climate that we have,” he said. “That would help to answer a lot of our questions, I would think.”
Blackmer added that such a survey could focus on the fund’s partners who have received funding in the past.
The board did not decide on a concrete course of action to soften the blow of potential federal funding cuts. However, Van Eaton asserted in a statement to the Daily that as the board continues to explore what flexibility in funding may entail, they will ensure that “funding is responsive to the changing environment to best serve Somerville residents.”
The board then proceeded to approve $65,000 for the Post-Secondary Success Program funds to finance coach salaries. The board also approved $300,000 of funding for an updated child care career advancement initiative before adjourning the meeting.
