Jubilee House deals with funding shortages

Services to clients intact

The Jubilee House, which provides advocacy, shelter and counseling for victims of violence in Gunnison County, went before the Board of County Commissioners on Friday to update them on the program. Board members and new executive director Mary Fisher were there at the commissioners’ request as they continue to determine how community-based organizations (CBOs) will be funded through contracts for service instead of a granting process.

“There’s been a little upheaval and uncertainty with Jubilee House,” said commissioner Hap Channell. “We have been strong supporters [of the Jubilee House] in our granting process, and we like the work Jubilee House does with the community, and wanted to find out what was going on.”
“There was no abuse or issues of fraud,” said board member T.L. Livermore. “There was a failure by the [former executive director] to apply for funding that covered 25 percent of the budget, and there is no quick adjustment for that.”
According to Livermore and Fisher, who began working with the Jubilee House on a part-time basis in June, that loss of funding required the elimination of a full-time executive director position for 2011. Fisher and the board also went through the budget line by line to make appropriate cutbacks.
“Has it resulted in cessation of services to clients? For the most part, it hasn’t,” Fisher said.
Fisher assured the Board of County Commissioners that she and the Jubilee House board have established a new, dynamic way of working together so board members are more involved with the funding process. Each of the five board members, she said, has taken responsibility for a different aspect of Jubilee House.
Fisher also informed the board that Jubilee House is expanding services in Hinsdale County and has plans to seek funding there as well as hire a part-time outreach coordinator to expand services to the Hispanic community.
“It’s been a time for the organization to really take a look at its mission, to focus on providing essential services not duplicated by any other nonprofit or agency in Gunnison,” Fisher said.
In the eyes of the Jubilee House board, the essential service they provide is absolute confidentiality for victims of violence—a role that they see as particularly integral to the development a new sexual assault response team in Gunnison County.
After hearing the program update, Channell informed the group that as the Board of County Commissioners transition from a granting process for CBOs to contract for services they would request additional budget information from the nonprofit. That information would inform at which financial level the county funded Jubilee House.
“There is probably not a huge difference in terms of what we ask from you … We’re really interested in the number of clients served and if you have budgetary concerns, how does that affect curbing services. Because that’s what we’re interested in—how is this going to impact the public you serve, and we serve, too.”
“Jubilee House and several others do provide services that are very important in our community, and we can’t provide ourselves…,” added commissioner Paula Swenson. “It’s why we’re moving from CBO to contract for services with these different organizations, because we know we want to continue to have these relationships.”