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Nonprofit Communicare Warns Funding Cut, 250% Lease Increase Would Harm Hundreds of Clients
Summary
More than a dozen speakers urged Cumberland County commissioners to reinstate Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) funds and to reconsider a proposed 250% lease increase for Communicare, citing potential loss of services for hundreds of clients, including youth and people experiencing homelessness or mental illness.
Dozens of residents and partner agencies told the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners they rely on Communicare's behavioral-health services and urged the board to reverse an $86,549 cut to the nonprofit's JCPC allocation and a proposed lease increase that would raise annual rent to $108,705.
Sheila Cuppy, chairwoman of Cumberland County Communicare, said she filed appeals after the JCPC recommendation and asked commissioners to restore funding and reconsider the lease action. "I am concerned that a $250 lease increase along with an $86,549 reduction in funding is disparate treatment of Communicare at the tune of a $153,244 loss," Cuppy said during the public hearing.
Speakers described direct effects they said the cuts would cause. The agency, they said, served 892 clients this year, including 540 youth, and performed 292 adolescent clinical assessments. Sarah Hallock, who spoke for Communicare's programs, told the board the nonprofit is the county's longest-standing JCPC clinical program and "annually, we always serve 70% of the local JCPC population." Several providers and program participants said reductions would force cuts to crisis services, family-based interventions and housing supports.
Multiple clients and former clients gave personal testimony about the agency's role. Roberto Lee Thomas III described being homeless for 20 years before Communicare helped him secure housing and treatment. "You gotta keep helping them," Thomas said, urging the board not to cut support. Other speakers — including representatives from NAMI Cumberland, juvenile-court staff and shelter outreach workers — said cutting Communicare's funding would create systemwide ripple effects, increasing detention referrals, emergency-room use and unmet behavioral-health needs.
Speakers also objected to a board action earlier in May that approved a "resolution of intent to lease" that, they said, would increase Communicare's lease by 250%. Several called that inconsistent with a separate, substantially reduced lease the board approved for a different nonprofit three days later. Communicare leaders said no compliance or quality issues justified the JCPC reduction and asked commissioners to publish the lease terms and restore the funding.
County staff did not announce a decision during the public hearing. Commissioners closed the hearing after public comment and moved into a budget work session. Follow-up actions requested by speakers included reconsideration of the JCPC allocation and formal review of the lease terms and the appeals filed with county management.
The public record from the hearing shows extensive public concern about service disruptions if the reductions stand. Commissioners and staff asked for time to review appeals and budget tradeoffs during the work session that followed.
