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Community Action agency asks Decorah for continued support after Head Start funding cuts
Summary
Trisha Wacken Wilkins of Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation told the council the agency served hundreds of Decorah residents last year, reported a nearly $600,000 state funding cut to Head Start, and requested continued city funding under the agency's dollar‑per‑capita model.
Trisha Wacken Wilkins, CEO of Northeast Iowa Community Action Corporation, provided city officials with program data and a funding request on Dec. 15, saying the agency serves more than 9,000 individuals across seven counties and that, in Decorah alone, community action served 337 individuals last year totaling about $177,000 in mostly federal funds.
Wilkins said the agency's LIHEAP program provided heating assistance to 223 households with a Decorah address totaling about $104,600. She also reported that Head Start programs faced a difficult year after the agency lost nearly $600,000 in state funding, a reduction that led to staff cuts and reduced hours: "Head Start had a tough year... We lost nearly $600,000 in state funds," she said.
Wilkins described the agency's mixture of federal, state, city and donor funding and asked the council to continue local support. She explained her agency's city funding request remains based on a dollar‑per‑capita formula tied to census figures. Council members thanked Wilkins and praised staff and volunteers; no formal vote accompanied the presentation.
Wilkins also described transit and general assistance operations and noted some program reporting limitations when extracting city‑specific figures from county/state databases.
