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Van Gogh warns loss of WIOA funding will force program cuts affecting hundreds of local youth
Summary
Van Gogh told county commissioners that termination of WIOA support on Aug. 31 will remove roughly one-third of its budget (about $300,000), prompting cancelled programs and reduced offerings unless new grants or donors are secured.
Van Gogh’s executive director told county commissioners that a sudden end to WIOA funds will force staff to scale back services that help vulnerable youth find work and stay in school.
"It's a 3rd of our budget. It's 300,000," Laurie McSorley said, adding that August 31 will be "our last funding date" for WIOA support. McSorley said the loss was unexpected after 23 years of WIOA funding and followed a difficult administrative transition when funds moved from Heartland Works to Kansas Workforce 1.
The funding gap, McSorley said, means Van Gogh has already canceled its year-end pre-employment preparation program, plans to reduce the Arts Train program for 18- to 24-year-olds and will trim the JAMS program by about 5%. "We're just going to need to limit and reduce those programs, unfortunately, which is going to leave a significant number of eligible students without critical services," she said.
Why it matters: Van Gogh positions paid internships and workforce training as economic‑development work as well as youth services. Commissioners pressed the group on short-term contingencies and broader workforce impacts; a sitting county representative on the Kansas Workforce 1 chief elected officials board said recapture of the WIOA funds is unlikely while the statewide structure remains reorganized.
Other partners at the meeting described similar funding volatility. Lacey Maltby, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club, said federal streams such as 21st Century grants, TANF and AmeriCorps have been temperamental and that the club is pursuing partnerships and local revenue streams to stabilize operations. "This proposal is really setting us up for longer term sustainability while we build other funding streams," Maltby said.
Local consequences: Staff and partner agencies emphasized that these programs serve disproportionately vulnerable youth—McSorley said 67% of Van Gogh participants live in low-income housing, 76% have a mental-health diagnosis and 34% have an individualized education program—constraints that make fee-based approaches impractical.
What partners are doing: Van Gogh said it is pursuing other federal and criminal-justice grants, appealing to foundations and cultivating new donors. Other organizations noted collaborative grant writing and cross-agency partnerships (for example, school-district matches for 21st Century programs and in-kind AmeriCorps matches) as immediate strategies to limit service loss.
Next steps: Commissioners urged partners to coordinate on multi-agency grant strategies and to bring concrete budget proposals to upcoming business meetings. Van Gogh said it will use board-designated fund balances as a temporary safety net but that long-term solutions will require new funding commitments.
The discussion serves as a warning sign for local workforce and youth-outcome efforts: with federal funding streams in flux, several community providers said they will need county, foundation or private support to maintain current service levels.
