Type of Organization, April 7 - 13, 1974 50 45 Religion Health Civic/Community Action Citizenship Recreation Social/Welfare 1 Unorganized refers to work performed outside the formal auspices of organizations. OTHER AGENCIES' VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS Mr. SHRIVER. Describe for us some of the volunteer programs in other Federal agencies such as HUD, HEW, and LEAA, which you mentioned. Do you know how much they are spending on those programs? Mr. BALZANO. I am not sure that we have complete information on this. I believe that LEAA is currently spending about $12 million for its citizen's initiative effort with the Office of Priority Programs. While this money does not pay for stipends or out-of-pocket expenses to volunteers per se, and while LEAA may not regard this as a volunteer program, nevertheless the citizen initiative projects do assume that local citizens will come together in various fashions to assess and fight crime on a volunteer basis by such means as assessing police department responsiveness, providing escort assistance for elderly citizens, manning rape crises centers, and serving on crime watch teams. We assume that since citizens are being motivated to assist in the fight against crime, that they are doing so on a voluntary basis. HUD is mandated under the Community Development Act of 1974 to provide certain supportive services to low-income families, such as day care, crime prevention, education, recreation, and job development. We know of one instance where bloc funds from this act are being used by a local prime sponsor in North Dakota to fund the volunteer activities of a Volunteer Action Center. However, the total HUD amount of funding for volunteer efforts is unknown. Under title XX guidelines (HEW/Social and Rehabilitative Services) States are not entitled to funding unless they include a plan for utilizing volunteers in their social service delivery. Activities under title XX include day care (for children and adults), foster care, homedelivered meals, transportation services, etc. At present we understand, from our State program director in North Dakota, that the state has elected to use title XX money to provide second-year funding for the statewide volunteer coordinator (created by ACTION). VISTA Mr. SHRIVER. The cutback in VISTA funding is based on the assumption that the communities will pick up a larger share of the costs. Have the communities told you this? What will be the effect on the number of VISTA volunteers if the communities do not pick up what you now consider to be their share of the cost? Mr. BALZANO. We know from our experience with the program for local service and ACTION cooperative volunteers that there are many community-service and antipoverty agencies which are prepared to share the cost of supporting full-time volunteers to work on antipoverty projects. We have set for fiscal year 1977 relatively modest goals in terms of the number of VISTA volunteers whom we would fund through cost-sharing arrangements with local sponsors. It is an attainable goal. UYA PROGRAM Mr. SHRIVER. I notice that the university year for ACTION program will be terminated in my State under this request. What is your justification for that? Hasn't that been an effective and popular program? Mr. BALZANO. The university year for ACTION project sponsored by Wichita State College has been extremely successful. This project was first funded by ACTION in June 1974. University year for ACTION grants are limited to 3 years unless exceptional circumstances justify continuation for a limited additional period. At the end of three years, the university is expected to be able to continue the program without further Federal financial support. Because the program at Wichita State College has shown strength, we have every reason to believe that the project can be institutionalized by the end of the normal 3-year grant period, June, 1977. Our budget for fiscal year 1977, which reduces the number of schools in the program from 63 to 35, doesn't provide funds for a fourth-year grant to any school. Considering our projected commitments in region VII during fiscal year 1977, we will not have funds for another school in Kansas. It would, however, be our plan to fund other schools in Kansas in future fiscal years or in the event that additional funds become available to the university year for ACTION program. OLDER AMERICAN STIPENDS Mr. SHRIVER. You say you considered and rejected increasing the stipends under the older American volunteer programs. How much are those stipends? Mr. BALZANO. We had to make a difficult choice between increasing the stipend and offering an opportunity to serve to the maximum number of older Americans our funds will provide for at the current level of the stipend. We chose the latter course. The stipend for foster grandparents and senior companions will remain at $1.60 per hour or $1,670 per year per volunteer. ACTION has decided, however, to increase the daily transportation allowance of volunteers from $1.35 to $1.75 a day. BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS Mr. SHRIVER. Tell us about your efforts under the special volunteer program to help business and professional volunteers perform useful services in their communities. You mentioned it briefly in your state ment. Mr. BALZANO. ACTION implemented a new effort called fixed income counseling, utilizing the skills of business volunteers to respond to the critical needs of people on fixed incomes and those on incomes below the poverty level. These programs, in operation a year or less, have been conducted in three States-Florida, California, and Colorado. In Denver, Colo., for example, more than 1,000 copies of bilingual brochures have been distributed providing guidance to persons on fixed incomes in the use of existing social resources. Through the adult education tutorial program, counseling sessions have been presented in three languages (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese). Hispanic parents have been provided coloring books on nutrition with Spanish and English texts for their children. High nutrition, low-cost lunches have been provided older persons as a tangible example of what could be eaten over a period of a day. In this project, 80 volunteers have provided counseling to over 3,000 persons in the period of 1 year. AUTHORIZING LEGISLATION Mr. SHRIVER. In closing, it would seem to me that a lot of this request is based on assumed legislative activity which will probably never happen. You are now by law required to put higher sums into some of these programs, such as VISTA and the University Year for ACTION. Do you have contingency plans for fiscal 1977 in case Congress decides to continue those legislative requirements? Mr. BALZANO. If the Congress continues those legislative requirements and appropriates the amount we request for title I programs, the only possible contingency plan is to use the entire amount on VISTA and discontinue our other title I activities. Public Law 93-113 gives us no flexibility and permits no other course of action. ANTIPOVERTY EFFORTS Mr. CONTE. Does this budget tend to shift the focus of ACTION's programs away from the antipoverty effort? Mr. BALZANO. Under this budget, we estimate that 83 percent of ACTION's domestic program budget would be committed to helping the poor. Although total resources for ACTION's domestic programs are reduced, there is no reduction in the percentage of resources to be committed to combating poverty. THREE-YEAR ACCOMPLISHMENTS Mr. CONTE. Dr. Balzano, you have been director for 3 years. What are your major accomplishments? Mr. BALZANO. They fall in two areas: programs and management. In the program area, we have these major accomplishments: The number of volunteers supported by ACTION has grown substantially. The preexisting programs which were transferred to ACTION have been made more effective. Significant new programs have been developed, providing enlarged opportunities for volunteer service. Among them are: the youth challenge program which provides service-learing involve ment of high school age young people; the senior companion program which broadens the array of service opportunities open to low-income senior citizens; and, the program for local service which leads to a very substantial reduction in the rate of youth unemployment while accomplishing needed community services. ACTION has strengthened the volunteer movement outside. Government by technical assistance and encouragement facilitating its expansion and increased effectiveness. In the management area, I would suggest the following areas of major accomplishment: Responsibility has been decentralized and with it, our field operations have been strengthened. An integrated programing and training system has been installed to improve the efficiency of our operations. By comparison with other Federal agencies, we have attained a very good record of employment and advancement opportunities for women and minorities. VISTA Mr. CONTE. I was impressed last year to hear you state that VISTA was fielding more volunteers than ever before. Now you're cutting VISTA. Have you become disenchanted? Mr. BALZANO. Not at all. The results of the VISTA program have been impressive. The cuts which we are proposing in VISTA-like the cuts in ACTION's service learning programs and special volunteer programs are required by the 10 percent reduction in the Agency's budget for its domestic operations and by the decision to expand its programs for older Americans. We propose to cushion the effect of the substantial cut in VISTA funding by introducing a grant-in-aid mechanism and cost sharing by local sponsors in the VISTA program. STATE VOLUNTEER COORDINATORS Mr. CONTE. What evidence do you have of success in the State volunteer coordinator program? Mr. BALZANO. As you will recall, Mr. Conte, this program was developed in cooperation with the National Governor's Conference which provided substantial assistance in the design of the program. ACTION began the State volunteer coordinator program to further opportunities for part-time volunteer service through grants to the States for the purpose of stimulating voluntarism through State offices providing coordination and technical assistance for local volunteer efforts. To date, 25 States are actively involved in providing conferences, workshops, and communication to all levels of voluntarism throughout the State. MINIGRANTS Mr. CONTE. What are typical programs financed by ACTION's minigrants? Mr. BALZANO. The minigrant program provides grants up to $5,000 for public and private volunteer organizations for the purpose of mobilizing part-time volunteers on short-term projects. In your State, Mr. Conte, in Marlboro, Mass., the Marlboro Girls Club was aided by 67-529 O-76-56 |