{"id":34409,"date":"2025-11-14T19:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/34409\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:21:13","slug":"government-cuts-local-impact-mental-health-resources-could-be-jeopardized-by-cuts-budget-impasse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/34409\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Cuts, Local Impact: Mental Health Resources Could be Jeopardized by Cuts, Budget Impasse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Addendum: Nov. 13, 2025: This article was written prior to\u00a0Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro announcing the $50.1B state budget signing into law<\/a>. The deal ends a four-month budget impasse that stopped the flow of millions of dollars of funding to Berks County schools, nonprofits, businesses, programs, and services.<\/p>\n

By Susan Shelly McGovern for Berks County Community Foundation<\/p>\n

Richie Santiago spends five or six hours on most weekdays at the\u00a0Circle of Friends Drop-In Center\u00a0<\/a>on North Fifth Street in Reading, playing pool, chatting with friends, enjoying home-cooked meals, and helping staff members with cleanup chores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from New Jersey and don\u2019t have any family here,\u201d said Richie, who lives near the center. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t have this place to come to, it would hurt. This place benefits me a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richie is one of about 235 people served annually by the center, which is run by\u00a0Community Prevention Partnership\/CHOR<\/a>, an agency that provides a variety of prevention services in Berks and Schuylkill counties.<\/p>\n

\"\"Richie Santiago helps clean up after a Halloween party at the Circle of Friends Drop-In Center on North Fifth Street.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Barbara Werner, executive director<\/a> of Community Prevention Partnership, the Circle of Friends Drop-In Center, which serves people living with chronic mental health conditions, lives up to its name.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides clients with a circle of support,\u201d Werner explained. \u201cNot everyone has a support system they can lean on when something goes wrong, but the center gives them that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, the future of Circle of Friends is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

The center, which normally receives\u00a0Community Services Block Grant<\/a>\u00a0funds \u2013 federal funds administered through states \u2013 is currently being supported by the\u00a0Children\u2019s Home of Reading (CHOR) Youth and Family Services<\/a>, an agency that oversees various organizations, including Community Prevention Partnership.<\/p>\n

CHOR-Youth and Family Services has been forced to pick up the tab because Block Grant money is stalled due to\u00a0Pennsylvania\u2019s budget impasse<\/a>, a stalemate that has prevented many agencies from receiving expected funding since July.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are able to keep the center operating for now because we\u2019re part of a larger organization,\u201d Werner said. \u201cBut I\u2019m not sure that CHOR\u2019s funding can go on indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having to shut down the center, she said, would be extremely detrimental to clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe center helps meet people\u2019s basic needs. We provide meals and social activities and a shower and laundry facilities,\u201d she said. \u201cThat all helps keep our clients as mentally and physically stable as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Widespread Problem<\/p>\n

Pamela Seaman, administrator of the\u00a0Berks County Mental Health\/Development Disabilities Program<\/a>, said the lack of Block Grant funding has caused widespread problems throughout Berks and other counties.<\/p>\n

In addition to Community Prevention Partnership, area agencies providing mental health services that have been affected include\u00a0Threshold Rehabilitation Services, Inc.<\/a>, the county\u2019s\u00a0Crisis Intervention Services<\/a>,\u00a0Connections Work<\/a>,\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of now, we haven\u2019t heard of any of these agencies having to shut down, but we know that some are having to cut services and are worried about how long they can continue operating,\u201d Seaman said. \u201cThose Block Grant funds support a lot of services.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"An inspirational bulletin board created by clients at the Circle of Friends Drop-In Center.<\/p>\n

Dr. Edward B. Michalik, president\/chief executive officer<\/a>\u00a0of Threshold, confirmed that the agency\u2019s residential programs have been affected by the lack of Block Grant funds.<\/p>\n

Those programs include the\u00a0Community Hospital Integration Project Program (CHIPP)<\/a>, which supports individuals with serious mental illnesses who are reintegrating into the community following release from a state mental hospital, and\u00a0Community Residential Rehabilitation Services<\/a>, which provides licensed residential rehabilitation services for individuals.<\/p>\n

Both programs have been very successful over long periods of time, he explained, and discontinuing them is not an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people we serve would be homeless,\u201d Michalik said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the programs are continuing to operate, Michalik has put off making upgrades and improvements to some of the group homes and is looking at the possibility of having to seek a line of credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we need to do that, we\u2019ll have to use money from some of our programming to pay the interest on the loan,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been told that we won\u2019t get reimbursed for the cost of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Clients line up at a food truck at the Circle of Friends Drop-In Center.Four Months is \u2018Long Enough\u2019<\/p>\n

Funding stoppages caused by the state budget impasse may be causing long-lasting damage, but the lack of a state budget is also causing short-term problems, according to\u00a0Berks County Commissioner Michael S. Rivera<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no idea how much money the county will be getting this year,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cWe\u2019re guessing and hoping we\u2019ll get at least as much as last year, but we just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

That makes it nearly impossible to enter contracts or plan for future spending.<\/p>\n

Berks County has reserve funds that are enabling it to continue operations but is losing money it would have earned as interest on those reserves.<\/p>\n

In addition, there is uncertainty over federal funding sources other than through the Block Grant program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s also a day-to-day process of trying to figure out what might happen,\u201d Rivera said.<\/p>\n

While Michalik said he takes no sides on the issue of the budget impasse, he is surprised that state legislators have been unable or unwilling to work together to pass a spending bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what they\u2019re thinking, but this is like a perfect storm that agencies are struggling to weather,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that four months is long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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