Northeast Iowa RSVP would be closed under current federal budget bill

Federal budget cuts could claim another victim in Northeast Iowa.

The Corporation for National & Community Service has been slated to be eliminated under the budget bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives.  Northeast Iowa RSVP (Retired & Senior Volunteer Program) receives 51 percent of their funding through a grant from the Corporation for National & Community Service. 

Northeast Iowa RSVP Project Director Kathy Barloon says the elimination of CN & C funding would drastically affect the operations of the local RSVP program.  Northeast Iowa RSVP serves the counties of Allamakee, Howard and Winneshiek with 259 volunteers serving at 51 different non-profit agencies in the tri-county area.  During the past grant year, these RSVP volunteers provided 21,583 hours of service in Northeast Iowa. 

Across Iowa there are 22 RSVP programs with approximately 6,000 volunteers who provided just over 600,000 hours of service to non-profits in Iowa.  In Iowa alone, RSVP volunteers assisted in filing 7,000 state & federal 2009 tax returns for low income Iowans and delivered 503,386 meals to home bound Iowans while tutoring 2,749 students at local schools. 

Other programs under the Corporation for National & Community Service which are slated to be eliminated are AmeriCorps, VISTA and the other Senior Corps programs, including Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions. 

Barloon says RSVP representatives are talking with Iowa's U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin as well as Representative Tom Latham to help them make an informed decision when voting on cuts for the 2011 budget year.