EVERETT — Deaconess Children’s Services, which began as an orphanage in 1898 and has worked ever since to prevent child abuse and neglect in Snohomish County, will cease operations at the end of this month.
Severe cuts in donations and losses o
f other financial support have left the nonprofit agency unable to fund its programs, said Felicia Freeman, president of Deaconess. All 13 staff members will lose their jobs, she said. The Deaconess headquarters, a two-story office building at 4708 Dogwood Drive in Everett, will be up for sale.
The agency’s board of trustees voted Oct. 5 to close the doors of Deaconess and its programs. Those include: Impact, a parenting education program aimed at stopping abuse and neglect; the Teen Parent Advocacy program, which serves pregnant and parenting teens; and Latinos Unidos, which hosts Spanish-speaking support groups in Everett and Monroe, and helps with citizenship and other information.
Freeman said Latinos Unidos alone helps more than 1,500 people annually. In the Impact program, about 34 families are involved. Some of those parents are referred by the state’s Child Protective Services, she said. And as many as 192 young people are helped by the Teen Parent Advocacy program.
“It’s a huge part of our lives and a huge part of our hearts,” said Freeman, who is losing her job.
She said the board, of which she is a member, had little choice but to close.
Freeman said they’ve seen steep declines in public and private support in recent years. The Deaconess budget for its 2010-2011 fiscal year was $650,000. That’s down from $1.5 million in 2007, she said. Part of the problem was about $120,000 less per year in grants from United Way of Snohomish County beginning in 2010.
United Way cut back partly because the Darrington Family Support and Resource Center, once part of Deaconess, was taken over by a Stanwood foundation, Freeman said.
She said huge declines in funding started with “the economic tsunami in 2008.” There have been 16 percent cuts in federal community development block grants, and big cuts in state reimbursement rates.
“Folks who once gave $15,000 gave $12,500. Individuals who used to give $100 a month gave us $20,” Freeman said. “It’s a big spiral, do more with less and less.”
Those cuts are reflected in staffing. In 2008, Deaconess employed 42 people, compared to 13 today. Volunteers have stepped up, growing in numbers from about 40 in 2008 to almost 100 today.
There are glimmers of hope.
Gary Rhodes, chairman of the agency’s board of trustees, said Tuesday that Deaconess Children’s Services will maintain its corporate identity, and that the board will continue to meet at least once a quarter.
“We will not give up the fact that we’ve been around 114 years. We hope to be around in the future,” said Rhodes, a board member for more than 20 years. “We’ll maintain our nonprofit status, but won’t be out soliciting monies.”
Freeman said Deaconess is working to find resources for clients, and perhaps to get other agencies to take over whole programs.
One small success is the placement of eight families from the Impact program who will be overseen by the Institute for Family Development, another program that helps families. People involved in Latinos Unidos are being referred to the Familias Unidas Latino Resource Center in south Everett.
No agency has stepped up to head the Teen Parent Advocacy program, which offers support groups and brings Deaconess staff to alternative high schools.
Deaconess Children’s Services has a distinguished history, beginning in 1898 when the Everett Men’s Club started the Snohomish County Orphanage Association. In 1919, Freeman said what is now the United Methodist Church took over the orphanage, which by then was called the Deaconess Children’s Home. The building was at 2120 Highland St. in north Everett.
By the 1950s, the nonprofit organization had professional management, even as the Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church adopted Deaconess as its mission. Deaconess operated a residence for emotionally disturbed teens beginning in the late 1950s, and later a place to help developmentally disabled children.
By 1982, Deaconess had revised its mission and was at the forefront in child abuse prevention with its Impact program.
Rhodes said Deaconess programs have cost more than the agency has brought in for many years. Those costs were covered partly by financial reserves, more than $1 million at one time, that came from real estate sales after Deaconess no longer needed residential sites.
“It was not a legal endowment, not restricted funds,” he said. “It lasted us 25 years. We continued trying to find a way to get increased funding. Sometimes it worked, and people stepped up.”
Freeman said the die was cast when a large grant Deaconess anticipated did not come through early this month. In an effort to keep the agency afloat, Rhodes loaned Deaconess $50,000, which he expects to get back with the sale of the agency’s property. The Deaconess headquarters, built with donated materials by the Everett United Methodist Church in 1977, will close Oct. 31. It was appraised about a year ago for $640,000, Freeman said. She hopes another nonprofit will make its home there.
On Friday, Deaconess held an event once planned as a fundraiser. It was too late to cancel, Freeman said, so the event honored volunteers and Deaconess history — which has come to an abrupt end.
“It’s just a horrible sign of the times,” Freeman said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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