Federal cuts are just too big for personal philanthropy to offset the damage.

Sara Rubin here, with a mix of emotions that feels like my new normal. There’s frustration about the State Of Things generally, and our seeming inability to fix any of it. Then there’s the micro-level look of a world in which all of us and our goodwill really matters. 

This mix of emotions is very specific. On the negative side: I recently wrote a column about federal cuts to AmeriCorps that trickled down to the Monterey County Preschool Corps. While United Way Monterey County leaders managed to find dollars to finish the current school year, there’s no money to run it in future years. 

On the plus side, there’s gratification that comes when we hear from readers who are moved by our work in the Weekly and in Monterey County Now to take action, whether it’s attending an event or writing a letter to share an opinion. In this case, Michael and Gloria Ipson reached out to put some serious money to it. 

“The article reinforces the powerful message that pre-kindergarten education makes an enormous difference for the future of children, enabling them to progress in school, qualify for better employment, become important members of our community and taxpayers who support their community in the future,” they wrote. (Not to mention, their daughter was an AmeriCorps volunteer.)

“We believe there are enough families who would support such a program through their donations,” the Ipsons wrote. “We are prepared to donate $3,000 to such an effort.”

Real money, yes—but a reminder that government funding girds some major programs, because it’s an amount Katy Castagna, CEO of United Way Monterey County, calls “a drop in the bucket” in the scheme of a roughly $500,000 program. 

“This is another order of magnitude,” she says. 

United Way is thinking about a Preschool Corps 2.0, reconstructed from private funds—what could they trim, what efficiencies can be gained without jumping through federal compliance hoops?

Despite her willingness to confront reality—and Castagna met last week with the Ipsons to share her caution—she keeps a hopeful framing around these strange times in which entire programs disappear with the stroke of a pen.

“The silver lining is this may strengthen private philanthropy, and people realize the power and influence they have with their dollars,” Castagna says. “As we let Sacramento and D.C. sort themselves out, we are here on the ground in our community, looking at how do we pull together resources within our control, both the big ones and the little ones?”

Of course, the big ones are big and unwieldy. “How do you make sure kids are getting ready for kindergarten? It’s a system issue,” Castagna says. 

But together, we can strategize and we can try to make a difference—even if private philanthropy is not going to backfill all of the functions our government was, just recently, fulfilling overnight.