A Closer Look at the Recovery Act

Kansas Department of Transportation

When drivers approach orange detour signs they see an inconvenience. But Steve Swartz Public Information Officer for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) sees a step towards economic growth.

From the ARRA, the KDOT received $268 million from the United States Department of Transportation in August 2009. According to Swartz, the money came when KDOT was under a hiring freeze and had been forced to halt plans for new projects, because the amount of federal funds was uncertain.

Those funds have paid for the 150 projects currently in progress in Kansas, from improving public transit to repaving. Within those 150, there are five projects the KDOT calls “Game Changers” because they will affect the greatest number of people. One of these projects is construction on US Highway 69 in Overland Park.

The KDOT predicts these projects will create or sustain between 10,000 and 11,000 jobs.

According to Swartz, infrastructure projects, especially those in transportation, require lots of labor jobs and also create business for people who supply materials needed for the projects. Swartz said that the money those workers receive expands into the economy, because now those people can spend more money on things like groceries and going to the movies than they would otherwise.

“It’s doing exactly what the Recovery Act was meant to do, which is to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and make infrastructure improvements,” Swartz said.

Catholic Charities

A woman walks in the door of the Catholic Charities Family Support Center, an eviction notice in her hand. She tells the volunteers she has 5 days until she loses her home. Really, she says she wants to know if there’s a homeless shelter nearby, because she knows she’ll need one soon.

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas is seeing more and more of these situations, according to James Cianciaruso, Director of Family Stabilization. This year, as a result of the economic downturn, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas has had a 21 percent increase in the number of people they serve. They’ve also faced a tightening budget as they stretch to meet the increasing need for their services.

But Cianciarus said they’re proud they haven’t had to lay off any staff or turn any people away.

“ In order to meet the need, we’ve had to shift some of our priorities into different areas,” Cianciarus said. “ We’ve really directed a lot more resources into helping those in need instead of administration.”

Catholic Charities of NE KS received a $63,439 sub-award from a ARRA grant given to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program (EFSP) from the Department of Homeland Security.

“The money that has come from ESFP has absolutely helped us provide services to people,” Cianciaruso said. “We designate that money to go to homeless prevention and utility assistance.”

Eileen Brown, Special Projects Director at Catholic Charities of NE KS said they have seen not only an increase in the number of clients, but a change in their demographic. Many of their recent clients are people who’ve never needed help before.

Brown recalled one man who came to them for the first time this year. After they had helped him get back on his feet, they received a letter from him. He opened the letter by telling them that a few weeks prior he had been in a Walmart bathroom considering taking his life. The reason, he explained, was that he had nothing. No job, no home and no hope. Brown said he ended the letter by thanking them for giving him back some of what he had lost—a job and an apartment with one month’s rent paid. Brown and Cianciarus agreed this man’s experience represents the “wrap around” services they strive to provide.

Brown said many of the people coming to Catholic Charities are the working poor— people who are working two or three jobs.

“Sometimes in an economy like this it’s just one little thing, it could be an unexpected car repair bill or a medical bill, and all of a sudden they’re starting on a downward spiral of having to make choices between . . . Do I keep the heat on in the winter or do I get this prescription for my child?,” Brown said. “We really try to be there. . . to say here’s how you can keep food on your table as well as keeping your utilities on.”

Head Start of Shawnee Mission

Two hundred and fifty names are currently on the waiting list for Head Start of Shawnee Mission, the local branch of the national early education program for low-income children. This year, there are 218 students enrolled, ranging from infants to five-year-olds. at Head Start, but Terrie VanZandt-Travis, Head Start Exec Director said that’s not nearly enough.

Head Start of Shawnee Mission applied for an ARRA grant hoping to get enough additional funding to support more students, but they didn’t receive those funds.

“We were disappointed because we have a very long wait list . . .We ended last school year with 350 kids on the wait list,” VanZandt-Travis said. “These are kids that are eligible; they’re low income, they met all the qualifying parameters, we simply didn’t have the funding to serve them.”

The $117,288 ARRA grant they did receive from the Department of Health and Human Services was utilized for cost of living adjustments for employees and quality improvement of the classrooms and playground.

The cost of living adjustment was that every employee received a increase or salary adjustment of 4.9 percent. Head Start employees normally receive  a 3.06 percent cost of living increase from federal grants and with the ARRA grant they received an extra 1.84 percent.  However, according to VanZandt-Travis it is unclear whether that 1.84 percent will be provided by the federal government in the coming years. She said that even if the federal government isn’t able to provide the funds, Head Start of Shawnee Mission will raise the money to keep employees salaries steady.

Fifty percent of the quality improvement dollars were used for compensation and benefits for education personnel, family services workers and child counselors. The second half of those funds was used to purchase equipment for classrooms, pay teaching assistant salaries and relocate fencing on the playground making it easier for teachers to supervise the students.

Head Start programs that receive Head Start grants from the federal government are never fully funded. It’s mandated that for every $100 of grant money the program must attain a $25 match. VanZandt Travis said the ARRA grant has helped them better serve their students, but they are still in need, so local support will be key for them in the coming years.

St. Luke’s Hospital

Two programs at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute received monetary transfusions to get them up and running from the US Department of Health and Human Services from the ARRA.

According to Dr. John Spertus of the Mid-America Heart Institute, the first program, which received $199,998 is a  “very exciting” research project in which St Luke’s is collecting data from heart failure patients who volunteer to donate DNA for genetic analyses.  St. Luke’s will then collaborate with Washington University in St Louis and the University of Pennsylvania  to look for rare genetic mutations associated with extreme good and bad reactions to common medical treatments for heart disease, such as beta blockers.

The second program, which received $4,173,054, is a study of using new, more detailed consent forms for patients undergoing angioplasty, a surgery in which blood vessels that are too narrow or blocked are widened.

“The goal is to create individualized consent forms that are more educational and that support evidence-based, individualized decision making for more effective, and cost-effective, care,” Spertus said.

The genetic correlation research initiative has created five new jobs in Kansas City. The consent form grant has paid a full salary for five jobs in Kansas City, a partial salary for five other Kansas Citians and six full salaries for researchers in other cities in the United States.