KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — Kalamazoo City Commissioners took turns Monday night expressing concern about the all the programs that are on the chopping block in the Trump budget and what it could mean for the community.
Commissioner Jack Urban says Kalamazoo could lose Community Block Grants which help fund non-profit groups who provide services for the poor.
Shannon Sykes says the loss of afterschool program funding would hurt the community’s most vulnerable children, and Vice Mayor Don Cooney says it could mean an even longer waiting list for the Meals on Wheels program, which already has 250 elderly residents signed up for their service that they cannot afford to accommodate.
Mayor Bobby Hopewell says if they want the services to continue they will have to get people to not only contact their congressmen, but to find out how it affects friends and relatives and get them to do the same.
Hopewell says if they want these programs funded, Congress will have to be convinced because they control the purse strings and not the White House.
