Tinney Center seeks nonprofit status to get more funds
Andy Bromage , Register Staff 04/23/2004

ANSONIA — Securing the grants needed to keep a number of education and drug prevention programs afloat at the Tinney Community Center will require the center become a 501C(3) nonprofit corporation, Housing Authority Director Carissa Riddle said.

As a result, the Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners this week authorized Riddle to petition the Internal Revenue Service to make the Tinney Center a 501C(3) corporation.

The change is needed because many charitable foundations require grant applicants to have 501C(3) filing status, Riddle said.

The Tinney Center, at 6 Olson Drive, is run through the Housing Authority, both of which file with the IRS as governmental entities.

But the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which funds the Housing Authority, cut funding that was used to run a half-dozen programs at the Tinney Center, including the after-school program for children, the job center, security and other programs and activities. The center’s popular Drums Not Drugs program was not affected by the cuts.

The after-school program, which offers help with homework and reading, attracts up to 50 children a day. In eight years, 40 people have earned high school equivalency diplomas through the adult education program.

HUD cut funding nationwide for its drug elimination and adult education/GED grants in 2001.

The Housing Authority has been stretching its last remaining dollars from the grants to keep the programs running, but has finally run out of money.

In all, the Housing Authority is losing about $125,000 in grants, Riddle said. The programs will run at least through June, she said.

"We’re hoping we’ll be able to run them longer," she said.

The Housing Authority is seeking grants from several sources, though Riddle declined to name them. "This will enable us to have more open doors for grant opportunities," Riddle said. "It we have that status, it will automatically open more doors."

Though not required by HUD, the programs in question serve a vital function to the community and are worth continuing, Riddle said.

"We have a moral and humanistic obligation to try whatever avenue we can to continue to offer these programs," she said.

The Housing Authority has established a number of 501C(3) corporations over the years that have since become independent entities, including the Main Street Development Corp. and the Curtisey Corp.

Riddle said the Tinney Center would have 501C(3) status for grant-writing purposes only and will not become independent from the Housing Authority