Latest news with #Gentry
a day ago
- Business
McDowell County, West Virginia, birthplace of food stamps, faces a disappearing safety net
For nonprofits in McDowell County, West Virginia, the federal cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten a lifeline. Many of McDowell's 17,000 residents rely on federal programs and the nonprofits they fund to get by. The county's tax base and population have significantly declined since 1950, when McDowell was the top coal-producing county in the nation and had about 100,000 residents. Now, more than half the children in the county receive federal Children's Health Insurance Program benefits, and about one-third of seniors are on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor. Decades after the Kennedy administration made the county a first test of food stamps, nearly half the county's residents receive supplemental nutrition assistance, or SNAP, the Food Stamp Program's successor. The strains created by new eligibility restrictions on SNAP as a result of the passage of President Trump's domestic policy bill will be especially dire in places like McDowell County, where more than one-third of the population lives below the federal poverty line, said Rosemary Ketchum, executive director of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association. 'These federal cuts are starving people,' she said. Since the interruption in federal support tied to President Trump's January executive orders barring grants related to 'gender ideology'; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and environmental justice, Ketchum said many of the 9,000 or so nonprofits in her state have laid off staff. Others, she said, are dipping into whatever reserves they have to pay their employees. Those reserves are slim, if they exist at all. Taken together, the seven nonprofits that receive federal grants in McDowell County run on a 3 percent operating margin, according to data tabulated by the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. If all federal support disappeared, the center found, all the county's nonprofits would be at risk of going under unless other funding was provided. In a poor state like West Virginia, which is already facing a budget deficit and lacks the legions of philanthropic donors who got rich on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, nonprofits don't have a plan B, said Kathy Gentry, executive director of Safe Housing and Economic Development, or SHED, a McDowell nonprofit housing provider. The nonprofit's clients, many of whom are elderly or disabled, rely on U.S. Housing and Urban Development support to cover the rent at the 94 housing units SHED manages. Gentry's pay was temporarily cut for six weeks this spring because part of her salary comes from a HUD capacity-building grant that the administration deemed at cross-purposes with Trump's anti-DEI policy agenda. Her full paycheck resumed, but Gentry worries further cuts will force her to lay off staff. Already the nonprofit operates at a loss. In its 2023 tax filing, the most recent available, SHED's $663,000 in expenses outstripped its revenue by nearly $200,000. 'We're in a quandary here — all nonprofits are,' Gentry said. 'Are we going to exist? Will we have to dissolve?' Since 2015, Heidi Binko and her team at the Just Transition Fund have worked with economic development agencies and nonprofits in areas where the coal industry once flourished. That can mean helping a local organization identify or write a grant or provide a matching grant. The fund was created by the Rockefeller Family Foundation and Appalachian Funders Network to help coal towns capture some of the dollars provided in the 2015 Clean Power Plan, or POWER Act, passed during the Obama administration. Since then, the fund says it has helped coal communities in West Virginia and throughout the nation secure more than $2 billion in federal grants. Binko hopes the fund can continue to attract federal resources to towns with high poverty rates. 'There are still federal dollars available,' she said. 'They haven't all been zeroed out.' The recently passed domestic policy bill, for instance, contains $50 billion in health care grants over 10 years for rural providers, though it is unclear whether that money will keep hospitals and clinics that rely on Medicaid dollars afloat. Two hallmarks of the Biden administration's infrastructure and stimulus acts — transitioning away from a carbon-based economy and providing federal resources among different populations equitably — are not a focus of the Trump plan. As a result, Binko fears recent progress will be dimmed. For instance, Generation West Virginia, a Just Transition Fund grantee worked with McDowell County to apply for funds from the Biden administration's Digital Equity Act to run an elementary and middle school digital literacy program. Programs under the act were terminated in May. The cancellation of the Digital Equity Act is a setback for McDowell, where 20 percent of households don't have a broadband internet connection, according to a Generation West Virginia report. Other, more basic infrastructure is lacking in the county. According to DigDeep, a nonprofit that assists with clean water access and wastewater systems and is primarily funded by private institutions, corporate partners and grassroots donations, there may be hundreds of people in the county without a dependable water supply. The exact number is unknown because information on whether existing water systems provide safe drinking water is not gathered by the U.S. Census. DigDeep works with the McDowell Public Service District utility provider to identify residents who need a water hookup and helps secure grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program to extend water trunk lines to hard-to-reach areas. In some cases, the nonprofit helps pay to connect the federally supported water lines directly to people's homes. It is also helping to install wastewater treatment facilities to more than 400 residents who either have inadequate systems or flush waste into nearby creeks. The water supply throughout the county is unreliable because of the area's close historical ties to the rise and fall of the coal economy, said George McGraw, DigDeep's chief executive. When coal operations came to McDowell, businesses operated in a 'closed loop' environment. Coal companies paid workers to build and work in the mines, they owned the houses where miners lived, and they built the water lines that served those houses, McGraw said. When the coal industry began to peter out, companies exited the county, leaving behind an aging system of pipes and drains. To secure water in the county today, hundreds of people fill plastic jugs from roadside springs or mine shafts, McGraw said. To get drinking water, they may use the bathroom in a store, a neighbor's house, or a school. DigDeep has several projects in the planning stages in McDowell. But the Trump USDA budget proposal would chop the rural water program by two-thirds, meaning some public works projects may never get completed. Someone else will have to foot the bill or the system will continue to crumble, leaving many people in McDowell County without a basic necessity. 'It's not like the burden goes away,' McGraw said. 'The burden just shifts, and utilities are forced to raise rates on customers, many of whom are below the poverty line.'
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
McDowell County, West Virginia, birthplace of food stamps, faces a disappearing safety net
For nonprofits in McDowell County, West Virginia, the federal cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten a lifeline. Many of McDowell's 17,000 residents rely on federal programs and the nonprofits they fund to get by. The county's tax base and population have significantly declined since 1950, when McDowell was the top coal-producing county in the nation and had about 100,000 residents. Now, more than half the children in the county receive federal Children's Health Insurance Program benefits, and about one-third of seniors are on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor. Decades after the Kennedy administration made the county a first test of food stamps, nearly half the county's residents receive supplemental nutrition assistance, or SNAP, the Food Stamp Program's successor. The strains created by new eligibility restrictions on SNAP as a result of the passage of President Trump's domestic policy bill will be especially dire in places like McDowell County, where more than one-third of the population lives below the federal poverty line, said Rosemary Ketchum, executive director of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association. 'These federal cuts are starving people,' she said. Since the interruption in federal support tied to President Trump's January executive orders barring grants related to 'gender ideology'; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and environmental justice, Ketchum said many of the 9,000 or so nonprofits in her state have laid off staff. Others, she said, are dipping into whatever reserves they have to pay their employees. Those reserves are slim, if they exist at all. Taken together, the seven nonprofits that receive federal grants in McDowell County run on a 3 percent operating margin, according to data tabulated by the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. If all federal support disappeared, the center found, all the county's nonprofits would be at risk of going under unless other funding was provided. No Plan B In a poor state like West Virginia, which is already facing a budget deficit and lacks the legions of philanthropic donors who got rich on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, nonprofits don't have a plan B, said Kathy Gentry, executive director of Safe Housing and Economic Development, or SHED, a McDowell nonprofit housing provider. The nonprofit's clients, many of whom are elderly or disabled, rely on U.S. Housing and Urban Development support to cover the rent at the 94 housing units SHED manages. Gentry's pay was temporarily cut for six weeks this spring because part of her salary comes from a HUD capacity-building grant that the administration deemed at cross-purposes with Trump's anti-DEI policy agenda. Her full paycheck resumed, but Gentry worries further cuts will force her to lay off staff. Already the nonprofit operates at a loss. In its 2023 tax filing, the most recent available, SHED's $663,000 in expenses outstripped its revenue by nearly $200,000. 'We're in a quandary here — all nonprofits are,' Gentry said. 'Are we going to exist? Will we have to dissolve?' Health care and internet access Since 2015, Heidi Binko and her team at the Just Transition Fund have worked with economic development agencies and nonprofits in areas where the coal industry once flourished. That can mean helping a local organization identify or write a grant or provide a matching grant. The fund was created by the Rockefeller Family Foundation and Appalachian Funders Network to help coal towns capture some of the dollars provided in the 2015 Clean Power Plan, or POWER Act, passed during the Obama administration. Since then, the fund says it has helped coal communities in West Virginia and throughout the nation secure more than $2 billion in federal grants. Binko hopes the fund can continue to attract federal resources to towns with high poverty rates. 'There are still federal dollars available,' she said. 'They haven't all been zeroed out.' The recently passed domestic policy bill, for instance, contains $50 billion in health care grants over 10 years for rural providers, though it is unclear whether that money will keep hospitals and clinics that rely on Medicaid dollars afloat. Two hallmarks of the Biden administration's infrastructure and stimulus acts — transitioning away from a carbon-based economy and providing federal resources among different populations equitably — are not a focus of the Trump plan. As a result, Binko fears recent progress will be dimmed. For instance, Generation West Virginia, a Just Transition Fund grantee worked with McDowell County to apply for funds from the Biden administration's Digital Equity Act to run an elementary and middle school digital literacy program. Programs under the act were terminated in May. The cancellation of the Digital Equity Act is a setback for McDowell, where 20 percent of households don't have a broadband internet connection, according to a Generation West Virginia report. Clean water Other, more basic infrastructure is lacking in the county. According to DigDeep, a nonprofit that assists with clean water access and wastewater systems and is primarily funded by private institutions, corporate partners and grassroots donations, there may be hundreds of people in the county without a dependable water supply. The exact number is unknown because information on whether existing water systems provide safe drinking water is not gathered by the U.S. Census. DigDeep works with the McDowell Public Service District utility provider to identify residents who need a water hookup and helps secure grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program to extend water trunk lines to hard-to-reach areas. In some cases, the nonprofit helps pay to connect the federally supported water lines directly to people's homes. It is also helping to install wastewater treatment facilities to more than 400 residents who either have inadequate systems or flush waste into nearby creeks. The water supply throughout the county is unreliable because of the area's close historical ties to the rise and fall of the coal economy, said George McGraw, DigDeep's chief executive. When coal operations came to McDowell, businesses operated in a 'closed loop' environment. Coal companies paid workers to build and work in the mines, they owned the houses where miners lived, and they built the water lines that served those houses, McGraw said. When the coal industry began to peter out, companies exited the county, leaving behind an aging system of pipes and drains. To secure water in the county today, hundreds of people fill plastic jugs from roadside springs or mine shafts, McGraw said. To get drinking water, they may use the bathroom in a store, a neighbor's house, or a school. DigDeep has several projects in the planning stages in McDowell. But the Trump USDA budget proposal would chop the rural water program by two-thirds, meaning some public works projects may never get completed. Someone else will have to foot the bill or the system will continue to crumble, leaving many people in McDowell County without a basic necessity. 'It's not like the burden goes away,' McGraw said. 'The burden just shifts, and utilities are forced to raise rates on customers, many of whom are below the poverty line.'
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
McDowell County, West Virginia, birthplace of food stamps, faces a disappearing safety net
For nonprofits in McDowell County, West Virginia, the federal cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act threaten a lifeline. Many of McDowell's 17,000 residents rely on federal programs and the nonprofits they fund to get by. The county's tax base and population have significantly declined since 1950, when McDowell was the top coal-producing county in the nation and had about 100,000 residents. Now, more than half the children in the county receive federal Children's Health Insurance Program benefits, and about one-third of seniors are on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for the poor. Decades after the Kennedy administration made the county a first test of food stamps, nearly half the county's residents receive supplemental nutrition assistance, or SNAP, the Food Stamp Program's successor. The strains created by new eligibility restrictions on SNAP as a result of the passage of President Trump's domestic policy bill will be especially dire in places like McDowell County, where more than one-third of the population lives below the federal poverty line, said Rosemary Ketchum, executive director of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association. 'These federal cuts are starving people,' she said. Since the interruption in federal support tied to President Trump's January executive orders barring grants related to 'gender ideology'; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and environmental justice, Ketchum said many of the 9,000 or so nonprofits in her state have laid off staff. Others, she said, are dipping into whatever reserves they have to pay their employees. Those reserves are slim, if they exist at all. Taken together, the seven nonprofits that receive federal grants in McDowell County run on a 3 percent operating margin, according to data tabulated by the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. If all federal support disappeared, the center found, all the county's nonprofits would be at risk of going under unless other funding was provided. No Plan B In a poor state like West Virginia, which is already facing a budget deficit and lacks the legions of philanthropic donors who got rich on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, nonprofits don't have a plan B, said Kathy Gentry, executive director of Safe Housing and Economic Development, or SHED, a McDowell nonprofit housing provider. The nonprofit's clients, many of whom are elderly or disabled, rely on U.S. Housing and Urban Development support to cover the rent at the 94 housing units SHED manages. Gentry's pay was temporarily cut for six weeks this spring because part of her salary comes from a HUD capacity-building grant that the administration deemed at cross-purposes with Trump's anti-DEI policy agenda. Her full paycheck resumed, but Gentry worries further cuts will force her to lay off staff. Already the nonprofit operates at a loss. In its 2023 tax filing, the most recent available, SHED's $663,000 in expenses outstripped its revenue by nearly $200,000. 'We're in a quandary here — all nonprofits are,' Gentry said. 'Are we going to exist? Will we have to dissolve?' Health care and internet access Since 2015, Heidi Binko and her team at the Just Transition Fund have worked with economic development agencies and nonprofits in areas where the coal industry once flourished. That can mean helping a local organization identify or write a grant or provide a matching grant. The fund was created by the Rockefeller Family Foundation and Appalachian Funders Network to help coal towns capture some of the dollars provided in the 2015 Clean Power Plan, or POWER Act, passed during the Obama administration. Since then, the fund says it has helped coal communities in West Virginia and throughout the nation secure more than $2 billion in federal grants. Binko hopes the fund can continue to attract federal resources to towns with high poverty rates. 'There are still federal dollars available,' she said. 'They haven't all been zeroed out.' The recently passed domestic policy bill, for instance, contains $50 billion in health care grants over 10 years for rural providers, though it is unclear whether that money will keep hospitals and clinics that rely on Medicaid dollars afloat. Two hallmarks of the Biden administration's infrastructure and stimulus acts — transitioning away from a carbon-based economy and providing federal resources among different populations equitably — are not a focus of the Trump plan. As a result, Binko fears recent progress will be dimmed. For instance, Generation West Virginia, a Just Transition Fund grantee worked with McDowell County to apply for funds from the Biden administration's Digital Equity Act to run an elementary and middle school digital literacy program. Programs under the act were terminated in May. The cancellation of the Digital Equity Act is a setback for McDowell, where 20 percent of households don't have a broadband internet connection, according to a Generation West Virginia report. Clean water Other, more basic infrastructure is lacking in the county. According to DigDeep, a nonprofit that assists with clean water access and wastewater systems and is primarily funded by private institutions, corporate partners and grassroots donations, there may be hundreds of people in the county without a dependable water supply. The exact number is unknown because information on whether existing water systems provide safe drinking water is not gathered by the U.S. Census. DigDeep works with the McDowell Public Service District utility provider to identify residents who need a water hookup and helps secure grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rural development program to extend water trunk lines to hard-to-reach areas. In some cases, the nonprofit helps pay to connect the federally supported water lines directly to people's homes. It is also helping to install wastewater treatment facilities to more than 400 residents who either have inadequate systems or flush waste into nearby creeks. The water supply throughout the county is unreliable because of the area's close historical ties to the rise and fall of the coal economy, said George McGraw, DigDeep's chief executive. When coal operations came to McDowell, businesses operated in a 'closed loop' environment. Coal companies paid workers to build and work in the mines, they owned the houses where miners lived, and they built the water lines that served those houses, McGraw said. When the coal industry began to peter out, companies exited the county, leaving behind an aging system of pipes and drains. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. To secure water in the county today, hundreds of people fill plastic jugs from roadside springs or mine shafts, McGraw said. To get drinking water, they may use the bathroom in a store, a neighbor's house, or a school. DigDeep has several projects in the planning stages in McDowell. But the Trump USDA budget proposal would chop the rural water program by two-thirds, meaning some public works projects may never get completed. Someone else will have to foot the bill or the system will continue to crumble, leaving many people in McDowell County without a basic necessity. 'It's not like the burden goes away,' McGraw said. 'The burden just shifts, and utilities are forced to raise rates on customers, many of whom are below the poverty line.' ______ Alex Daniels is a senior reporter at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where you can read the full article. This article was provided to The Associated Press by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as part of a partnership to cover philanthropy and nonprofits supported by the Lilly Endowment. The Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Axios
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Where to see 4th of July fireworks
Independence Day is on Friday. Here's where you can celebrate and watch fireworks. Bella Vista — The city will host a fireworks show just after dark Thursday at the park below Loch Lomond dam on Glasgow Road. Fireworks Spectacular at Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion — The event also features the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas at 7:15pm Friday. Get tickets ranging from $4-$19. Siloam Springs block party — Check out food trucks, a kids zone, line dancing, music and a fireworks show. 5pm Friday on Sue Anglin Drive. — 9:30pm Friday. — Gentry is celebrating with live music, a car show and kids' activities. Noon to 10pm Friday at City Park.
Daily Mail
24-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Father-to-be, 30, named as victim in Massachusetts plane crash
The victim of a plane crash in Massachusetts has been identified as a young but experienced pilot who was about to become a father. MIT scientist Geoffrey Andrews, 30, was operating a four-seater, single-engine aircraft when it plummeted to the ground just outside of Boston on Thursday. His family named him as the pilot in a GoFundMe page for his pregnant wife - while revealing that he had been her rock after she lost her mother just months before. An unidentified man was also on board the plane, and Andrews' fundraiser said they were praying for the passenger as he remains in a serious condition in hospital. The fundraiser reads: 'Geoffrey's family, friends, and his beloved wife Gentry are devastated and heartbroken at his untimely death Thursday morning when the plane he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff in Beverly, Massachusetts. 'We thank the investigators who we trust will conduct a thorough investigation into what caused this catastrophic loss of life. 'We also pray for his passenger in the plane and are sending his loved ones strength through this difficult time.' The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed a single-engine Mooney M20F aircraft crashed on Sam Fonzo Drive in Beverly, on the north-east outskirts of Boston. NTSB investigators told a witness reported seeing 'black smoke come from the belly of the plane' before it went down, possibly indicating engine failure. Andrews's wife, Gentry, who is six months pregnant, said she believed his plane 'experienced a serious engine issue' shortly after takeoff from Beverly Airport. She wrote on Instagram: 'Per witnesses in the tower his response was textbook, but the plane still went down and he died on impact. 'Ever the gentleman, he did his best to save the life of his passenger.' Gentry said Andrews had been flying to upstate New York to enjoy one last camping trip before the birth of their baby daughter in three months' time. She wrote: 'He was so excited to become a father and told me so every day.' Andrews's death marks a second tragedy for Gentry, after her mother, Marcia, passed away months before. His family said in their fundraiser that he had been the 'biggest support system' for her. They remembered him as a 'charismatic, beautiful soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and always had a kind word for others'. The fundraiser reads: 'He was so excited about the upcoming birth of their baby. He was almost always seen sporting a bow tie and a smile. 'He loved cooking, baking, nature, was a talented amateur photographer and was oddly passionate about scuba diving. 'He loved music, often played piano, and sang in choirs for much of his life including with Gentry.' Talented: Andrews was a staff scientist at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and a doctoral graduate of Purdue University and Lehigh University Andrews was also passionate about aerospace engineering and he dreamed of becoming an astronaut one day. His family said he 'loved flying, even moonlighting as a ferry pilot to build hours and experience when he was a graduate student'. The fundraiser adds: 'He flew aerobatics for several years, volunteered as a glider pilot, and was working toward his CFI to be able to teach others about the joy of flight.' Chief John G LeLacheur and Fire Chief Peter K O'Connor said Beverly Police and Fire Departments responded to the crash at around 9am on Thursday. When they arrived, first responders found two people trapped inside the four-seater piston aircraft, which had suffered 'significant damage'. Beverly Police and Fire Departments said in a joint statement: 'The plane appeared to be resting against a utility pole. Two men were inside the plane, a pilot and a passenger.' The statement continued: 'One occupant was pronounced dead on scene, and the other man was transported via medical helicopter to a hospital with serious injuries. 'At this time, there have been no reports of any ground injuries or additional property damage in the area.' Images from the scene showed the plane laying crumpled against a utility pole, across a street surrounded by leafy woodland on either side. It appears to be upright with the wings badly damaged. The main body of the aircraft was partially destroyed by the impact.
