A coalition of Cape Girardeau service providers say there is a lack of services for Cape Girardeau County’s children and families. The county, they say, lacks services for homeless youth, outpatient substance abuse and transitional living services for homeless youth or kids who are aging out of foster care.
The coalition includes groups like the Community Caring Council, Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri and Court Appointed Special Advocates, among several other groups.
They are passing around a petition to get a quarter cent sales tax on the ballot that would create a Children’s Service Fund, according to Big Brothers / Big Sisters executive director Ashley Beggs.
“Ultimately, it’s the community’s decision on whether they decide to fund this or not. We hope that they see through our education efforts that we want them to make an educated decision about that and that we feel like it’s the right to do,” Beggs said.
The fund would create approximately $3 million per year, and would be administered by an executive director and a board.
Kyle Schott is the regional director for Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri. He said service agencies would access the fund by applying to an executive director and the fund’s board.
“Let’s say you have a program. You would apply towards that board and say ‘I have this program. Here’s how much I need.’ Then it would be up to the board and the executive director of that board to determine whether they think that is worthy of funding that,” Schott said.
According to a needs assessment that was conducted last year, there are 131 homeless youth in Cape Girardeau County schools and over 500 children and youth who did not receive necessary psychiatric services. About 450 households had domestic violence episodes while children were present.
As of Sunday afternoon, the coalition has acquired about 1,000 of the necessary 3,000 signatures.