By Jack Chavez

(May 20, 2021) The Children’s Resource Intervention Center, Kids Empowerment Team (CRICKET) is in line for a massive increase in county funding in the new budget year.

The Worcester County Commissioners voted 4-2 on May 11 in favor of giving the CRICKET Center $200,000 in the fiscal year, a $190,000 increase over their FY21 budget. Commissioner Bud Church was absent.

“We’re really grateful to the county commissioners for recognizing the need for us to expand services for us here in Worcester,” said CRICKET Center Executive Director Wendy Myers. “Statistics continue to rise and the space we have is much too small for the services we need to provide. In order to adhere to the best practice standards, we need to expand our space. It’s very exciting that the county is offering support to our partnering agencies and the child advocacy agencies as a whole to reduce the trauma of child abuse.”

Commissioner Chip Bertino cited the center’s longstanding challenges of being underfunded and overly reliant on fundraising to stay in business, as well as a coming new office building, as reasons to give the CRICKET Center that money.

“I don’t think I’m alone when I say our eyes were opened when they gave us a presentation a few months ago about their mandate from the state,” Bertino said. “(We saw) that they’re not funded by the state and that what they do affects the entire community, children who are harmed, and what they’re trying to do with physical, emotional and behavioral assistance to those children and families.”

Commissioner Diana Purnell cited the ongoing covid-19 pandemic for her support of the motion.

“Kids have been affected (by the pandemic) at every level,” Purnell said. “(The CRICKET Center) hasn’t been getting funding from the state, and these are organizations who are working with these kids and these families. We need to step up and do something about it, too … We might not do it next time but we need to do it this time because they’re going to need as much as they can get. These are our children.”

The new office will be located in Snow Hill, Myers said. The land for the office was provided by a donor whose identity will be made public when the CRICKET Center is closer to breaking ground.

The office will enable the center to provide better service to southern Worcester County, Myers said.

Commissioner Ted Elder worried that boosting funding so much this year might make the county look bad next year if it returns to its usual level of financial support.

CRICKET Center Executive Director Wendy Myers

Commissioner Josh Nordstrom also asked if there was precedent for such a dramatic funding increase.

Bertino pointed out the multi-year nature of the original funding for AGH’s construction and that the commissioners have funded multi-year commitments before.

“That’s not what this is,” Bertino said. “Who knows what they’re going to ask for next year? … I don’t think we should judge this motion by what might happen next year. This is just for this current year.”