Obama Budget Would Support Anti-Poverty Efforts and Early-Childhood Education

President Obama’s repeated pitch to curb the deduction for charitable gifts has angered many nonprofits. But the $3.9-trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2015 he released last week would in some instances provide more federal help for groups that work to help the poor and educate the very young.

Among the proposals that affect nonprofits and the people they serve, Mr. Obama would:

• Create a “Preschool for All” program costing $76-billion over 10 years.
• Start 40 additional “Promise Neighborhoods” and 10 to 14 “Choice Neighborhoods” that use federal money to improve education and revive poor urban and rural areas.
• Slash Community Services Block Grants money, which helps a network of community-action agencies operate antipoverty projects. The president proposed a budget of $350-million, down from $674-million this year.
• Cut the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program from $3.4-billion this year to $2.8-billion in 2015.
• Keep a flat budget for the Corporation for National and Community Service, at $1.05-billion.
• Spend $70-million on the Social Innovation Fund, which provides grants to help nonprofits expand successful programs. That’s the same amount it gets now.

President Obama’s push for early-childhood education drew praise from some nonprofit leaders.

“Increasing investments in our nation’s youngest learners will help ensure that all children, regardless of race or income, are ready to learn and contribute when they step onto a classroom,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, president of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

But his budget is just a starting point. Now it is up to Congress to draft a budget and send it to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. That means nonprofit lobbyists will soon start working hard to persuade lawmakers to allocate money to the programs that are most important to them and their clients.

“Where we do our in-depth work is really on the appropriations process,” said Candy Hill, executive senior vice president for social policy and external affairs, government affairs at Catholic Charities USA.