Amy Riley is a casualty of war.

Riley lost her job, because of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unallotment action to immediately trim $156 million from the state budget before June 30.

Riley last day of work as office assistant at the Semcac office in Austin was Monday.

She had only worked for Semcac for three months, but the mother of five children ranging in age from 2 to 11 was a poster child for welfare-to-work efforts.

Today, she has reversed that upward spiral and goes from work to welfare.

"It's a setback," Riley said. "I go from a job, where I was helping myself and others to needing help."

According to Dawn Roush, field services representative at Austin, Semcac, the community action agency serving the counties of Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Mower, Steele and Winona, was "shocked" when Pawlenty released his unallotment plan Feb. 7.

Because legislators were unable to reach an agreement on a balanced budget for the current fiscal year, Pawlenty's unallotment plan was put in effect, which included withholding state funding for many programs and services across the state.

The unallotment eliminated $5.3 million (60 percent) of Minnesota Economic Opportunity Grants (MEOG) for the state's 29 Community Action Agencies, resulting in a loss of Semcac's remaining MEOG funding -- $207,000 -- that was expected through the end of June 30.

"These funds are used to operate the agency and supports its food shelves, contact centers in each county, affordable housing development and other programs for low-income individuals and families. MEOG funds have also allowed Semcac to leverage other funds to implement new programs that meet the needs of low-income residents," Roush

said.

As a result of the reduction in state funding, Semcac has had to make cuts, including laying off employees and reducing the hours of the contact centers where staff assist low-income families with accessing agency and community resources in order for them to maintain or achieve their self-reliance.

Riley received two weeks notice that her job was being eliminated.

"Even though I understand this has nothing to do with me personally, that it has nothing at all to do with my job performance or anything, it still is painful," she said.

Riley's husband, Ricky, works for Hormel Foods and the family is slated to purchase a Freeborn-Mower Habitat For Humanity affiliate home, beginning this spring when it is scheduled to be built.

Roush will take over Riley's office duties immediately.

"When we lost our emergency services grant, we lost the funding source for motel vouchers for the homeless," Roush said. "We served 75 households in our 2001-02 program year and that amounted to 137 people, including children and adults. The next homeless person that comes into our office, we will have to tell them to go to The Salvation Army or Mower County, because we can't help them," Roush said.

The homeless can still "drop-in" at the Semcac office, but the indigent in need of energy assistance will have to call ahead and make an appointment to be seen on Wednesdays.

"I'm disappointed that the people who are the most vulnerable and who need help the most are being hurt," Roush said of the first round of budget cuts by the state.

Furthermore, the future of MEOG funding is uncertain, as Pawlenty's proposed 2004-05 biennium budget includes a 53 percent reduction in MEOG funds.

Bruce Hartert, Semcac's executive director, said, "If the proposed reduction takes affect, there will be community action agencies in Minnesota that are forced to close their doors, and it will rip apart the network that has been built up in the state over the past 37 years."

Like other parents in similar straits, Riley was working and living on a shoestring.

The family lives in a tiny 2 1/2-bedroom home on Austin's northwest side.

Child care costs the family $4.50 per hour for two children. Riley was participating in a "Parents Share" program that subsidized her child care expenses.

"When you make only $8 per hour and $4.50 of it goes for child care, there's not a lot left over when income taxes and social security deductions are made," she said.

Roush went to last Saturday's town meeting at the Austin Public Library that was held by freshman State Sen. Dan Sparks.

Sparks, DFL-Austin, said the Senate DFLers wanted citizens' input on how to deal with the budget crisis and spending reductions.

Roush said Sparks' idea of a legislative survey to gain citizen input was a good one, but it didn't go far enough.

"Poor people aren't going to go to a town hall meeting at the local library," she said. "Poor people won't be able to fill out the senator's survey. Poor people can't even afford to subscribe to a newspaper to look for work."

What is she doing? Answer: Making copies of the legislative survey available at the local Semcac office.

"We want all people to have access to the survey and the opportunity to be heard by the Minnesota Legislature," she said.

The Semcac contact center in Austin is located in the lower level of the US Bank building in downtown Austin.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com