Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Discovery Park needs $90,000 within the next 90 days to stay afloat and keep the collectors from starting the repossession process. The center is $318,000 in debt.
Daybreak Star’s debt was the main topic of discussion at the annual United Indians of All Tribes (UIATF) board meeting on Saturday, Oct. 19, at the center (3801 W. Government Way).
The loss of its Early Start child-care center resulted in $130,000 of the debt; the rest is unpaid bills. Nearly $50,000 of the debt is owed to UIATF’s programs. Previous leadership used program grant money for operating costs. Interim director Minty Longearth wanted to make it clear that it is against the current leadership’s policy to handle budgets that way and she wants to make sure the programs get their money back.
“The commitment is to keep the doors open,” said board chairperson W. Ron Allen. “We just have to figure out how to do that. We can’t spend money we don’t have.”
Longearth, who took over this year, said it has been a five-month growth process: “During that growth process, what we’ve had to do is constrict and contract. It’s really hard to expand while you’re contracting.”
Tough budget cuts
Over the summer, grants and funding have not been coming in, Longearth said. Some of the UIATF programs — including the inmate, youth and kayak programs — are still receiving enough funding to function.
“While there is all of this promise and hope, we’re still having to make further cuts and further cuts,” Longearth said. “The outstanding debt that was incurred is not going to go away, and it continues to mount. We don’t have any income that’s offsetting that cost. We’re at the very end of our time crunch.... There’s nothing else left — that’s it.”
Since January of this year, the staff had already made $340,000 in cuts to its budget. That included cutting the executive director’s salary in half and removing all benefits.
The new budget, which has even more drastic cuts, will especially impact the security and maintenance staff with cuts that could have a ripple effect for the center’s other programs and events, Longearth said. With the cuts, Daybreak Star would operate at a marginal $187,000 profit for the next year.
“These cuts...in reality, they are people,” said CFO Joseph McCormick.
It is humbling to work with the staff, Longearth said.
“We have plenty of security and maintenance staff that just show up, whether they’re going to get paid or not,” she said. “Some of [these] people know that the cuts will end their employment, and that is hard for us to wrestle with.”
As the board discussed the dire budget situation, audience members came to the front of the room to speak on behalf of Daybreak Star.
Former mixed martial arts fighter Eddie Sumpay made an emotional plea to the crowd. He began going the Daybreak Star when he was 15, full of anger and “looking to knock somebody out all the time.
“But today, I don’t have to knock people out. I chose the right road for a reason,” he said. “If this place shuts down, we’re in a lot of trouble. Our young people are in a lot of trouble. People like me need [Native leaders] to show them our ways — our way of life.”
Self-sustainability ideas
The board unanimously approved the slim 2013-2014 budget, which will take effect Nov. 1. Longearth made a statement saying that, while she would go along with the board, she did not approve of the budget cuts.
After the budget was approved, the board began compiling a list of tribes throughout the country that they could reach out to for donations and grants. The board members acknowledged that, to ask for help, Daybreak Star needed to have a balanced budget.
Allen made it clear the budget was approved with the understanding that cuts could be adjusted if and when new revenue came in.
“I’m making a commitment to the board and the community to restore these proposed cuts,” Allen said.
Daybreak Star lacks funding but not ideas. During the meeting, board and audience members brought up multiple revenue ideas, including turning the roof into a high-end events patio, creating a gallery and gift shop for local Native artists and fulfilling the original plan to turn other Fort Lawton buildings into elderly Native housing and a school.
“We need to look at self-sustainability for Daybreak Star — we need to not just rely on grants,” Longearth said. “The ideas are great. So when you hear us hesitate, it’s that we’re trying to figure out, ‘How in the world am I going to implement that when I can’t pay the light bill?’”
As the budget and debt discussions began to wind down, the board and audience began to look into the options if Daybreak Star were to dissolve. If it didn’t look like funding would come through within the next 20 to 25 days, Longearth said it would be time to look for other nonprofits to take over the programs.
City of Seattle tribal liaison Nicole Willis went over the lease terms with the board.
Daybreak Star has a 99-year lease, through 2070. Willis urged the board to send board members to meet with the mayor and the City Council, who she was confident would support Daybreak Star.
“This organization has more goodwill from the community than I’ve ever seen in any urban organization,” she said.
If Daybreak Star comes to a point of dissolution, the buildings would return to the city, but only if the city and Daybreak Star agree.
“I think the city would bend over backward to keep the organization here,” Willis said, “if the organization shows it’s pulling itself together.”
Closing was not an option for many people at the meeting.
“We can’t have our doors shut,” a woman from the audience said. “We are all responsible for this. I’m worried about what will happen to this place. I hear desperation.”
Back to the main issue
A board restructuring was also decided at the meeting. A few years ago, board members were at an all-time high, at about 20. The board decided to establish a main board of 11 members, with a larger advisory board comprised of community members and other key players.
These other issues were not on many people’s minds. The audience and the board kept coming back to the debt and the future of Daybreak Star.
“This is our longhouse,” said local canoe carver Sadduuts Peele. “We have to do everything we can. We can’t let this slip between us.”
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