Rep. Dave Loebsack said a firsthand look he gave facilities and programs for the working poor [in Iowa City] on Thursday will help him fight for continued funding for these kinds of programs.
Loebsack, D-Iowa, visited the Broadway Neighborhood Center, 2105 Broadway St. ‘‘I’ll do the best I can to advocate for these very organizations and the people they serve,’’ he said after meeting families and children there. Loebsack said it was important to meet the families and see the faces of those who benefit from facilities such as the Broadway Center, a community-based human service agency that provides educational and child-care programs.
‘‘It’s important so I can carry these messages to Washington,’’ Loebsack said.‘‘ I’ll do the best I can to fight for t h e s e p r o grams.’’
Many of the families using the center benefit from the Even Start Family Literacy Program, which provides funding for preschool education and adult literacy programs. ‘‘It’s really important to come to Iowa City,’’ Loebsack said, referring to meeting with low-income workers, ‘‘because people don’t think of Iowa City in these terms.’’
Brian Loring, executive director for the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, told Loebsack the center nearly lost all of its Even Start funding last year.
The center received $114,000 in fiscal 2007 for Even Start, down from $150,000 the previous year.
Loring said he fears the program will be eliminated and wanted Loebsack to see that support is needed.
Loebsack serves on the Education and Labor Committee in Congress.
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