Despite budget cuts in other areas, the city of Santa Fe plans to continue devoting tax money to children and youth programs over the next fiscal year.

Declining gross-receipts tax revenue means the city will spend 10 percent less on its Children and Youth Commission grants this year, but director Lynn Hathaway said the government contribution is critical.

"There is a real concern that the support network for children and youth will be further weakened," she said, "and that important programs will be lost next year due to the economic downturn."

Programs that promote healthy development and positive behavior for young people are in danger for a variety of reasons, Hathaway said, including that local grant-makers have decreased funding, United Way has cut payments for community programs and federal stimulus cash that bailed out many providers will end next year.

Even the state is pressuring local governments to step out of the nonprofit-assistance business. Last month, the Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees city and county budgets, wrote a letter to elected officials recommending they consider axing funds for nonprofit organizations.

The Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission, which has been around for two decades, is funded through a city law that earmarks a 3 percent share of tax revenues. Available funds this year — $900,000 — are roughly equal to grants given in 2004, said Hathaway, who has staffed the commission since its inception.

Councilors on the city Finance Committee last week recommended approval of grants to 31 nonprofit and school applicants. At the same meeting, officials ordered fee increases and service cuts in other areas of city government, but axing the youth budget wasn't on the table. Both the overall budget and the commission grants are scheduled for a final vote before the full City Council tonight.

"We are delighted with the support we've had from the City Council," said Suzanne Gebhart, an endocrinologist who chairs the seven-member citizen commission that helps hand out the cash. "But every year we worry ... Are children going to be cut?"

Councilor Carmichael Dominguez said officials didn't consider diverting money from youth programs because they are too important.

"From my perspective, anything that has to do with children and youth shouldn't be negotiable. They are one of the most important assets we have in our community," he said. "During these tough economic times, we need to do everything we can to salvage those programs."

This year's restricted budget meant the commission had to make hard choices, including denying funding for some new applicants might have been supported another year. Chainbreakers Collective, for example, didn't get money for its bicycle-building program because the group couldn't get liability insurance in place.

An after-school program at Gonzales Community School is getting half the money it got last year, and a program at César Chávez Elementary School that had been previously funded wasn't selected this year.

Andrea Tasan, the Santa Fe Public Schools elementary-education director, said the funding cuts are disappointing. It's likely, she said, that now some students from César Chávez will have nowhere safe to go after school next year or will head home to empty apartments. The district is trying to reorganize efforts and will explore whether some parents can afford a fee-based program.

"It's kind of a sad situation," Tasan said.

The Randall Davey Audubon Center, at the end of Upper Canyon Road, is among programs slated for a 2010 grant. The nonprofit pays for about 10 percent of its outdoor education and environmental science programs with the city money.

The $25,000 stipend pays for buses for field trips and classroom visits for elementary school students, and helps offer scholarships and pay teachers for an annual summer camp for children.

"We're doing more than just birds," said Dana Vackar Strang, education director for Audubon New Mexico. "In a broader perspective, we are teaching about our connection to nature, to encourage learners of all ages to be stewards of the natural world and conservationists."

Suzanne Fahey, who volunteers in the center's gift shop, said she firmly believes hands-on engagement like the programs about wildlife, water and outdoor recreation keep kids from getting in trouble.

"Every time we cut a youth prevention program, there is one less place for this kids to go, one less thing for them to do that is safe, where they have caring adults," she said. "If you can encourage kids, they are less likely to drop out of school or become juvenile delinquents."

Other city grant recipients provide services such as home visits for new parents, field trips to the Santa Fe Children's Museum, art classes at Warehouse 21, dance instruction, grief counseling, cooking with locally grown foods in elementary-school kitchens, housing for homeless teens and parenting support for high-school students with children.

Criteria for grant recipients requires confirmation that at least half the participating children in each program are from families with low to moderate incomes. The city-funded programs for youth reach up to 40,000 participants each year, Hathaway said, which means many city children benefit from more than one activity.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.