GRANT FUNDING IS COMPLEX AND EXPANSIVE

The money seems to come from everywhere: a variety of federal and state government agencies, public and private organizations and even some private gifts.

But the bulk of it is federal money, and lots of it. Social-service agencies by the dozens in the area are standing in line for it. So much money is available, and the red tape sometimes so thick, that applying for the money -- grant writing, as it is called -- has become a specialty of some who work for local governments and government-funded organizations.

In a series of articles last week, the Southeast Missourian attempted to explain funding of the almost mind-boggling number of agencies that offer social services across the region. There are so many that the people they are designed to serve often don't know which one to go to for help.

To solve that problem, yet another agency -- the Family Resource Center -- is being set up in Cape Girardeau to direct people to the agency they need. And that agency too requires federal funding.

The series detailed funding of many of the agencies, from the Community Caring Council -- and the agencies it attempts to bring together to make sure everyone is working toward the common goal of helping those in need -- to the Operation Weed and Seed program -- aimed at ridding selected areas of Southeast Missouri communities of drug and gang infestation -- to Southeast Missouri State University's Bootheel Transportation Collaborative -- designed to provide rides to those being removed from the welfare roles and put to work until they are able to find transportation of their own.

The series showed how the many programs function and included comments from those who are served by them. The Caring Council was set up in 1996 as an effort to bring together the agencies and services such as counseling and job training that help people in the Cape Girardeau area, and it does a good job of carrying out its goal. When the Family Resource Center is up and running later this summer, it should complement the Caring Council by being able to readily send people to the right places for help. And the university's transportation collaborative, which is packaged with other welfare-to-work grant programs, should assure that people, particularly single moms who are leaving the welfare roles for work, get to and from their jobs.

But the series also clearly showed that a lot of the money goes toward the cost of administration: paying the salaries of directors and expenses of the agencies. And a good share of money also is spent simply to conduct needs studies to determine if funding is warranted.

If the government wants to get the most of the money it is giving to all of these agencies, it might want to keep in closer contact with the people who are being served and those who volunteer their services under the many programs. They know where best the money can be spent, and perhaps more money could go where it ought to go: to the people in need.