"Clearly, the commerce department is more about economic development and job-related opportunities than what HUD focuses on," said Luann Clark, Salt Lake's director of housing and neighborhood development.

Out of concern over the entire federal budget still in the crafting stages, Utah Issues and representatives from 40-plus organizations have been meeting each week for what they call "Federal Friday." The intent is to come up with a plan should cuts to all social and housing programs actually become a reality.

"There are programs and activities in our community that would be critically damaged by the money being reduced significantly," said Jeff Fox, the organization's federal campaign manager.

Additionally, Salt Lake City leaders have joined other city officials across the county in a call to preserve the funding in discretionary domestic problems.

"I have been with the city for four and a half years," said Salt Lake's Marion Barnhill, the city's housing programs manager. "Before that, as a citizen, I would have said, 'Yeah, let's cut the budget.' But since then, I have had the opportunity to see how many nonprofits depend on this money and the benefits that are provided to the community, and most citizens have no idea."

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E-mail: amyjoi@desnews.com