Chapter 11 "best solution" for CAPWN

The Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska (CAPWN) is a non-profit community based health and human services organization that serves low income and disadvantaged persons who are unable to meet their own needs through other resources. Recently the organization filed for Chapter 11.

According to Tim Nolting, President of the CAPWN Board, this filing is due to some unfortunate financial issues that have set CAPWN back quite a bit.

“We came across the issues and realized that they needed to be addressed and fixed, however, it was already so far gone. The best solution to the problems we were facing concerning the debt was to file for Chapter 11,” Nolting said.

People generally make the assumption that Chapter 11 is bankruptcy and that means that instead of paying off debts they just erase them and then those debts become the problem of those who were owed. However, that is not the thing CAPWN is doing. Nolting made it very clear that this in no way shape or form is a bail out of any kind.

“People associate Chapter 11 with bankruptcy, and that’s not what we’re doing. Chapter 11 is a section a portion of the bankruptcy bill that allows a company to put their debt on hold while they address the current state of their finances and make a plan that allows them to pay off debt and still function as a company,” Nolting said.

So CAPWN has no intention of leaving anyone high and dry. They are just taking time to reevaluate their situation and come up with the best solution possible. That solution will be one that allows their debts to be paid, and the current programs they work with to continue to benefit.

CAPWN is in charge of a lot of money that benefits a wide variety of people, from homeless teens to parents having a hard time feeding their children, to young couples who need help with financial planning. CAPWN is a truly humanitarian organization. With the want of helping people at their core, sometimes the big picture can get lost.

“It was a few things that contributed to CAPWN’s current state. You have good people who are so focused on making sure that people are cared for that they think of helping first and finances later. So it was some oversights there and also just the way some things got paid. Certain funds from certain things are there to pay certain bills. Book keeping has to be meticulous, and it wasn’t,” Nolting said.

Due to CAPWN being a non-profit organization, they have to make sure that records are kept in a very specific manner, this way their funds can have a trail and be better kept track of. According to a press release sent out by the organization, a series of unfortunate financial setbacks due to sequestrations, self-funded insurance programs and financial reporting issues CAPWN must take advantage of the time Chapter 11 will allow them to reorganize and restructure so that their financial obligations will be met.

CAPWN is not going out of business they are planning better ways to serve the community while also finding an honest and suitable manner to repay their debt.

“The reworking could take anywhere from a month to a year, but we’re going to definitely be working hard at it. We are going to try our hardest to not cut programs, and if a program does have to be cut, we’ll try to be sure it’s one that continues to be funded through other avenues,” Nolting said.

CAPWN also has seen a decrease in donations to the organization due to the economic status of the area. Not as many people are able to afford making donations as before, and if they are still making donations they aren’t as sizable. That is another factor that they are taking into account while reworking things.

“We are continuing to operate and we are making sure that this gets taken care of, CAPWN wants to be around a long time to continue helping people that need it,” Nolting said.

CAPWN is not a mere hand out service for people. They take into account the financial situation of those that they are helping and more often than not they are the people who are just in an unfortunate position and need help getting back on their feet. CAPWN helps with that, they provide resources and ways to teach skills that will help people in the future.

CAPWN is a part of a national network of over 1,000 community action agencies across America. It provides over 40 programs to over 9,000 individuals throughout the panhandle and will continue to do so with their restructuring.