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IN THIS ISSUE
Did You Know?
Homeless Solutions for Boulder County Partners Awarded $6.5M in Boulder County.
Mental Health and Social Resilience
A New Space for Parents Coming Soon to Boulder County.
The Community Wide Navigation Hub Is Now Providing Services to Boulder County Residents.
Housing Affordability
Mobile Home Parks Survey Happening in Longmont and Lafayette.
Economic Challenges
Survive and Thrive Working Groups Update.
Boulder County ARPA Job Opportunities
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Ver Contentido en Español
For previously published newsletters, go to boco.org/ARPA or click on this Newsroom link.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) investments are making an impact in our Boulder County communities by providing resources to people who were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this newsletter, we share examples of the ARPA-supported work that is underway. We invite you to visit https://www.boco.org/ARPA
for additional information.
Boulder County’s ARPA newsletter is now published bimonthly. You will now receive the ARPA publication every two months, which will still include articles, news, and stories to keep you informed about the investment of federal ARPA funds in our communities.
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Homeless Solutions for Boulder County Partners Awarded $6.5M in Boulder County |
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In a joint effort to find resources to address homelessness in Boulder County, multiple jurisdictions within Homeless Solutions for Boulder County (HSBC), along with nonprofit partners, secured funding for $6.5M for different priority areas and programs.
“Homeless Solutions for Boulder County is a system made up of Boulder County, municipal governments, and nonprofit organizations that support ending homelessness. In a concentrated effort and partnership between the county’s nonprofit organizations and Boulder County Community Services, we are extremely proud to have organized a coordinated effort in applying for not only grant funding, but of our plan in implementing additional service supports where they are needed,” said Robin Bohannan, HSBC Executive Board Chair and Director of Boulder County Community Services.
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The funds are from the state’s Transformational Homelessness Response Grant Program to bring solutions and address the challenges to accessing affordable, safe, and secure homes.
The grant funding is from House Bill 22-1377 from the 2022 Colorado legislative session that allocated American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars to homelessness response.
Homeless Solutions for Boulder County and partners have prioritized the following homelessness services with the awarded funds.
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• Boulder Shelter for Homeless: Hiring of full-time and part-time staff members to support innovative housing-focused case management, volunteer program and shelter operations, meal service and kitchen operations, IT/data in systems improvements, landlord relations and housing retention, and a dedicated vehicle for outreach.
• City of Boulder Housing and Human Services: Creation of a respite center.
• Mental Health Partners: Supportive services to unhoused adults experiencing mental health and/or substance use challenges, case management, street outreach, eviction and homelessness prevention, and a targeted systems improvement and evaluation.
• Boulder County Community Services: Hiring of full-time staff members for HSBC systems work to increase capacity, Family Bridge Housing program (a county-wide collaboration with community partners who also provide homeless resources and will focus on emergency housing, food, and transportation resources while families experiencing homelessness secure housing through permanent solutions), and outreach staff support in mountain communities.
• Boulder County Housing and Human Services: Creation of two new programs to address family homelessness and housing instability, including utilizing funds towards the Family Bridge Housing program and the Housing Helpline that provides tenant and landlord information, outreach, and housing navigation.
To learn more about Homeless Solutions for Boulder County services, visit www.bouldercounty.gov/departments/community-services/homeless/homeless-services/. For information about awarded funding, please email Homeless-Solutions@bouldercounty.org.
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A New Space for Parents Coming Soon to Boulder County |
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A support network can change the lives of entire communities. With the right resources, helpful information, and opportunities to be connected, families and individuals can find ways to thrive and find resilience when they need it the most.
OUR Center (Outreach United Resource Center) is a community-based agency located in Longmont, and for almost 36 years they have assisted families by understanding that support can come in different forms, from family relations, adult education, parenting skills, housing and utility assistance, and health care access, among other services.
One of the new programs coming soon to OUR Center is the Circle of Parents or COP. The program will provide a friendly, supportive community led by parents and other caregivers, where parents are the experts.
"In the space of the COP, it's all about building that community with each other and having conversations in a safe space where they can build relationships,” said Angie Halbert, the COP site coordinator for OUR Center.
The COP is a nationally recognized and evidence-informed methodology, with the organization Illuminate Colorado as the state chapter of this national program. In this model, parents lead the program with the support and guidance of a COP facilitator. “Parents decide when they want to meet. In all our COP meetings we provide childcare and food for the participants. This is critical because without childcare parents might have difficulty in participating. They may not have a neighbor or a family member who can help them with their kids.
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 We need to remove those barriers so they can come to this space,” added Halbert.
COP is a support network that a lot of communities don’t have for multiple reasons, including families living far away, self-isolation, immigration, language and cultural barriers, etc. As the support system is very limited for many families, everyday challenges might be overwhelming.
"In America, there is an expectation that parents must do everything on their own, and it gets very complicated at times,” shared Halbert. “In some cultures, it is a shared responsibility with grandparents or other family members helping each other. An extended family helps one have a sense of community and access concrete supports. Here we must develop our own connections, and I think COP is a great opportunity for parents to connect and develop some of this support with each other."
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Centered on the right of every child to have a caring home, family, and community, this program creates the path for parents so they can work together as a team. "COP is a program nurtured by the lived experience of parents. These are moms or dads who, for example, are single parents trying to raise their kids through school and make sure that they're eating healthy, have a good education, and that everybody is safe. But they also have full-time jobs, and that adds additional stressors to parents," added Halbert.
OUR Center was founded in 1986 as a response to assist those in need, especially those in emergency situations. Their commitment to strive for a better community continues today, and bringing programs like COP is an example of that purpose. "Whether it's having conversations on nurturing and development, eating nutritiously, how to parent in a digital world, warning signs on drug use, or sharing resources about what's available in the community, COP is the place to share these resources, share information and experiences," said Halbert.
With COP, OUR Center is bringing more resources and opportunities to Boulder County communities. In June, the organization offered an event called Recipe for Resilience. The events are open to the community and are a collaboration between OUR Center and the Parent Engagement Network (PEN). As Halbert shared, "the goal is to have these events reach a broader audience concerning topics that apply to current life and community challenges with different topics and content experts presenting."
COP is a free program, and it will be offered in English and Spanish. Circle of Parent groups begin in August, please email Angie@ourcenter.org or feel free to call 720-853-4686 to inquire or sign up.
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One of the characteristics of the ARPA funds’ investments is finding the most meaningful uses for communities that have a longstanding history of exclusion and have had a difficult time recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. In this process, community participation has been key to understanding where and how these funds can best serve priority populations and how they align with local challenges and needs.
As part of this process, Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services (HHS) through the Manufactured Housing Park Acquisition and Upgrades program initiated a collaboration with the University of Colorado (CU) Department of Geography and Promotoras de Salud (health promotors) from El Centro AMISTAD to visit Longmont and Lafayette neighborhoods door to door to collect first-hand input about the conditions of the residences and common areas in the mobile home parks.
"The goal is to work with park owners, managers, and residents to bring more resources to mobile home parks in Boulder County. We want to learn more about the specific needs of each mobile home park community and its people, as well as the goals of the managers and owners," said Francisco Padilla, HHS Community Outreach Case Manager.
"We started the work by partnering with the City of Longmont and the City of Lafayette to unite our efforts. In June, we started the door-to-door approach by first making connections with the park managers, so they were aware of the collaborative effort and our intention to improve the lives of the home park residents," said Aisa Garita, Community Engagement Specialist for the American Rescue Plan Act in Boulder County. "We are visiting each park in Longmont and Lafayette to connect with their residents and understand what the need for each resident is and how these ARPA funds can be best distributed in a more equitable way to improve the living conditions of families and residents living in mobile home parks."
The in-person surveys collected during June and July are the first step to identifying residents’ top priorities and concerns and building a collective plan for the changes needed for a safer and happier place to live. This fall, HHS will hold several strategic planning meetings with people who live in mobile home parks to create an investment strategy that supports resident ownership, home repairs, and water and sewer maintenance. CU previously conducted a mobile home park survey in Boulder in collaboration with the City of Boulder, and the surveys launched in Longmont and Lafayette build on that effort.
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Boulder County will be using funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for the Survive and Thrive Grants to nonprofit and childcare providers that are operating within Boulder County and have experienced negative impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Survive and Thrive project will offer approximately $6,750,000 in unrestricted funds to support nonprofits (501(c)(3) and 501(c)(19)) and childcare providers serving children ages 0-5 (including legally operating unlicensed childcare providers, specifically, providers administering childcare services often or a regular
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basis that are “license-exempt” according to the Colorado Department of Early Education otherwise known as Family, Friends, and Neighbor providers) to stabilize their business conditions, workforce, and operations. If you would like to add your organization to the interest list to receive communication about this funding opportunity, please complete the interest form below.
Interest form:
English
Español/Spanish
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The Community Navigation Hub began services in April 2023 by providing mental and behavioral health navigation assistance to other county programs. The Community Navigation Hub's primary objective is to connect residents to the community-based services that are available to the community in a system that might be intimidating or unclear to individuals.
The Hub navigation team has successfully connected nearly 100 individuals to community providers and services across the county departments of Public Health, Housing and Human Services, and Community Services.
The project is beginning plans for rollout to a broader group of community members throughout this summer and fall. In preparation for launching navigation services in the broader community, the Hub team is growing its capacity to accept more referrals. Recently, the Hub welcomed one additional navigator to help residents connect with services.
The program is currently recruiting a bilingual navigator to join the team as well. The Community Navigation Hub is also gearing up to offer service to the public by establishing the project’s website as the primary access point for community members to request assistance from the navigation team.
Much more is to come this summer!
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Boulder County is hiring for new positions on public service programs funded by ARPA. Boulder County Community Services is seeking to hire a Service Navigator. The Boulder County Community Hub (Hub) is designed to support access to county-based behavioral health services and the larger service delivery system. The Service Navigator is a position within the Hub, providing centralized navigation support to connect individuals with community-based services. The Hub Service Navigator's primary role will be to assist program staff in connecting their clients with essential community-based services or to assist clients in finding such services. For more information about this position visit the job link at Boulder County Careers. |
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