UCAN’s weatherization program helps Douglas and Josephine County households by offering measures that improve household energy efficiency. We are currently looking to add general weatherization and plumbing contractors to our qualified contractor list. To learn more about this opportunity, read the RFQ Guidelines.
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I want to start by thanking my dedicated Homeless and Housing staff for the incredible work they have done, and continue to do, this year. We know that housing and homelessness are still big problems in our community-we explain why in the article on homelessness. But we have been able to help so many people stay housed, find new housing, and as needed, find shelter.
In the past several months, we’ve launched two new initiatives that both address health issues that contribute to poverty. Our new Healthy Homes program will help hundreds of individuals breathe more easily when wildfires send toxic ash and particulates to their homes. We look forward to offering air purifiers and filters to folks qualifying for weatherization services.
In partnership with Umpqua Health, AllCare and the Oregon Health Authority, we are just beginning to provide a range of social services to residents on Medicaid. These services, like those keeping people housed, will reduce both individuals’ needs for health services and chronic health conditions that burden our communities. We are using funds made available to support this effort to integrate all services offered by UCAN and other partners, making it simpler for people to “get the right service at the right time.”
We are offering a great opportunity for partner agencies to increase their capacity by hosting AmeriCorps members. I am an enthusiastic supporter of AmeriCorps, as it develops a workforce that benefits our communities. We have seen many of our AmeriCorps alumni stay in our area after completing their service. We all benefit from the passion they bring to their service.
And we are again hosting a Cheese and Thank You event in Douglas County to raise funds for our regional food bank, Feeding Umpqua. The event runs the entire month of March. While we’ll receive donations for each item purchased, local residents will not only enjoy local eateries’ innovations on grilled cheese and other cheesy treats, but will also have chances to win some great prizes.
We are seeing less outside support for food purchases right now, while the need for emergency food is at record levels. So we’re hoping for a record level of cheese eaters. And if you can’t or don’t eat cheese, please consider a donation to Feeding Umpqua. As our team at Feeding Umpqua says: “You’ll be doing a world of Gouda!”
Once again, Feeding Umpqua has organized a fun, gooey event to help address hunger in Douglas County. You can take part in Cheese and Thank You by purchasing a cheesy creation made special by one of a number of our participating establishments. For every item purchased, our partners will donate $2 to Feeding Umpqua. We also have major sponsors helping to support the event, including Umpqua Bank (our “Sharp Cheddar” sponsor), Keller Lumber (“Mozzarella” sponsor), Umpqua Health (Monterey Jack) and KMTR (media sponsor).
We will kick-off our month of gooey delight on Saturday, March 1st from 10am-2pm at Umpqua Bank’s downtown Roseburg branch (445 SE Main Street). Bring your family and enjoy free cheesy bites. We will also have booths set up for fun activities, including crafts and games for the little ones. You can pick up your Cheese and Thank You passport here as well.
If you can’t make it to the event, no worries. You can pick up a passport at any participating eatery. Gather stamps at each location you purchase a cheesy treat! At the end of the event, you can return your passports to our office at 280 Kenneth Ford Drive in Roseburg or at any participating restaurant, and we will offer prizes to some lucky cheese heads.
Participating locations are found throughout Douglas County and include:
And if you can’t eat dairy, consider donating directly to Feeding Umpqua. Now more than ever, we are depending on local support to purchase foods to address local hunger.
Oregon has received a waiver from the federal government to pilot Medicaid benefits that can address health related social needs (HRSN). HRSN’s, such as housing, shape people’s lives from birth onward, and they wield far-reaching influence over health outcomes, surpassing the significance of clinical care. Through its waiver, Oregon not only is working to innovate ways to better address health issues, but also to ensure that folks whose lives are in transition are eligible for more comprehensive care.
Those on Oregon’s Medicaid program (OHP) may be eligible for the added benefits if they are:
Released from incarceration in the past 12 months
Discharged from an institution for mental disease in the past 12 months
Currently or previously involved in the Oregon child welfare system
Transitioning from Medicaid-only to dual eligibility (Medicaid and Medicare) status within the next three months or has transitioned in the past nine months
Homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Individuals also need to be experiencing a health issue that the benefit will address. Some benefits have additional requirements, e.g., rent assistance is only available to those with a signed lease.
Local Coordinated Care Organizations (CCOs) (networks of providers serving OHP members) are standing up the new benefit locally by contracting with social service providers. UCAN has entered into contracts with both AllCare in Josephine County and Umpqua Health in Douglas County to receive certain referrals for the new benefit. UCAN has also entered into an agreement with the Oregon Health Authority to serve local residents who are not members of their local CCO.
Individuals must first apply to their CCO or the Oregon Health Authority, as appropriate, and have them authorize the service. Once approved, we receive the referral (we are not authorized to approve applications). We have just started receiving our first HRSN referrals (from Umpqua Health). These initial referrals are for home modification and home remediation services. We are currently able to offer installation of ramps, grab bars, pull-down drawers, window blinds, as well as home cleaning and pest control.
In the near future, we will begin helping local residents complete HRSN applications. We also expect to receive referrals for other services, such as rent and utility assistance and tenancy support. Jordan Jungwirth, UCAN’s Chief Operating Officer applauds the State for moving forward with the expanded Medicaid benefit, sharing that “these benefits are a welcome addition to services we already offer to thousands of local residents.”
Summers have been changing in our part of Oregon. Wildfires are on the increase. Since 2020, our region has experienced four wildfires near or exceeding 100,000 acres, including the Archie Creek (125,000 acres), Slater (157,000 acres), Jack and Devil’s Knob (100,000 acres), and the Smith River North Complex (95,107 acres) conflagrations.
We often think that once flames are out, the danger from these fires is over. But this is not the case. Smoke and residue from these fires, which can last long after fire fighters stop the spread of flames, have components that themselves are dangerous to human health. Fires that simply burn forests still create smoke filled with materials such as formaldehyde. If buildings, cars, and other man-made objects burn, smoke and ash can fill with asbestos, heavy metals and other noxious substances.
Moreover, particles found in smoke, regardless of their nature, worsen health. These particles affect the body’s ability to remove viruses and bacteria from the lungs, leaving us more vulnerable to numerous diseases and infections. Short-term exposure (i.e., days to weeks) to particles from smoke worsen existing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and even causes people to die prematurely.
For those of us with A/C units or room air purifiers, much of the ash and residue suspended in smoke can be captured in filters. But folks lacking A/C or air purifiers are left with little choice but to breathe in soot and smoke that fill their home. On days when outdoor air quality indices hit levels at which we are warned to stay indoors, these individuals cannot escape the damage done to their health by smoke. Distressed health in turn deepens poverty, and is one of the more common reasons people become poor.
UCAN has launched a Healthy Homes program to help low-income residents avoid the exposure to indoor smoke and ash and the associated health impacts. UCAN is leveraging our expertise in home weatherization to do so. Those eligible to have their homes weatherized will now also be eligible to receive an air purifier along with high quality air filters. The air filters can reduce indoor air particles by over 90%.
The Oregon Health Authority is providing grant funds for three years to operate our Healthy Homes program. We hope that at the end of this period, we will again be able to obtain funding to enhance this service. Long-time Douglas County resident Heather King, UCAN’s Supportive Services Director, proclaims, “Nobody should have to sit in a smoke-filled home, inhaling toxins and struggling to breathe.”
UCAN recently performed required Point-In-Time counts of homeless individuals in both Douglas and Josephine County. We do our best to capture an accurate number of homeless folks by offering convenient central locations for counts, and sending out teams that cover the entirety of each county. We and our partners provide meals and a wide range of services as incentive for those who are homeless to attend the counts.
It will take a while to tabulate count data. What we do know is that despite efforts to outreach countywide, offer convenient locations, and provide incentives to attend the events, the Point-In-Time counts significantly underestimate actual numbers of local homeless folks. With many homeless individuals lacking transportation, and some living far off the grid, we know that there are many such residents who don’t attend the count.
Regardless of the eventual official count, our homeless services staff are seeing many more homeless individuals locally this year. And they are noticing a change in the make-up of homeless residents. More and more of our local homeless are seniors, are people with physical disabilities or are both. Why this change?
Simply put, people on fixed incomes, particularly those who did not earn a lot when they worked, are being further priced out of the rental market. In 2023, the median rent in Josephine and Douglas County were $1,157 and $995 respectively. That same year, the average Social Security benefit in Oregon was $1,872. In either County, the typical resident on social security is paying ½ of their income for housing alone.
UCAN is doing as much as possible to prevent residents from ending up on the streets. This past year, we rehoused around 100 Josephine County households and 30 Douglas County ones. We also kept a total of 240 households in both counties who were at-risk of eviction from losing their homes. For those who do end up homeless, we provided shelter to 115 people, including 19 children, at the Gary Leif Navigation Center in Roseburg. We have also operated a warming center in Roseburg for around 20 days this winter, far more than we did so last year.
Holly Fifield, UCAN’s Housing and Homeless Services Director, says: “I couldn’t be prouder of the hard work my team has done addressing this need this year. They have gone above and beyond in getting and keeping people housed. And I want to give a special shout out to those who have worked countless overtime hours throughout the nights at our warming center. Through their support, and that of a small number of dedicated volunteers, we’ve kept many individuals from suffering frostbite, hypothermia, and other weather-related conditions.”
She continues, “we all need to come together to help people stay housed. Not just non-profits and government agencies, but those fortunate to have stable housing. Together we can ensure that those lacking resources, whatever the reason, have a place they can call home.”
AmeriCorps is a national service program that enrolls members each year in intensive service positions to nonprofits, schools, government agencies and tribal nations. AmeriCorps members serve agencies that are tackling pressing problems while mobilizing volunteers for the organizations they serve. For over 15 year, UCAN AmeriCorps has supported agencies in Jackson, Josephine, Coos, Curry and Douglas County by offering them members who are ready to get things done. Our members build host site’s capacity to deliver direct services within UCAN Focus areas: education, economic opportunity, and healthy futures.
We recently opened an RFP for host sites to apply for a member. The deadline to apply for a 1700 hour (11-month) Member is April 4, 2025. The RFP and associated application materials can be found on our web-site here.
We are especially interested in working with host site partners that:
Have compelling project ideas and the capability to plan, manage and execute them in unique and meaningful ways,
Have strong site supervisors who value mentoring, volunteerism and community development,
Can offer workspace, resources and professional development opportunities to support their member.
Benefits to host sites cannot be overstated. The supervisor at South Slough Reserve, which hosts the AmeriCorps-led afterschool program Estuary Explorers to engage students in coastal education, explains: “The members who have served at the Reserve have been phenomenal and have brought unique and long-lasting impacts to our education programs. I have had the chance to get to know each member and see the full value they contribute as well as their growth.”
Members blossom through service, gaining critical knowledge and experience leading to further exciting opportunities. A current member shares that their service “has increased my independence and confidence in my professional ability to complete expected tasks” while being supported and appreciated by UCAN’s AmeriCorps staff. An AmeriCorps alumni, who was struggling to find purpose and professional connections, relates that “AmeriCorps helped me gain the skills and connections that I need for my current job, all while helping me figure out what I enjoyed doing.”
If you feel your organization might benefit from a member’s service, we urge you to take a look at the RFP, and submit an application. If you have questions about the process or program, you can contact Julia Anselmo, UCAN AmeriCorps Program Manager, at julia.anselmo@ucancap.org.
I am always excited to share the news of new programs and initiatives that UCAN is offering. This newsletter has articles describing two new services for UCAN.
This year we have offered a pilot Diaper Distribution program, generously supported by the Community Action Partnership of Oregon and PDX. The program helps the many families of babies and infants who struggle to pay for diapers and wipes. This year, we served about 750 Douglas County families, more families than were served in any other county, keeping our youngest healthier and happier. The pilot program wraps up in February, and we hope that it will be extended.
We will be starting a new nurse home visiting service in early 2025. Through Family Connects, all new parents in Douglas County will have the opportunity to have a UCAN nurse meet with them to address concerns and connect them with resources. The program is voluntary, free, and requires no insurance.
While excited about these new efforts, I also hope you can help us better address some very basic needs. Feeding Umpqua, our Douglas County Food Bank, lacks the food needed to best address hunger at this time. More families than ever are struggling to eat three meals daily. Cash and food donations to Feeding Umpqua will help us to better nourish our neighbors.
We have received some funds to operate a warming shelter in Roseburg, but the amount will only allow us to operate on the coldest winter nights. Those lacking shelter are much more likely to suffer hypothermia and frostbite. We are looking for volunteers to work at the shelter, and donations will allow us to operate the shelter on more freezing nights.
As the year comes to a close, I want to thank all of the many people and agencies who have supported our efforts, whether through partnerships, donations, volunteering or otherwise. We could not do this work without all of you. I wish you all the happiest of holidays!
Hunger and poor nutrition are serious problems in Douglas County. Folks with less resources often have to skip meals. When they do eat, they typically rely on cheap, nutrient poor foods, like highly-processed, convenience foods, to get by. We all know what it feels like to be “hangry.” Lack of food not only leaves us irritable, it makes it hard to focus on the job and at school. Hunger can lead to a number of lifelong health issues.
As the costs of food continues to rise, more people than ever are in need of emergency food. A substantial portion of Douglas County is food insecure, with a higher proportion of children lacking adequate food. In 2021, 16.8% children alone were food insecure in Douglas County. In 2022, the percentage of children who are food insecure in Douglas County increased substantially, to a worrisome 23.3%. That means we had 3,630 more hungry children in 2022.
More hunger means more demand for the food that Feeding Umpqua distributes to pantries and community kitchens throughout Douglas County. Unfortunately, it does not mean that more food is coming in to the Feeding Umpqua warehouse. The amount of food made available to Feeding Umpqua has plummeted since the end of the Pandemic. This is why support from local residents like you is so important at this time.
You can donate a wide range of foods to Feeding Umpqua. Foods we especially appreciate include: fresh produce, canned meats (tuna or chicken), chili, stew, soups, peanut butter, nuts and dried fruit (low sugar), canned vegetables, canned fruits (without syrup), cereal and protein bars. Consider hosting a food drive at work, your church, or a club you’re a member of to increase your food donation. We have tips for running a food drive on our web-site: https://www.ucancap.org/food-donation/
Better yet, donate money to Feeding Umpqua. We’ll use your donation to purchase foods most needed by community members. You can donate by going to: https://tinyurl.com/2024holidaygiving and selecting Feeding Umpqua from the drop-down menu. Every dollar you donate provides 3 meals for local residents.
