Robert Tann/Summit Daily News
Citing a growing need for community support programs, staff members for the Summit County Community and Senior Center have received tens of thousands in federal funding for programming this year.
The Community Services Block Grant provides subsidies to states, territories and tribes that are then distributed to local community organizations to be used on poverty-reducing initiatives.
“We have had this grant since the early 2000s — so a very long time,” said Lorie Williams, the center’s manager. “The grant keeps adding more and more administrative stipulations to it, and the state says that those stipulations are due to the federal government.”
This year, the center received $53,045, more than $24,000 of which goes to administrative costs while $11,000 goes to nutrition efforts. Other funds go towards supporting efforts in Gilpin and Clear Creek County, which partnered with Summit to become a multi-county service area in 2018.
The Summit center facilitates a number of nutrition programs, including the Mountain Meals on Wheels food-delivery service and its recurring dinner and lunches held every week.
During an Oct. 10 Summit Board of County Commissioners meeting, Williams said the county needed to to review and approve a needs assessment that it is mandated to provide to the state as part of receiving these funds.
Stay up-to-date on all things Summit County. Get the top stories in your inbox every morning. Sign up here: SummitDaily.com/newsletter
The needs assessment includes data from the county’s public health department as well as community surveys by government and nonprofit groups, such as the Family & Intercultural Resource Center.
It found that Summit County seniors have a “notably higher poverty rate than their peers statewide.” Just over 10% of Summit County adults 60 and older live in poverty compared to 8% statewide.
The report also compared data from two nearby mountain communities, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties, which showed the percentage of seniors 60 and older living in poverty was 8.2% and 6%, respectively.
“Environmental factors like lack of stable/affordable housing, lack of affordable medical insurance, limited transportation to and from work, childcare, and medical appointments disproportionately affect low-income individuals and families who also often struggle with limited job opportunities for living wage positions,” the report states.
The county also sees “significant economic disparities that exist by language, with Spanish being by far the most common,” said center Program Coordinator Sara Lopez.
Food insecurity is also significant, Lopez said. Last year, the Family & Intercultural Resource Center saw over 15,600 visits to its food pantry, with the organization as a whole serving over 8,700 people, according to a fiscal year 2022 report.
County commissioners later approved the needs assessment as part of the consent agenda portion of their regular Oc. 10 meeting.
Credit: Source link
