How Larimer County Immediate Needs Grants Helped Our Community

This category had one grant award with $125,000 in total funding.

So many in our community during the pandemic were experiencing housing insecurity. The Larimer County Immediate Needs grant program provided funding to the Colorado Poverty Law Project (CPLP), whose mission is to prevent homelessness through legal representation and advocacy. Utilizing the LCING funds, the CPLP  served a total of 204 residents:, providing 62 unduplicated households legal services through direct or limited representation for housing security legal matters, and 142 residents in education programs or legal clinics

For instance, LCING funds helped a 23-year-old single mother facing eviction for nonpayment of rent. Since she was caring for herself, her two children and her mother, the project’s attorneys were also able to reverse the eviction and find rental assistance so they could remain in their home.

Another older, long-time resident in a mobile home was served an eviction notice for minor repairs that amounted to cosmetic upgrades and was at risk of losing her home. A CPLP attorney successfully negotiated a solution and avoid eviction while improving the look of the property.

View a letter sent by the Colorado Poverty Law Project to the County in appreciation of receiving the funds.

The LCING funds were critical for the survival of many small businesses and restaurants in our community while also lessening the downward effect on our local economy. Reduced revenue and increased operating cost squeezed many businesses almost to the point of extinction. These funds helped many businesses weather the pandemic through the slowest months until the recovery slowly saw business activity pick up. This category had 16 grant awards with $586,828 in total funding.

An anonymous business reported that "The grant that our business received was imperative to our survival. During the pandemic, with reduced revenue and increased costs, our business bank account was depleted down to $100 at one point. Our monthly business expenses are roughly $36,000, even after tightening up every area possible. This disparity caused a great deal of stress. The grant enabled us to pay our rent, which allowed us to continue paying our valuable staff - a single dad, a couple with four children, a young entrepreneur, college students, etc.. These funds not only kept our business going, but also helped provide financial stability to our staff during a very turbulent time".

Snack Attack Specialty Sandwiches and Brews reported that, "We are so grateful to have received an Immediate Needs Grant! It has helped us continue to adapt and change how we operate our business during this time of post-pandemic recovery. Our industry is still experiencing daily supply chain challenges, extreme workforce limitations along with increased food/supply inflation which has made it tougher than ever to own a restaurant. This grant has allowed us to invest in areas for team onboarding, wage increases, uniforms but ultimately helping us adjust into this new age of restaurant operations. Additionally, it has certainly eased the pain in managing some financial aspects of our business and allowing us to focus our energy in areas where we can hire the right team members and continue to give our guests the best experience we can offer. We are thankful for every guest that chooses our restaurant, and we want to ensure they are receiving top notch value for where they spend their money. Truly, we are extremely thankful!"

Bistro Nautile is one of many restaurants that struggled mightily during the pandemic. The restaurant opened its doors as Nautile in June of 2020. Because of COVID restrictions, we were allowed to create a patio in the three parking spaces in front of our restaurant. The restaurant utilized LCING funds to "create a space that people want to be in and will hopefully appreciate and enjoy for years to come. Additionally, we think the plants and the patio add a touch of class to our little block. Thank you to the committee and to Larimer County for providing these funds to help us gain a leg up and give back to our community. It meant the world."

Many non-profits were able to help our community like Kids Pak in Loveland. Using LCING funds, they were able to step up their normal mission of providing nutrition for food-insecure children in the Thompson School District so that over 500 students continued to receive food over the weekends. They started providing weekend food bags during the last 8 weeks of school in the 2020 school year. 

This category had three grants with $129,000 in total funding.

In the Poudre School District, the McBackpack organization purchased 48,400 lbs of food from the Food Bank for Larimer County which translated into 5,780 bags of food for 36 unique schools across the Poudre School District. This was enough to provide 17,340 weekend meals and snacks for students and their families across our community.

Vindeket Foods utilized LCING funds to purchase a used 20-foot refrigerated truck that has helped immensely in their mission to rescue food. The additional truck expanded their fleet and allowed Vindeket to reach more donors and save more food from the landfill. The truck has helped transport produce, dairy, meat, dry goods and more from stores and suppliers to the Vindeket Market, where it goes straight back into the community to be utilized and enjoyed, rather than thrown away.

This category had two grants with $148,000 in total funding.

Alianza NORCO reports that as "...the COVID-19 pandemic began its rampage of infection across our immigrant population, many of whom are essential frontline workers. Locally, the impacts of these two events were: reduced economic opportunities, worsening mental and physical health, decreased legal services, and a lack of upward mobility for our immigrant population." The organization has utilized LCING funds to serve 526 total clients with benefits navigation and rental assistance support that has leveraged nearly $200,000 in rental support funds to the community. An example of a success story includes:

"This last year we met a single mom who was getting her license through our navigation services. During the process, our navigators found out that she was working three jobs to repair her water-damaged roof and kitchen, which was non-functional. Her children were struggling with school and mental health problems during the pandemic. We helped her with rent assistance, raised funds and organized our immigrant community to help repair her mobile home, connected her and her children to mental health resources, and helped obtain her driver’s license. Our work transformed her life for the better and confirmed our commitment to bridging our community to other nonprofits. "

The pandemic forced many families to keep their children out of preschool for safety reasons, forcing some 10% of Larimer County preschool providers to close their doors. This category had 4 grants with $238,403 in total funding.

LCING funds supported Thompson Valley Preschool [TVP] enrollment dropped to 75%.  The LCING funding not only helped TVP keep its doors open from the loss of tuition to care for young children but also temporarily backfilled the tuition loss to keep their staff employed. 

Another beneficiary of the LCING funding is the Early Childhood Council of Larimer County. The funds helped the council to map out the future welfare of our community’s children, by completing a detailed study and early childhood workforce report on Larimer County’s children looking toward the future.  The information and data in the report are crucial to supporting the well-being of Larimer County’s children, economy, and community. The Early Childhood Council is using this information to guide them in forming partnerships across the county to enhance our children’s well-being and attract and retain a superior workforce. 

Teaching Tree utilized their LCING grant to implement cohorting, which kept classrooms safe and open, with minimal classroom closures in 2022. Since receiving the grant, Teaching Tree did not need to close a classroom completely; keeping classrooms open has ensured that the low- and middle-income families we serve have consistent, reliable childcare so that parents can work, go to school, participate in job training, and maintain or progress toward self-sufficiency.

LCING funding enabled Respite Care, Inc. to utilize cohorts to continue to provide services to children with disabilities. While safer, cohorting proved more expensive. Cohorting does not allow for moving staff around to where the need is greatest, nor were we able to combine age groups in one area when attendance is low.  The restrictions of cohorting increased the number of staff needed to provide care for each age group and the number of hours that staff are working. Before the pandemic, the staffing ratio was typically 2.0 children for every one 1 staff member, due to the high needs of the vulnerable population we serve. With cohorting, this ratio has decreased to 1.6 children for every 1 staff member. Consequently, the number of staff hours Respite Care, Inc. are paying has increased by approximately 460 hours per month. Respite Care, Inc. reports that, "Our families have been so thankful that we have taken this strong stand to keep their childcare available. Another advantage is that staff have become more knowledgeable about their specific age group and have established stronger relationships with the kids and guardians they work with."

This category had eight grants with $520,000 in total funding.

The United Way of Larimer County utilized LCING funds to launch a program called Equity and Excellence, which provided a training opportunity is called the Grant Readiness Cohort. The Grant Readiness Cohort was made available to grass roots and community led organizations in Larimer County. United Way of Larimer County selected a highly qualified grant professional to provide monthly group training and 1:1 support to each organization while United Way of Larimer County provided compensation to each of the eight participating organizations for their time. The data collected so far has illuminated that this cohort program has been very beneficial to the participants and will not only allow them to seek larger grant/funding opportunities but will give them the tools they need to manage any funds that they are awarded. This creates a more equitable social sector and in turn, allows these organizations to provide more impactful programming and services in the communities that they serve. Considering the many impacts that COVID has had on our community, it is more vital now than ever that grassroots and community led organizations are supported and uplifted by programming like this which allows them to do their work more effectively and efficiently.

The Fort Collins Symphony received an LCING grant that enabled that organization to move the youth and family concerts to the spring after being informed by Poudre School District of the need to cancel a Youth Education Series concerts (YES). Moving the program to the spring generated enough demand to add two concerts so that charter, private, and several Weld County classes could attend. On March 8 and 11, 2022, the Fort Collins Symphony, Maestro Wes Kenney, and guest composer and narrator Gregory Smith performed SIX 45-minute educational concerts to over 2,500 students at Timberline Church. (Normally the FCS hosts over 4,000 4th and 5th graders for the YES concerts but health protocols required students to be socially distanced.) Then on March 13, the Friends of the Symphony sponsored a slightly longer version of the concert for over 600 families to enjoy. Comments received from participants include:

   “The concert inspired me so much that I know I want to play the flute in middle school.” 

·       “Your symphony was the most beautiful musical concert I have ever heard. The music really made me feel so alive. I never realized how much music means until now.”

The Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities utilized funding for a variety of projects including:

• GenHerous, which fostered a compassionate perspective of ourselves and other women across generations.
• Virtual Gateways Catalog- An entire online catalog of Larimer County virtual events and activities for community members was created so community members could engage virtually, and developed a Tech Buddy team that provided tech support to older adults who need support for their devices to help ensure they could participate in Virtual Gateways catalog events using technology.
• Age-Friendly Workplace Initiative informs business owners and HR teams about the many benefits of hiring and retaining an age-diverse  workforce including increased productivity and increased profitability.
• A Larimer County Manufactured Home Resident Handbook was created for residents in mobile home parks to understand rights and resources.
• Lifelong Housing Initiative- working to equip families with tools and an assessment to determine whether staying in one's home or moving into a supportive living center is best for that homeowner.
• Walkability Assessment near the Foothills Mall Area, in partnership with North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization- community members worked as a team to identify barriers that may exist which prevent their communities from being "walkable" by individuals of all ages and abilities.  An assessment was completed near the Foothills Mall area.
• Sound Affects, which connected older adults to professional music performances, with musicians visiting assisted living facilities and retirement communities.
• Virtual Volunteer Pilot Project- this pilot project is to determine if an older adult virtually volunteers actually feels less isolated and more connected to the community.
• Lunch and Learns., which provides a nutritious recipes for participants to make their own lunch while learning more about our community.  
• Housing Priority Group, which is educating community members and city planners and zoning personnel about the missing middle housing crisis in Larimer County.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on behavioral health in our community, especially among those most disproportionately impacted. This category had six grants with $241,143 in total funding.

The Jacob Center utilized LCING funds to provide specialized services geared towards more than 110 non-system involved youth to build resilience factors including building connections, creating opportunities for mastery, and developing self-regulation capacity. Caregivers participated in an evidenced-based caregiver model, Trust Based Relational Intervention®, allowing them to build their skill set at meeting the significant needs of kids from hard places. 

The Health District of Northern Larimer County utilized LCING funds to  to hire a Behavioral Health provider position in mid-March. to support our Connections and CAYAC Team. Through August 31st, this position has helped 354 youth and adults through behavioral health needs assessments, care coordination, and brief psychotherapy. An example of the success of this program is the story of an individual who sought behavioral health resources due to housing insecurity: 

"Our Behavioral Health Provider performed a needs assessment and interim treatment services to help stabilize the client until they could be connected to the right care in the community. Additionally, our provider helped to explain the recommended levels of care and supported the client in connecting to support in securing insurance coverage and disability. They also facilitated warm handoffs to the community's most appropriate permanent supportive housing and behavioral health treatment resources to address the client’s particular needs, ensuring they quickly received the assistance they needed."

This category had two grants with $145,000 in total funding.

The Homeward Alliance utilized LCING funds to support staffing costs of a Health Initiative program and other health related costs such as medical transportation and out-of-pocket medical expenses for people experiencing homelessness (PEH). This program has provided 34 health events at the Murphy Center organized since January 2022 with 389 individuals in attendance. Services include: 

• Dental at Your Door- mobile dental program offering comprehensive dental exams and cleanings o North Colorado Health Network- monthly STI/HIV testing 
• Health District of Northern Larimer County – monthly COVID vaccine clinics o Project Homeless Connect – one day event with over 15 different health services and screenings available 
• Health District of Northern Larimer County – Blood Pressure and Cholesterol clinics
• Salud- mobile unit offers basic vitals, blood sugar, iron tests, wound care, and connection to follow-up appointments
• Larimer County Department of Health and Environment- monthly immunization clinics for HepA, flu, and COVID. 
• 101 COVID vaccinations at 10 clinics since January 2022

 Since January, over 150 rides (totaling around $6,000) have been provided to guests/clients for transportation to medical appointments with Uber, Lyft, and Z-Trip. The flexibility of this transportation option is very important because the Medicaid “Intelliride” service has limited resources and the need is far greater than what they can support. Examples of qualifying medical rides include:

• Dental appointments
• Vision & eye glasses
• Primary care appointments
• Dialysis
• Podiatry
• Residential treatment
• Inpatient and outpatient treatment
• Salvation Army Medical Respite Program
• COVID vaccinations

 This funding has also supported Homeward Alliance's first ever “Medical Expense Fund,” which supports the costs of care acquired outside what insurance will cover like dentures/implants, medical equipment, and prescription costs. Examples of services provided to individuals with this funding include:

"My client has been complaining about having part of a Qtip stuck in his ear for years. Doctors haven't believed him due to his mental health diagnosis. However, he recently had a trip to the ER due to a severe headache and the doctor decided to do a scan to rule things out. My client decided not to say anything about the Qtip, because he was worried about being considered "crazy" again. After the scan, the doctor came in and asked why he didn't mention having something lodged in his ear. My client was shocked that they mentioned it because so many people made him think that he was wrong. The client went on to tell them about getting the Qtip stuck in his ear and how many people had discredited him. He was able to advocate for himself with the ER doctor to get a referral to have the object removed from his ear by an ENT doctor. A few weeks later the foreign object was removed from his ear and the client's chronic headaches have dramatically improved!"

"I had the pleasure of escorting Sarah to Salud for her first physical in two years. To be able to get to the truth of someone's medical history that often gets washed over by assumptions of addiction and criminal activity was an eye-opening experience. While it is impossible to walk every client through such a process due to time restraints and limited resources, when I get the opportunity, I find the process well worth my time as it always creates a deeper connection with that client that pays dividends going forward."

"We have had a client that has been struggling with his mental health for several months and it has bled into every part of his life, including his housing. In the last month, this client was accepted to the CDDT program at SummitStone and it has already made a huge difference for this client. The client attended his first psychiatry appointment yesterday and called me after. He said, "That meeting was hard. The really good hard. The kind where you leave and realize you have bundled a lot of emotions up and feel that weight being release. I know I have needed this for a long time and I hate opening up. I can already see how this will help." The key to this success was Summitstone being willing to go to the client's home to meet with him and collaborating with case managers on how to best reach this client. I know this will be something that helps this client with his goals of employment and housing stability. As the client put so perfectly, "It feels like there is some hope. A little bit of light in all of this."

The Salvation Army of Loveland used LCING funds for the Respite Care Program. Respite Care Program provides emergency hotel lodging, food, and transportation to people experiencing homelessness. The Salvation Army of Loveland initially started the program to assist medically fragile homeless individuals in the Loveland/Berthoud communities by providing them a place to recover from injury, illness, or surgery. Due to the pandemic crisis, Respite Program service area has been expanded to all of Larimer County to provide non-congregate shelter isolation sites for people experiencing homelessness who have tested positive for COVID.

 COVID respite care offers protection for the clients but also for the community at large. The homeless are the most vulnerable in society and have nowhere to recover and stay safe during these challenging times.

 The success of Respite Care Program is directly related to the coordination of services with community partners such as arranging hotel rooms, communicating with referring agencies, healthcare workers and hospitals, delivery of meals, transportation, and other needed services. Larimer County Immediate Needs Grant provided funding to pay for the hotel rooms and for the staff support to facilitate this important work. The Salvation Army of Loveland provided 1,205 nights of non-congregate shelter at hotels to 165 persons experiencing homelessness in Larimer County during the grant period.

This category had one grant with $50,000 in total funding.

The Poudre Canyon Fire Protection District utilized LCING funds, along with other grant funds, to purchase a new ambulance to replace an aging vehicle that had outlived its intended use. The district reports that, among other safety and operational improvements, "This ambulance with ride control gives the rig added stability that we need on our winding mountain roads. Set it to automatically adjust or dial in adjustment for when we are off road and need extra clearance, which happens often in our mountain community.  Plenty of power when we need it and adding the engine brake is so helpful when coming down our mountain roads. Riding in the back with a patient is therefore easier for our EMT’s. It provides a smooth ride which was appreciated by a patient we had already with a broken hip. Our mountain roads do present a challenge at times and this new rig, with 4-wheel drive, is set up to take the challenge."