According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 55.5 percent of Auburn’s population is low-to-moderate income.
“That’s a bulk, said Michael Hursh, human services director for the City of Auburn. “And we don’t expect those numbers to change drastically in the 2012 Census.”
The reality is that whether they are immigrants, the unemployed, of people suffering the results of bad decisions — too many people in the city of Auburn live in poverty.
The Auburn City Council held a public hearing Monday evening inviting representatives of local non profits their supporters to make their pitch for a share of $1 million in anti-poverty funds the City will allocate next year to help keep those non profits doing the good things they do. Nobody spoke.
City Council members are expected to make a final decision about who should get a share of those funds at their first meeting in November. The Council will then submit that list to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, which provides half of the $1 million via Community Development Block Grants.
The City of Auburn for years has had a plan and strategies to cut the number of people living in poverty. Every year it puts money toward turning the goals of the Consolidated Plan into action, allocating up to 1 percent of its general fund expenditures — up to $550,000 in 2011 — to provide human services for Auburn residents through contracts with non profit agencies.
Every year HUD allocates CDBG funds to cities and counties to attack poverty where it lives. For 2011, the City expects to receive about $450,000 in CDBG funds. The City will combine that with its own money.
This will create a total Human Services Budget of $1 million. Human Services will use the money to administer the local housing repair program, come up with ways for community partners to work together and channel resources to some of the more than 30 non-profit agencies in the area.
The 2011 Action Plan proposes to:
• Allocate about $67,500 of CDBG funds to public services: $57,500 to provide dental and medical care to uninsured, low income Auburn residents; and $10,000 for employment training.
• About $90,000 of the fund will go to program administration, including planning. The remaining $292,500 will be put toward housing repair, economic development and repayment of a Section 108 loan to build the community center at Les Gove Park.
City will use its monies to fund human services providers who take part in the design, development and operation of a One Stop center for human services and the efficient, collaboration and integrated delivery of the services it offers. Agencies who agree to take part in the design and development of that center may apply for funding to make inroads on the following problems:
• Abused and neglected children
• Victims of domestic and sexual assault
• Poverty reduction
• Substance abuse
• Physical and mental fitness
