(Spirit Lake)– An agency that provides services to low income residents in a number of northwest Iowa counties continues to see a high demand for assistance.
In her recent annual report to the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors, Julie Edwards, the Executive Director of Upper Des Moines Opportunity, said they provided $828,000 worth of services in Dickinson county for the past fiscal year, adding that the number of people going through their doors has nearly doubled in recent years. She says there’s one area of services, however, that saw a decrease due to a drop in funding availability…
“Our energy program is our LIHEAP program. Those numbers went down no matter what county you were in. Not as much money was available. Also, the average person received about $500 of assistance. So I want to break the myth that’s out there that LIHEAP pays their energy costs. It does not. It’s just a drop in the bucket. We all know. We all have our utility bills to pay and $500 really doesn’t go that far.”
Edwards adds UDMO recently received several grants to assist with housing needs…
“One is for literally homeless which means couch surfing, that they’re living in a tent, living in a car, moving from place to place. We have homeless prevention, they’re at risk of eviction. And so we have funds to assist with that. And then our newest grant which will launch, it should have been launched now but with government shutdown, it will be launched hopefully in January. This is a youth homeless grant, which sounds like youth, we don’t need that. Well we do. It’s 18 to 24 year-olds and it really helps them get started, it helps them find jobs, and that’s important to our economic development, is addressing homelessness.”
Edwards also gave a break down on demographics of the clientele they service. She says there’s one area in particular that’s of interest…
“60 percent of the households in Dickinson county that came through our doors were a single person household, which is higher than most of our counties. But interestingly enough, 13 percent of those households were lead by a female who is single. Usually that number is higher in most counties.”
Edwards added that 38 percent of households served by Upper Des Moines Opportunity receive SNAP benefits.
