FAYETTEVILLE -- Changes in federal guidelines will allow Washington County to make $300,000 in Emergency Rental Assistance money available to five local nonprofits.
County Judge Patrick Deakins and Josh Hall, executive director of the Hark Foundation and vice president at the Excellerate Foundation, made the announcement Wednesday morning identifying the five nonprofit organizations that will each receive $60,000 in federal rental assistance money.
The groups that will receive funding were identified as: Legal Aid of Arkansas, the Samaritan Community Center, Peace at Home, Goodwill Industries of Arkansas and Credit Counseling of Arkansas.
Deakins said Washington County had received and spent about $1.3 million in federal emergency rental assistance funds made available under the American Rescue Plan Act. The remaining $300,000 originally had been intended to be returned to the federal government, but the Treasury Department issued new guidelines in 2022 that expanded the eligible uses.
"This allows us to keep these funds in Washington County where they are going to be put to the best and highest use," Deakins said.
The money has been appropriated by the Quorum Court and will be available immediately, he said.
Hall said the Hark Foundation worked with the county to review the new federal guidelines and determine what needs categories the foundation has identified that matched the new Emergency Rental Assistance approved categories. He said the foundation then reviewed its own data, including information from more than 15,000 individuals the foundation has served and more than 169,000 referrals the foundation has made to other organizations to provide services. That information was used to rank the organizations and select those that will receive the funding.
Debbie Rambo, executive director with the Samaritan Community Center in Springdale, said the organization works with low-income families and individuals to help people find and remain in affordable housing. She said the group works with people whose incomes are up to 200% of the federal poverty level. For a family of three, the income threshold is $46,000, Rambo said.
Rambo said the organization's Care program served more than 4,700 individuals last year. The program provides case management services to families and individuals to eliminate barriers to connecting them with services.
She said the group does case management work to identify the needs of the people it serves and help connect them to additional services as needed.
"A lot of folks are living right on the edge of being susceptible to homelessness," Rambo said.
Teresa Mills with Peace at Home said the group helps people who find themselves in situations involving domestic violence. The group offers emergency shelter services and other services and support to domestic violence survivors. It also has a housing program to help people avoid the need for emergency shelter services. Mills said the Emergency Rental Assistance money will help support the housing program.
Brian Marsh, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Arkansas, said the money will help the organization offer more access to its services to those who need them. He cited the ability to provide free bus passes and child care services to clients as two examples.
Goodwill's mission in this instance is to help people find work, Marsh said. He said the organization offers education programs that lead to a high school diploma for some and work-related certification programs for others.
Marsh said as many as 22,000 people in Washington County lack a high school diploma and many have been unable to pass the GED test.
"Most of our folks have tried the GED and failed," He said.
He said the Goodwill program first tests people to determine their educational levels, then designs a program for them at those levels.
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NoneEmergency Rental Assistance
The ERA2 program was authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and provided $21.55 billion to assist eligible households with financial assistance, provide housing stability services, and as applicable, to cover the costs for other affordable rental housing and eviction prevention activities.
Source: US. Department of the Treasury