Bi-County Community Action Programs

Bi-cap's largest program is the head start/early head start program. This program is a school readiness program which helps families provide the best opportunities for their children in preparation for kindergarten. With a two-generation approach, Programs work with families to make connection in the communities they live, support needs, and set goals. Early head start promotes helathy prenatal outcomes, enhances the development of infants and toddlers, and promotes healthy family functioning. Services are designed to meet the unique needs of each Community. During fy2024, 31 recipients received a total of $9,005 in grants.

The weatherization department works with clients to improve the energy efficiency, health and safety, and to decrease the energy consumption of their home. Priority is given to elderly and disabled households with high energy consumption and single head of households with children. 140 recipients received $411,814 in grant funds during fy2024.

The supportive housing program comprises of over 12 different Programs that utilize various funding sources, including hud, mn housing, and homelessness, housing and support services administration at the department of human services, and local funding when available. The Programs typically serve those who are unhoused and with multiple barriers. Services offered range from one-time assistance to rental assistance that includes ongoing case management and support services. In fy2023, bi-cap supportive housing was awarded special legislative-approved funding of $398,467.00 in fhpap fast track funds. This one-time funding from mn housing helped assist 164 families and individuals in beltrami and cass counties during the short time frame of october 1, 2023, to july 1, 2024, it provided financial support for deposits, past due rent, utilities, and mortgage assistance.

The Minnesota energy assitance program provides financial assistance to households to help pay a portion of their home energy and heating bills. The grants are based on the household size, income, fuel type, and energy usage. Primary heat grants are sent directly to the household's fuel and/or electric vendors to assist households' ability to maintain affordable and continuous energy by providing grants to lower their energy burden. Human services department bicap's adoption of cyberrecruiter has led to a simplified applicant tracking process, easy application sharing with managers, fast scheduling and an improved candidate and user experience.cyber recruiter has:- an automated requisition process quickly posts job opening and descriptions to our career page after approval.- applicants can apply online in around 15 minutes. A resume upload feature saves the candidate manual entering time.- hr users can easily route new applicants to managers for approval; the managers can select next steps via links in the email.- interview scheduling and distributing calendar invites is done seamlessly through the software.- managers score interviews in cyberrecruiter for hr director oversight.- offer letters, supervisor tasks and candidates notifications are generated in cyberrecruiter.- there are extensive reporting and metrics to comply with aa reporting and measure applicant metrics like time to hire and application abandonment rate, among others.youthbuild is a comprehensive work experience training program for opportunity youth, ages 1624, who have left the traditional school system. The program provides an opportunity for youth to spend 29 hours per week in academics, leadership development, construction/workexperience training, life skills learning, and career/postsecondary exploration. Youthbuild participants are mentored for four days a week, alternating their time between the classroom, construction site, and other activities to resolve barriers, set and achieve goals, explore careers and more. They recieve school credit and an hourly wage for participation in all activities during their time in the program. Participants receive guidance and support while pursuing postprogram placement and a full year of followup support after completing theprogram. Cass lake bena alc is bicap youthbuild's educational partner. They provide an onsite teacher/learner manager to assist participants in working toward their high school diploma. They also provide teaching staff through adult basic education to prepare those participants more suited to earning their ged or adult diploma equivalency.