Community Action Program Region Vii

Weatherization and housing assistance:the weatherization Program provides energy conservation services to low-income homeowners and renters to make their homes more energy efficient. The Program helps to increase energy efficiency and reduce heating bills by concentrating on the problems of heat loss and air infiltration. Weatherproofing repairs such as insulation, caulking, and weather-stripping are provided to income eligible households. Emergency furnace repair and replacement Program assists households with repair and replacement of unsafe heating systems.housing assistance is provided through the housing opportunities for persons with aids (hopwa), continuum of care, and tenant based rental assistance (tbra) programs. The continuum of care Program provides rental assistance in connection with supportive services to homeless persons with disabilities in north dakota. The primary target populations are homeless people who have serious mental illness; and/or hiv/aids.other housing programs offered by the Region includes: the helping hand Program, the home rehabilitation Program, and the Community development block grant (cdbg) accessibility assistance Program.

Nutrition, emergency and other assistance:nutrition and emergency services programs include the emergency food pantry Program, the backpacks for kids Program, supportive services for veteran families (ssvf) Program, and the Community services block grant (csbg) Program. The Community Action food pantry provides food baskets to families who are in need and income qualified. Food baskets are generally filled to last approximately 4-7 days, depending on funding and donations received. Backpacks for kids was developed to address the need for food for children identified as being homeless. Backpacks are filled with "kid-friendly" foods such as cereal, granola/yogurt bars, fruit cups, applesauce, pudding, canned dinners, peanut butter, jelly and bread. Backpacks are delivered to the schools on friday or the last day of each school week. The school distributes them to children in need and the children return the backpacks to the school the following week to be refilled. The ssvf Program provides support services for veterans and veteran families by offering financial assistance to search for housing, assistance with initial rental costs, or paying for certain bills related to back rent or utilities. The csbg Program provides financial counseling, case management, and individual development accounts.