Opportunity Council

Community Services (CS), Community Programs, Housing Services, and Energy Assistance - A multi-faceted program dedicated to serving our most vulnerable communities. CS strives to serve those in need wherever they are. In 2022 staff and volunteers dedicated 9,250 hours to package, serve, and deliver over 8,000 meals to people in need. Over 110 people gained job skills and work experience through our Employment Services programs. Our Resource Centers in three counties responded to nearly 17,000 requests for services and information. We secured housing for nearly 3,800 households through permanent supportive housing, temporary housing, rental assistance, and eviction prevention services. Tenant enrichment services and other programs also provide benefit to the communities we serve. We provided over 8,800 payments for energy bills on behalf of families in need so they did not have to choose between paying for energy or other basic services.

Weatherization and Home Repair Services - By servicing existing homes, the home improvement program preserves vital housing units (a key component of ensuring affordable housing), while also improving community health, safety, and climate resiliency. We weatherized 84 houses so families could reduce their annual energy use and expenses, and rehabilitated 75 additional homes and 70 furnace repair projects to improve durability, indoor air quality, and ensure home safety.

Early Learning and Family Services (ELAFS) - one of Opportunity Council's largest departments - is comprised of multiple programs for pregnant people and households with children ages birth to five years and beyond. Specific programs include, but are not limited to: Head Start and ECEAP (Washington State's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program) center-based preschool classrooms for children ages three through five years and their families, Early Head Start home visit-based program for prenatal through age three, Early Support for Infants and Toddlers (ESIT) home visit-based program for children with special needs and their families, and our Quality Child Care (QCC) division, which includes regional work supporting child care providers, infant/toddler mental health, and child nutrition, as well as the Center for Retention and Expansion of Child Care (C-RECC). In Whatcom County, ELAFS continues to be a central player in the Single-Entry Access to Services (SEAS) and Help Me Grow collaborations aimed at getting every local child off to a strong start. Program year 2022-23 saw 291 children enrolled in our Head Start and ECEAP preschool classrooms. A total of 86 children and their highly-impacted families were served by our intensive Early Head Start program's weekly visits from Home Educators. SEAS Navigators processed 1,250 referrals from hospitals, doctors, family members and educators when a child was known to have or suspected of having a developmental delay or special need. And ESIT staff provided services for nearly 200 children ages 0 to 3 each month to help address developmental delays and other special needs through therapeutic interventions and family resource coordination. ELAFS QCC programs, through Child Care Aware of WA, broadly supported child care providers, furnished reliable data to policy makers, and assisted families in search of child care information and referrals or in need of emergency vouchers to maintain child care enrollment. Over the course of program year 2022-23, QCC supported 558 licensed child care/early learning businesses in Early Achievers, Washington's Quality Improvement System (QIS), by providing technical assistance, training and coaching to improve quality. C-RECC worked with existing and prospective child care providers of diverse sizes in the five northwest counties of WA, connecting them with technical assistance to meet the varied needs of the sector and local employers, in addition to awarding grants totaling $1,512,038.

Housing Enterprise - Opportunity Council has formed a number of separate state limited liability corporations (LLCs) for the purpose of providing certain management and other services to separate entities in which the LLCs are either a noncontrolling member or general partner. The sole member of these LLCs is Opportunity Council. Opportunity Council's Building Performance Center (BPC) provides technical training, quality assurance services, and professional consultations that promote safe, healthy, durable, and energy efficient buildings. In 2022, the BPC trainings and in-home services provided training for 602 people throughout Washington state and beyond. The Community Energy Challenge, CEC, is a community energy efficiency program designed to address the typical barriers to efficiency upgrades for homeowners and commercial building owners and encourage comprehensive EE retrofits that result in substantial savings. In 2022, CEC assisted 69 households in improving energy efficiency in their buildings.

Energy Policy - The Energy Project advocates for the needs of low-income households as they pertain to energy utility service secure, and also works to secure funding from investor-owned and other utilities to extend energy assistance benefits and weatherization funding for low-income households throughout the State of Washington. In the 2022 contract year, The Energy Project helped to secure nearly $89.5 million dollars in support of low-income households through low-income weatherization services, energy assistance, and other related programs.

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