We’re determined to increase prosperity and wellness within our communities by deploying services and programs that target needs such as housing and homelessness, food security, energy use, child development, family well-being and health.
Feeding Umpqua collects, stores and distributes emergency food for a network of local member agencies serving low-income residences in 37 locations throughout the Douglas County. Last year, our network’s 17 pantries provided 36,791 emergency food boxes and our network’s 6 community kitchens/shelters provided 121,122 meals. Together, we provided about 1 million meals to low-income residents of Douglas County. Feeding Umpqua itself distributed 1,587 emergency food boxes directly to 3,936 residents of four remote Douglas County communities: Days Creek, Camas Valley, Elkton and Diamond Lake. The total number of meals provided increased by 30% from the previous year.
people received WIC services
Our Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program helped meet the nutritional needs of 2,964 women, infants and children in Douglas County. These households received free WIC foods. They also received:
Feeding Umpqua also provided nutrition related programming to 1,658 children.
Our Housing Stabilization Service Department met Josephine and Douglas County residents’ housing needs in a variety of ways, including:
80
households received weatherization
3,700
households received utility help
UCAN’s Utility Assistance staff met the needs of a significant number of households last year, paying utility bills for 3,700 households. 80 households received weatherization services to keep their homes warmer in winter. We also helped operate emergency warming shelters in both Grants Pass and Roseburg.
UCAN’s Head Start program served 486 children in 2023. Infants, toddlers and children ages 3-4 not only took part in activities carefully designed to prepare them to succeed in kindergarten, they:
At the same time, Head Start family service staff helped parents to better support their children’s education.
UCAN has two programs solely providing home visits to vulnerable families: Healthy Families and Nurse Home Visiting. Nurse Home Visiting operates in Douglas County, while Healthy Families serves Lake, Klamath and Douglas County. These two programs, which offer resources, education, support and much more primarily to families with young children, offered 2,952 home visits to families in 2023.
486
children served in Head Start
2,952
Home Visits to Families
UCAN supported programs helping local individuals better manage their money and obtain additional income. We provided Payee services to 88 local residents. We also supported tax assistance programming helping 1,513 people not only file their taxes, but to obtain money back from credits. The total amount of money returned by the IRS and the Oregon Department of Revenue to the tax filers we supported was $1,356,766.
88
1,513