Funds from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) – Community Assistance Grant

 The City of Bend granted Family Access Network (FAN) $10,000, along with four other local nonprofits, for efforts to help the Bend community recover from COVID-19. Funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) – Community Assistance Grant program, and will ensure FAN advocates can meet intensifying needs for children and their family members in Bend who are struggling to regain stability. FAN partners with over 100 community organizations to connect families to basic-needs resources quickly, including rent/utility relief, shelter, food, clothing, and more. Other funding recipients include FAN partners: Family Kitchen, Shepherd’s House, Relationship Empowerment Action Compassion Heart (REACH), and Dawn’s House.

“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our clients, many of whom were barely scraping by before March of 2020,” explains Julie Lyche, FAN Executive Director. “With job losses and reduced hours, increased childcare during school closures or quarantines, and illness, those families are still struggling to catch up. The City of Bend’s grant will help FAN’s most disadvantaged clients regain stability and start on the path to self-sufficiency once again.”

The purpose of the City of Bend’s Community Assistance Grant program is to assist qualifying nonprofit organizations in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to assist nonprofit entities providing services to individual members of the community who were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those individuals who were disproportionally impacted.

Unique to Central Oregon, FAN began in 1993 and currently employs 30 advocates at 66 sites in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson counties. These advocates work tirelessly to help families break the cycle of poverty. The direct placement of FAN advocates within schools allows FAN to effectively reach and connect disadvantaged children and families to essential basic needs.

To learn more about the Family Access Network, please visit familyaccessnetwork.org or call (541) 693-5675.

Family Access Network’s mission is to offer assistance, possibility and hope to Central Oregon families in need by connecting them with crucial resources that will help children flourish in school and in life. Every year, FAN advocates improve the lives of nearly 8,000 children and family members in Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson counties.