Resource center earns federal HUD designation
Linnis Jellinek gestures toward a quote on the wall, "Never, never never give up," which she says represents the mission of the center.
Courtesy of LINNIS JELLINEK
SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint Community Resource Center will now be able to offer more services in one place thanks to a federal designation as a HUD EnVision Center.
The designation will not provide funding, but rather connect the center with numerous federal programs, said executive director Linnis Jellinek.
“They bring programs and services that we don’t even know exist,” she said. “We just don’t have the bandwidth [to search for all of those].”
Although the HUD EnVision Centers do not receive federal funding, they are eligible for up to four government-paid staffers to help connect locals to federal resources.
“We do the work of working with the federal agencies,”said Jeff McMorris, regional administrator for Region 10. “It’s not on Linnis’s plate to do that.”
To become an EnVision center, resource centers have to support all four pillars of the program, McMorris said. Those pillars are economic empowerment, educational advancement, health and wellness and character and leadership.
“The main goal of the EnVision center is to work with the population that is work-able but needs some assistance,” he said.
A study by the United Way found that as of 2018, 14% of residents in Bonner County were living in poverty, and roughly another 30% met the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) standard, meaning they were one unexpected expense away from living in poverty.
Despite that, many residents are unaware of just how many working poor live in Bonner County, Jellinek said.
The number of people near or below the poverty line based on that study, which is conducted every two years, is also likely to go up significantly as of the 2020 results.
In the past year, the resource center saw the number of people they serve roughly double from 425 in 2019 to 864 clients in 2020, with 366 of them being new, Jellinek said. Those individuals, by and large, were people who fell into poverty or crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many, she said, lost their jobs in the hospitality industry when restaurants and other businesses closed or limited their services. Still, that can be difficult for those who aren’t below or near the poverty line to believe.
“Many people here,” Jellinek said, “they don’t want to believe almost half the population is just above the poverty line.”
One of the challenges the center faced in the past is that although there are many nonprofit agencies in the area, they usually work separately — meaning there are overlaps and gaps in services they provide, and that those in need have to drive to different locations to access different services.
“We refer people to three different places on a $25 gas card, and we lose them a lot of the time,” she said.
By bringing different services under one roof, the center will be able to offer assistance to financially strained individuals without adding the burden created by driving to different locations.
That’s especially important, Jellinek said, because most clients need multiple services.
“We keep track of new and returning clients, what types of services they’re coming for,” she said. “It’s rare that we see anyone with just one need anymore.”
The biggest problems the center is working to address, she said, are housing, and helping clients gain employment.
“People here are pretty generous with food,” Jellinek said.
Some of the services the new HUD EnVision Center might provide could include things like interview training, resume help and even a work clothing closet for interviews, such as the HUD Envision Center’s in Spokane, McMorris said.
Others could include financial literacy courses, internship help and connections with other financial assistance and job training programs.
“It’s almost like speed dating, where Linnis lets our federal partners know what she needs,” he said. “They let her know what they provide.”
Although the new location has not been finalized, Jellinek said the organization is looking at the Sandpoint Technology Center on McGhee Road. They’re currently looking for local partners, which, in addition to helping the clients they serve, can also help save money.
The resource center is also nearing its 20-year birthday, Jellinek said, and every year they choose a motto. This year, that motto is unity.
“Unity among service providers,” she said, “[to] create a better place to live.”