Centre County Seeking Grant Funding to Support Homelessness Prevention, Mental Health Initiatives

New grant funding could give a boost to Centre County's homelessness prevention and mental health services.

The county's Office of Adult Services plans to apply for a $232,575 grant from the federal HOME-American Rescue Plan Supportive Services Program administered in Pennsylvania by the Department of Community and Economic Development.

The grant opportunity comes "at a pretty unique time" as the Office of Adult Services enters its second cycle of having and Emergency Solutions Grant-funded homelessness prevention and emergency shelter program, Faith Ryan, deputy human services administrator, said at the Board of Commissioners July 2 meeting. It also following the end of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), which distributed federal funds for renters who were economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"So we have the staffing and we have the infrastructure required to run the program but also a time where ERAP has now ended," Ryan said. "It’s a really nice opportunity to bring some additional dollars into the community. While a bit more narrow than ERAP, it’s still a nice option to add to our portfolio."

Funds from the HOME-ARP grant would be available over two years and would be used by the Office of Adult Services to support case management, rental assistance and administrative services.

"It very much parallels what we’re already providing," Ryan said. "It has a little more leeway, a little additional eligibility criteria, so it will actually open up services a bit more for people in our community who are struggling to meet their needs."

The county Office of Mental Health also would receive $10,000 to support individuals in the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH) program, which provides services for people with mental illness who are experiencing homelessness.

"There’s ... a mental health component which is incredibly unique," Ryan said. "We’ve worked with the mental health office to add an additional $10,000 into the grant with the idea being that folks that are coming through the PATH program, if they need to access mental health services that are either not covered or they can’t access them right away because they don’t have their medical assistance yet we can cover it."

The grant program is "an incredible opportunity to collaborate with another department," Ryan said. She noted that because adult services having a program specialist Homeless Management Information System helped the mental health office to successfully apply for PATH. Now, adult services has the opportunity to apply for the new grant because the mental health office offers PATH services.

The county, Ryan said, has been on a trend of being able to compete for more human services grant money than in the past.

"Centre County Adult Services and other human services have become really competitive now with some of this money that a couple of years ago pre-pandemic we wouldn’t have been able to," Ryan said.

The funds will offer more breathing room in the adult services budget, as Ryan noted the human services block grant provided to counties by the state has not increased in 14 years.

Commissioner Amber Concepcion credited Ryan for "being on top of what’s available" by seeking the HOME-ARP grant that "could help people who are really at risk in our community."

The Board of Commissioners will formally approve submitting the grant application as part of the consent agenda during its meeting on Tuesday, July 9.

A public hearing on the grant application will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 18 in room 146 at the Willowbank  Building, 420 Holmes Street in Bellefonte. Written comment will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, July 22, by emailing at frryan@centrecountypa.gov.

The post Centre County Seeking Grant Funding to Support Homelessness Prevention, Mental Health Initiatives appeared first on StateCollege.com .