City of Corvallis Community Development Block Grant Program: The Human Services Fund

Grants starting at $10,000 to Corvallis, Oregon nonprofit organizations to deliver services to low income residents with critical needs. A Letter of Intent must be submitted prior to the full proposal. In addition, first-time applicants are required to schedule a meeting with program staff before submitting an application. Funding is intended to support programs that benefit homeless families, unaccompanied youth, survivors of domestic violence, the elderly, people with disabilities, and low income individuals and families.

The Human Services Fund will support the delivery of services to low income people in the community who have critical needs. In alignment with regulations developed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and applied under the guidance of the Corvallis Consolidated Plan, the expenditure of Community Development Block Grant funds must provide a direct benefit to low, very low and/or extremely low income people. (For the Consolidated Plan, see Supporting Documents below.)

The three identified needs, which would be addressed through Human Services Fund investments, include: Addressing homelessness; helping people with special needs; and helping people with low incomes. Within these larger categories the following priorities have been established:

1) People who are homeless:

- Homeless/chronically homeless individuals
- Homeless/chronically homeless families with children
- Unaccompanied youth
- Survivors of domestic violence

2) People with special needs:

- Elderly/frail elderly
- Persons with mental, physical and/or developmental disabilities
- Persons with alcohol or other addictions

3) People who have low incomes:

- Extremely low income individuals and families (income at or below 30% of median)
- Very low income individuals and families (income at or below 50% of median)
- Low income individuals and families (income at or below 80% of median)

HUD has also established regulations that stipulate the ways in which CDBG funds may be expended for the types of activities the City anticipates supporting through the Human Services Fund. When CDBG funds are used for the first time to underwrite a non-profit agency’s delivery of human services, they may be used only for activities that will support:

- A new program, project or service;
- An existing program, project or service not currently being supported with other City funding; or
- The incremental expansion of an existing program, project or service (which may be receiving other City funds, but for which CDBG funds would provide expansion funding only).

All agency programs supported with Human Services Fund resources must meet the following requirements:

1. Commercial General Liability insurance, Occurrence Form, including personal injury, bodily injury and property damage with limits of not less than $2,000,000 per occurrence/$2,000,000 general aggregate.
2. Agencies will be required to certify that they have performed criminal background checks for any employees, volunteers, or other representatives who will have contact with agency clients in carrying out the City’s Human Services Fund contract.

(For additional specifications on these requirements, see the Request for Proposal in Supporting Documents below.)