Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Resilience Hubs And Recovery topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lane County highlights $19.5 million EPA resilience grant and recovery projects in State of the County remarks
Summary
County leaders announced a $19.5 million EPA grant to create six resilience hubs, a $1.3 million agreement for Holiday Farm Fire rapid rehousing, septic repair assistance and utility programs serving thousands of residents.
Lane County officials said the county recently won a $19,500,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to build a network of resilience hubs in six communities and detailed several recovery and assistance programs during the State of the County address.
Why it matters: The grant and recovery programs are intended to increase local capacity for emergency response, support wildfire survivors and expand utility and housing assistance across both urban and rural parts of Lane County.
County Commissioner Lori Trigger told the audience the EPA funds will "create a network of resilience hubs throughout Lane County." The county intends to use the money to upgrade facilities in Springfield, Eugene, Cottage Grove, Oakridge, Veneta and Florence, Trigger said, to increase "capacity for hyper localized emergency response and foster greater community connection overall."
On wildfire recovery, Trigger highlighted progress since the Holiday Farm Fire in the Mackenzie River Valley. The county has opened a new fire station and library in Blue River and signed a $1,300,000 agreement with the Mackenzie Valley Long Term Recovery Group for rapid rehousing initiatives to purchase and install homes for lower-income seniors and residents with disabilities who survived the fire.
The county also established a septic repair and replacement incentive program in partnership with the Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB); Trigger said the program had helped 65 property owners as of the end of October of the prior year. She said utility assistance programs served 11,212 unduplicated individuals in 5,145 households with funds from eight sources and that a new contract with Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad will provide culturally and linguistically appropriate utility assistance for the Latino community.
Lane County’s Housing and Community Action Team funded 24 agencies operating 76 programs that include homelessness prevention, food security, street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing. Trigger pointed to openings of a rapid access clinic in Eugene and a South Lane Clinic in Cottage Grove as expansions of same-day primary care access.
The remarks framed these initiatives as part of the county’s broader work delivering statutorily mandated services and coordinating with state and federal partners. Trigger said the county staff and partner agencies ‘‘show up every day committed to working together to solve problems and serve the people of Lane County.’’
