EDMO says UDMO delivered $461,137 in aid to Humboldt County, asks for $15,000 from county

Julie Edwards, executive director of EDMO, told the Humboldt County board that UDMO delivered a total of $461,137 in direct assistance to Humboldt County residents for the reporting year ending September 2025 and requested $15,000 in county support to sustain local services. "UDMO delivered a total of $461,137 of direct assistance to clients in Humboldt County," Edwards said, and noted prior reporting was complicated by a recent transition to two data systems.

Edwards said the agency implemented both the state-developed Lewis system and a community system called Empower, which required staff to do dual entry and led to duplicated records and inconsistent reporting. She said staff worked nights and weekends to reconcile entries and that unduplicated counts should improve next year as systems and training stabilize. Those system issues, Edwards said, help explain why some previous reports overstated client counts.

The presentation outlined program activity by service area: outreach, energy (LIHEAP crisis assistance), housing supports (deposits and short-term rent assistance), and weatherization. Edwards reported approximately 473 households visited UDMO last year and provided a demographic snapshot: 36 percent of clients were children (ages 0–17), 42 percent were ages 18–59 (of whom 35 percent were working), 22 percent were 60 or older, and about 46 percent of households were single-household families. She said 42 percent of clients own their homes, which she linked to the relatively high number of weatherization participants.

Edwards also reviewed the agency's contingency planning during the most recent federal funding interruption. She said UDMO had resources to operate through December and that the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) dollars the agency uses to pay staff and rent were central to keeping outreach offices open during the shutdown. Partnerships with local food banks and county supports, she said, helped maintain a four-days-per-week presence in Humboldt.

Board members asked about SNAP-related demand. Edwards said a temporary reduction in SNAP benefits previously produced spikes in client visits—"some up to 30 new clients in that month"—and that she expected elevated service needs until benefits and reimbursements normalized. She offered the board the agency's annual report covering October 2024 through September 2025 and invited supervisors to follow up with any additional questions.

The board did not take a formal vote on Edwards's funding request at the meeting; Edwards thanked the board for continued support and said staff would provide any requested follow-up information.