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Isaiah 117 House Seeks Lee County to Serve as Fiscal/Physical Agent for Foster-Care 'First Stop'
Summary
Isaiah 117 House asked the Lee County Board of Supervisors to act as the local fiscal or physical agent for an OAA grant to open a trauma-informed 'first-stop' home for children entering foster care, and requested county property or in-kind donations.
At the Lee County Board meeting, Brandy Martin, expansion coordinator for Isaiah 117 House, described the group's model for a trauma-informed "first-stop" home for children removed by social services and asked the county to serve as the physical agent for a cooperative OAA grant application.
Martin said the house would provide a home-like environment for children immediately after removal, with beds, clothing, a "giving room" of supplies, and a visitation unit where parents could meet children in a more natural setting than a DSS conference room. "If these children are gonna be brought to the Isaiah 117 House, they're gonna be greeted at the door with, hello. Welcome to the Isaiah 117 house," Martin said.
Isaiah 117 House asked the county to act as the grant's physical agent, which would allow the organization's OAA cooperative grant to pass through county processes. Martin said Isaiah 117 would complete the grant application and would not ask the county to prepare the application; the county’s role would primarily be to accept and pass funds. She said the first-year operating budget would be secured before opening and that capital requests could include roughly $100,000 for construction and infrastructure (figure cited in discussion).
County staff cautioned that serving as a fiscal agent can carry audit implications and additional review workload for county accounting staff, citing the county’s experience as fiscal agent for a regional workforce-development board. Staff asked the nonprofit and administration to discuss capacity and audit impacts before the county formally accepted fiscal-agent responsibility.
Martin asked for concrete local support beyond fiscal-agent designation—donated land (0.25–1 acre typical), trusses, windows, contractors and volunteer time—and said the organization would welcome county help in identifying sites and donors. "If you've got any land... that would be a possibility, just, you know, contact me," Martin said.
What’s next: The board asked staff and the nonprofit to discuss the fiscal-agent implications and to return with recommendations; no formal vote to serve as fiscal agent was recorded at this meeting.
(Reporting note: capital and operating figures mentioned in the meeting were presented by the presenter and are reported here as stated; the county did not commit funds at the table.)
