A series of grants are helping to progress the mission of a local foundation in its efforts to combat poverty. Funds will allow Humanity House to hire a part-time director, a position that’s been vacant since Tracy Call retired in June.
Interim director Georgia Masterson, who has been with the organization since its founding in 2016, was recently notified it received a $20,000 grant from REACH Foundation, which seeks to advance health equity through coverage and care for underserved people in the region.
Humanity House was also awarded a $75,000 grant from the Health Forward Foundation. This grant will be received in two payments of $37,500, with the first payment already on its way.
Along with the generous donations of community members and organizations, the infusion of new grant funding raises hopes the organization will soon fill the director position and continue to provide free laundry service; help with utilities; a food pantry; and online application assistance for state programs.
“It definitely will depend on the skills and preferences,” noted Masterson about potential applicants for the part-time position. “If we find the right candidate and if we get additional grants, we could make it a full-time job. Our original plan was to hire an executive director and an advocate.” The advocate role would also be part-time, with the role’s main focus set on changing Iola’s utility policy.
Currently, the City of Iola applies a 2.5 percent penalty to all unpaid utility account balances after the due date. Fourteen days after the original due date, a $35 delinquent fee is charged if still unpaid. Any unpaid accounts that are older than 60 days are classified as a “bad debt,” and are submitted to the Collection Bureau of Kansas for collection. Utility customers have 42 days from when a bill is issued to get it paid before utilities face disconnection.
Masterson said Humanity House has asked the city to consider allowing a limited “Promise to Pay” agreement, where a bill could be paid within two weeks of the due date without the risk of the utility being shut-off. After the agreed upon “Promise to Pay” period is over, then the utility may be shut-off. “The city wouldn’t even consider it,” she said.
She is referring to the 5-2 vote by the Iola City Council this April to leave its policy regarding past-due utility bills unchanged. Multiple concerns were raised by council members at the time, with a common theme among members the concern that extending the payment could potentially result in people falling further behind and accruing even more debt. The Humanity House’s advocate role would spearhead an effort to collaborate with the city and come up with a solution.
MASTERSON NOTED Humanity House also applied for two other grants and will know the outcome of these applications after the first of the year. One is for $25,000 from the Sunflower Foundation, a statewide health philanthropy with a mission to serve as a catalyst for improving the health of all Kansans. The other is a $50,000 grant from the Patterson Family Foundation, a family-led foundation that seeks to lift up rural communities through health care, education, and economic opportunity.