The Strong Families Fund is Also Flexible

Written by Tim Buckley, February 2023

The B in CBEL stands for business. While Mountain West Investment Corporation has been a primary business funder for CBEL in its first years, they have not been alone.

In 2022, dwindling Covid-related funding from federal sources, coupled with inflation, stretched Salem and Keizer residents ever more tightly. Many families faced eviction if they didn’t find a bit of extra support to get them through another month, when job income and other sources of funding would kick in.

The Strong Families Resilient Neighborhoods Fund was started in response to the flood of financial need. “At the time, Dave Hafner was vice-chair of the CBEL Executive Council,” recalled CBEL director Jim Seymour. “The Fostering Hope Initiative, one of our three collective impact initiatives, had found that some of the families they work with would soon be without safe shelter. Others were already homeless, and funds were needed to help them into another place.”

“When the group discussed what CBEL could do to support those families,” continued Seymour, “Dave said he would set up a fund, in a charitable foundation where tax deductible donations could be used for the housing crisis, without any administrative fees.” Hafner, who is Executive Vice President of Landmark Professional Mortgage Company, followed through quickly and the Strong Families Fund began making grants.

“Supporting immediate, urgent needs to reduce financial stress is the surest way to increase parental competency and positive child development.”

- Josh Graves, Catholic Community Services

Josh Graves, CEO of Catholic Community Services (CCS), spoke to the need facing many families in the Salem area. “Supporting immediate, urgent needs to reduce financial stress is the surest way to increase parental competency and positive child development,” he said. The Fostering Hope Initiative, a program of CCS, applied to the Strong Families Fund for $10,000 to help with the housing emergency. The funds were approved and are being rapidly distributed.

“The Strong Families Fund continues to fill critical gaps by creating a bridge for families to rise out of toxic stress,” Graves added. “In doing so, the recipients gained competence and confidence in their choices, which ultimately supported their family’s financial and social health.  Flourishing families are the heart of healthy neighborhoods,” he continued, “and when they flourish, the entire social ecology of a community begins to shift from scarcity to abundance. Many of the families helped by the Strong Families Fund consequently opened up their homes and wallets for others."

Among the dozens of donation requests funded with these assets, just in the past six months, include:

• A person experiencing chronic health issues received assistance with the rental costs of a mobility device not covered by health insurance. 

• A family living in a flea-infested home received pest control service.  The family member with a chronic health condition, made worse by the infestation, saw improved health. 

• A family with two children and another on the way, experiencing homelessness, received assistance with a rent deposit to facilitate a move into their own apartment.  Wraparound services coordinated by Fostering Hope’s team allowed the family to move into an apartment and acquire household and baby care products. 

• A single parent with five children, experiencing homelessness, requested assistance with a hotel deposit.  Strong Families Funds paid the deposit and a partner organization chipped in for the rent. The family is now looking for an apartment. 

• A family of three, living in car, received support from the Strong Families Fund in the form of cash to pay off parking citations which, if not paid, would become a barrier to locating a home to rent. 

• A single parent with four children, experiencing financial difficulties due to separation, requested assistance to avoid utility shut-off.  The Strong Families Funds helped the family pay off the utility bills. The parent found the needed relief to continue seeking employment and additional resources.