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Proposed legislation that won the support of local officials may make it easier for Longmont’s Outreach United Resource Center, or OUR Center, to get funding help.
The OUR Center has provided food, clothing, childcare and direct financial assistance to local families since 1986 and has been an Enterprise Zone Contribution project since 2016, said Jessica Erickson, president and CEO of Longmont Economic Development Partnership. The Longmont EDP is part of the North Metro Enterprise Zone, a state funded program created to promote “a business friendly environment in economically distressed areas,” according to the LEDP website.
Enterprise Zones offer state income tax credits that incentivize businesses to locate and develop in, and nonprofit groups to assist with the needs of communities, the website states.
“Longmont EDP led efforts to get this designation for the OUR Center, which has proved to be invaluable in their annual fundraising efforts throughout the years,” Erickson said.
But Enterprise Zone rules have made it more difficult to get homeless resource projects or programs approved for this designation, Erickson said. It will also be tougher to get the OUR Center re-approved as a contribution project when their current designation expires at the end of this year, she said.
The bill — HB22-1083 — would make a contribution tax credit available to support organizations working on homelessness issues throughout the state and it would not limit contributions to Enterprise Zone locations and require they comply with Enterprise Zone statutes, Erickson said.
The idea behind the bill is to create a credit that would be managed by the Office of Homeless Initiatives at the Department of Local Affairs that will be more responsive to current approaches to support the homeless, Erickson said.
The Longmont City Council voted to back HB22-1083 this week.
Marc Cowell, OUR Center executive director, said via email, that he is not sure how the new legislation — if passed — would affect the nonprofit. The OUR Center’s original goal and application for the Enterprise Zone project in 2016 supported employment and job creation programs, he said.
Those included the Culinary Arts Program, a job fair held in partnership with Workforce Boulder County and referrals to employment programs, Cowell said. All of this work was disrupted by the pandemic, and much of it was suspended or performed remotely, he said.
OUR Center has added programs that fall under employment and job creation including a partnership with Coal Creek Adult Education Center to provide HiSET instruction on site this year, acomputer adult learning lab and a digital divide program partnership, Cowell said.
The OUR Center Enterprise Zone project is approved through Dec. 31, 2022. “...But we will have to re-apply before the end of the year to be recertified, so we will need to decide at that time if our programs and services still fit within the Enterprise Zone provision,” Cowell said.
The OUR Center is also being lauded this month for helping financially strapped families get resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Social Ventures Partners — SVP — produces a nonprofit spotlight to highlight the work of nonprofits in Boulder County. This month the organization is focused on the work of the OUR Center, according to a new release.
OUR Center programs offer a “hand-up not a hand-out” by providing resources to those who need it, SVP states. During the pandemic, OUR Center never closed its doors, even though the pandemic proved to be the greatest obstacle its staff members faced in the past two years, the news release states.
“The team found the resolve to quickly pivot and find out ways to continue service — remote, outside — whatever it took to continue safely,” Marc Cowell said in the news release.
