Focusing Locally — How many people need help in our community?

Neighbors and Friends,

Earlier this week, I introduced this locally focused and curiosity-driven series of letters. If you missed that introduction, you can find it here. We’re exploring the surprising reality that 35% of people in Northfield and Faribault* are asking for help and assistance at Community Action Center (CAC). Whenever reality is surprising, there is an opportunity for us to better understand each other and our community. This series explores three questions by providing a behind-the-scenes view from CAC’s perspective:

1)  How many people need help in our community? (this letter)

2)  Why do so many people need help? (next week)

3)  Who is responsible for providing this level of support? (later this month)

As a reminder, you are welcome to email your thoughts and questions directly to me at gro.retnecnoitcaytinummoc@ttocs.atapow. I’ll share and incorporate themes from your responses in upcoming letters to encourage further community conversations.

Question 1: How many people need help in our community?

In the last few years, CAC has seen tremendous growth. If I can be completely honest, the exponential growth caught me by surprise and outpaced our capacity. It also sparked my curiosity to better understand the stories of the individuals and families coming to CAC. While the following data is well known to some people, perhaps this letter can provide some additional clarity to answer our question:

School data: Data related to our school districts show that nearly 70% of Faribault Public School students and 30% of Northfield Public School students are eligible for the historic Free or Reduced Lunch Program (FRP)**. Extrapolating this data to the whole community is problematic but offers some initial guard rails for answering our question. It also sheds light on the challenges and incredible work of our school partners.

Housing Data: Housing studies have concluded that 45% of households renting in Rice County are “housing cost burdened,” meaning that they are unable to find housing that costs less than 30% of their income. Half of these are severely cost burdened, unable to find housing that costs less than 50% of their income. Practically speaking, cost burdened households are particularly vulnerable to an unexpected financial hardship (car repair, medical issue, caregiving for aging parents, etc) and are likely to need assistance at some time. Inflationary pressures related to food, utilities, or childcare make this an unsustainable reality, leaving little financial margin for families with children in our community. 

ALICE report: The recently released United Way sponsored ALICE report (families that are “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed”) shows that 42% of all Rice County households earn less than the minimum amount needed to survive based on the local price of goods and services.

A pattern seems to suggest that 40-50% of our community currently needs or is likely to need assistance of some kind. This confirms that CAC’s recent growth to support 35% of our neighbors and friends is in line with the needs of our communities. You can see in the graph below how quickly CAC has been growing to address this systemically unmet need. While much of the growth corresponds with opening services in the Faribault community in 2020, the trend applies to Northfield and throughout Rice County and has sustained through the pandemic

The graph includes all individuals accessing CAC’s services but is primarily driven by families accessing our food shelves and various supports through CAC’s Resource Centers including emergency housing, employment services, or emergency financial assistance for rent, utilities, or car repairs. Regardless of the service or program, the growth is staggering.

Growth is a complicated word. On the one hand, you may be thinking that there are more families needing help than ever before (~20% true). On the other hand, perhaps CAC is just doing a much better job coordinating relevant support for families that were otherwise unsupported in the past (~80% true). CAC has invested in multi-disciplinary Resource Centers in Northfield and Faribault where individuals can conveniently access a myriad of services (food, housing, employment services, etc.) from CAC or partner organizations. One advantage of centrally supporting 35% of the population, amidst the many challenges it presents, is the opportunity to see patterns and make connections.

For example, organizations across Rice County have partnered together to increase substance use disorder resources in the community, including in CAC’s Resource Centers. HealthFinders, Rice County Social Services, and other providers can prioritize early and effective interventions to address this growing public health concern. In response to the patterns we see in the community, CAC has changed the way we source food, how we build emergency housing, and how we support survivors of domestic and sexual violence through a new and robust partnership with HOPE Center. As a member of our community, you can find support at CAC or confidently guide friends and neighbors to CAC without being an expert in human services. 

Growth remains a complicated word, but of its many tradeoffs, it has offered us a unique and data-driven view into the health and needs of our community based on the stories and experiences of 35% of our community. We’ll explore why so many families need help next week and who is responsible for providing this level of support later this month. For now, I’m inviting you to reflect on the fact that 1:3 and maybe 1:2 people in our communities are in a position to need help or assistance.

Are you surprised by any of this? Do you have questions? Again, you are welcome to email your thoughts and questions directly to me at gro.retnecnoitcaytinummoc@ttocs.atapow. I’ll share and incorporate themes from your responses in upcoming letters to encourage further community conversations. If you’re inspired to be part of this growing and collective community action, you can donate or volunteer today.

More soon,

Scott Wopata
Executive Director
Community Action Center

* Based on CAC serving 15,705 unique individuals from 5,277 unique households in the past 12 months, which is 34.7% of the combined populations of Northfield (20,790) and Faribault (24,453). This is a clarification from last week’s introduction email – thanks for the responses!

** Recent changes to the Free and Reduced Lunch Program may be exacerbating an underreporting issue. Available public data is closer to 62% and 27% for Faribault and Northfield Schools respectively. However, various views into the demographics of our student population suggest closer to 70% and 30% respectively.

CAC’s vitality depends on the community — from volunteers to donations to program-specific support — so that we can continue to meet our neighbors’ basic needs. Stay Connected