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Boulder County awarded Family Unification Program vouchers HUD program helps stabilize families and move them toward self-sufficiency
Jun 22nd
Boulder County, Colo. – In recognition of its effective, integrated approach to human services delivery, where children and families are offered a full continuum of early and preventative support services that increase their safety and their chances to be self-sufficient, the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services was recently awarded 50 Family Unification Program Housing Choice Vouchers by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Only 150 vouchers were awarded in Colorado and less than 2,000 nationwide.
By providing access to stable housing and supportive services, the Family Unification Program enables Boulder County to reunite children in foster care with their parents or to prevent children from entering the foster care system. Research consistently shows that children who are able to safely stay with their families have much better long-term outcomes than children who are removed from their homes.
FUP vouchers will be available for families whose inadequate housing is the primary factor in the separation or near separation from their children. Families and youths are permitted to rent housing from private landlords and generally pay 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent and utilities. County staff will refer eligible clients to the voucher program.
“We feel strongly that a lack of affordable housing is not a valid reason to separate children from their families,” said Frank Alexander, Director of the county’s Department of Housing and Human Services. “With these vouchers, we can ensure that families have a safe and affordable place to live and thereby remove one obstacle from parents who want to take care of their children but do not have the financial resources to do so. Providing short-term supportive services to at-risk families on the front end can make the difference for kids and families over the long term.”
According to the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare, it costs the federal government approximately $56,892 annually per family to place children into foster care. Yet the cost to provide housing and supportive services to one family averages less than $14,000 annually. Through this investment in FUP to reunify families who are separated due to a lack of affordable housing options, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD, will reunite nearly 3,500 children with their parents, thus saving $74 million in annual foster care expenditures.
Cost savings are also considerable for young people aging out of foster care. The average annual cost of a FUP voucher for young adults is $5,600 – a 10th of the estimated costs associated with undesirable outcomes such as homelessness, incarceration, and residential treatment.
“Boulder County is proud to be leading the way in providing a highly integrated, locally delivered housing and human services system and appreciates HUD’s recognition of this innovative approach to service delivery,” Alexander said.
Boulder Public Library phasing out cassette tapes; sale on June 17 and 18
Jun 13th
Boulder Public Library (BPL) will phase audio cassette tapes out of its collection for adults by mid-July. The audio tapes are being eliminated due to declining circulation. Eliminating the adult cassette tape collection will free up more space on the shelves for the higher-circulating CDs, DVDs and other media.
Children’s books on cassette tapes will remain available, as that collection continues to circulate well.
BPL currently has 950 audio tapes, all books, in its collection, with only 175 checked out as of June 8. In comparison, BPL has 3,869 books on CD in the collection, and 1,740 were checked out as of June 8. Music cassette tapes were phased out about 10 years ago.
“Circulation for cassette tapes has continued to decline for years, with more and more of the tapes sitting on the shelves gathering dust,” said Reference Manager Laura Hankins.
Library patrons at the Main Library and the Meadows Library Branch will be able to purchase the cassette tapes directly off the shelves, as-is, for $1 each on Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18. All sales are final. Proceeds from the sale will be used to purchase new audio materials for the collection, audio books on CD and downloadable books. Any items not sold will be donated to local charities.
Is it Green to shop at Boulder Whole Foods? just a giant Walmart type? by Rob Smoke
Jun 12th
Further on, Wells’ time traveller reaches extraordinary conclusions: “Deducing that the Morlocks have taken his time machine, he explores the Morlock tunnels, learning that they feed on the Eloi. His revised analysis is that their relationship is not one of lords and servants but of livestock and ranchers, and with no real challenges facing either species. They have both lost the intelligence and character of Man at its peak.”
If Wells were time-transported today, to Boulder, he would have stood in the parking lot of the Pearl street Whole Foods and yelled, “Morlocks, come out of there! Spare the Eloi!” He would have at least certainly blinked.
If you shop for groceries, ask yourself, is it really either “green” or environmentally conscious to drive your vehicle across town for the sake of shopping at one particular store? Are you sure there isn’t a local version — less perfectly packaged — that would serve most needs and actually allow you to walk to it?
And are you sure no Morlocks lurk within the giant store that seems to have…everything?