Food Roots receives one of largest grants, $85,000 to increase farmer production in Tillamook County and more.
(SEASIDE, Oregon) On Feb. 1, 2024 Columbia Pacific CCO announced that in 2023 it approved $721,229 in grant funding to be awarded to more than a dozen nonprofit, communitybased organizations in Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties. Of that, $234,800 was awarded to nonprofits serving Tillamook County.
The grants support programs and initiatives aligning with the community-identified priorities of Columbia Pacific’s 2020-2024 Regional Health Improvement Plan – including community resilience and trauma informed care; chronic disease prevention; and access to primary care, behavioral health care and social-safety-net programs addressing food insecurity and other challenges.
“Since the start of our current Regional Health Improvement Plan, Columbia Pacific has invested millions in the plan’s focus areas to improve the health of our members and the wider communities we serve,” said Nancy Knopf, Columbia Pacific CCO’s director of community health partnerships. “We are honored to be able to listen to community voices and act on what our communities have told us they need most.”
One of the largest grants ($85,000) was awarded to Food Roots, a Tillamook-based nonprofit working to develop a robust and equitable regional food system. The grant will support a partnership between Food Roots and the Oregon Food Bank to alleviate food insecurity and support small, local farmers.
Food Roots, the Oregon Food Bank and local farmers will collaborate to expand farmers’ production capacities. This, in turn, will allow Food Roots and the Oregon Food Bank to buy large quantities of fruits, vegetables and meat from local farmers and distribute the fresh, nutrient dense food to community members.
Food Roots anticipates that more than 3,000 community members will directly benefit from the program within two years of its launch. The multifaceted program will also help local farmers and food producers increase sales and build more-sustainable revenue streams.
“Without supporting farmers in expanding their crops, it is very difficult to get nutrient-dense food into the hands of all the people who need it. The Columbia Pacific grant is crucial in terms of enabling that to happen,” said Lindsay Ward, marketplace operations manager at Food Roots.
To build community resilience and expand access to trauma informed care, Columbia Pacific awarded a $70,000 grant to FolkTime. The peer-run, Portland-based nonprofit is partnering with Opioid Use Response for Tillamook County (OUR Tillamook) and CARE Tillamook on a project involving training, professional development and technical assistance.
By the end of 2024, Folk Time expects to provide nearly 50 Tillamook County residents (including Oregon Health Plan members) with the training needed to be licensed by the state as peer support specialists. Peer support specialists are traditional health workers who draw on their lived experience with substance use disorder and mental health challenges to help people become and stay engaged in the recovery process.
Columbia Pacific also awarded:
• A $25,000 grant to Tillamook Food Pantry to help fund the construction of a covered exterior space, allowing the organization to handle more client volume and add a drive-up, pickup window to accommodate people with mobility issues and disabilities.
• A $25,000 grant to Tillamook Seventh-day Adventist Church to be used for its safepark program for people living in their vehicles and other community supports.
• A $15,300 grant to Tillamook Early Learning Center, a nonprofit preschool program serving mostly low-income students. The funding will be used to purchase essential
supplies for the 2023-2024 school year.
• A $14,500 grant to Tillamook County Habitat for Humanity to support its Women Build initiative to complete the drywall in an affordable home under construction in Bay City, Oregon.
For more information about Columbia Pacific’s community grant programs visit: https://www.colpachealth.org/for-partners/community-grant-programs
About Columbia Pacific CCO
Columbia Pacific CCO, part of the CareOregon family of companies, is proud to serve more than 36,000 Oregon Health Plan members living in Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties. As a nonprofit coordinated care organization (CCO), we provide physical, dental and mental health care through a growing network of health care providers. Our priorities are guided by our local board of directors, community advisory councils and clinical advisory panel, and are informed by extensive community engagement. Columbia Pacific is committed to promoting the health of all those in our region. We focus on increasing access to language services, offering treatment for those experiencing substance use disorders, and fostering connections that promote social health.
