This Year's Project: BVCA Emergency Rent and Utilities Assistance
About Our Organization
Blue Valley Community Action Partnership (BVCA) is a private, non-profit organization that operates over 30 programs that interact and complement each other. Our programs are as diverse as the communities and families we serve.
Learn about the services we offer at bvca.net!
Current Project: BVCA Emergency Rent and Utilities Assistance
When a family becomes homeless, or faces imminent homelessness or the loss of power and water, BVCA can help.
At our Family and Community Services Office at 2015 N 6th Street in Beatrice, we can either work with a landlord or utility on payment, or provide rapid rehousing to a family that has been displaced. The negative ramifications of even short-term homelessness have a knock-on effect that can last years, especially for children. You can think of it as a snowball rolling down a hill. At the top of the hill, the ball is small but the further it goes, the larger it gets, until it is unstoppable.
Emergency rent and utility assistance stops the ball rolling early and keeps families in safe, stable housing. Every dollar raised through Big Give Gage will go to support families in Gage County communities. We thank you for your support, and you can learn more here: https://www.bvca.net/service/emergency-rent-and-utility-assistance/
BVCA Senior Services
Project Details
Blue Valley Community Action Partnership has not one but two outstanding programs specifically for seniors in Gage County!
Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) provides nutritious food from the USDA to income qualified seniors 60 years of age and older. CSFP's monthly food baskets provide household staples to make healthy meals and stretch food budgets.
Pioneer Foster Grandparent Program puts seniors in classrooms to work one-on-one with students from pre-k through elementary school. Our Foster Grandparents aren't teacher's aides or assistants. Rather, their focus is to provide young minds with the support, love and kindness they need to be successful academically, emotionally and socially.
Expenses associated with both these programs often exceed the amount of funding we receive to administer them. We're raising funds to help cover that shortfall AND to get the word out about CSFP and Foster Grandparents!
New playground equipment at New Horizon
Project Details
Playing outdoors in a safe environment is fundamental to children's development of confidence, independence and self-esteem. For Big Give Gage 2022, we're raising funds to update the playground equipment at New Horizon Apartment Complex in Beatrice.
New Horizon is an affordable housing program managed by Blue Valley Community Action Partnership, a non-profic agency. For a virtual tour of our units at New Horizon or any of our available housing, visit this link: https://www.bvca.net/property-listings/
If you are a contractor and would like to make an in-kind donation of your time and talent to remove the old equipment and install the new, PLEASE call our home office at (402)729-2278 and ask for Ben Schwartz, or email bcschwartz@bvca.net
Our website allows visitors to search for what resources are available by county: https://www.bvca.net/
One-Time Needs Program
Project Details
In 2021, Blue Valley Community Action Partnership launched the One-Time Needs Program as part of the organization's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. One-Time Needs provides funds to cover expenses that clients would not be able to otherwise pay.
Examples of requests that have been funded include home and auto repair, work-related purchases such as uniforms or safety equipment, auto-insurance, bed bug extermination, tools purchased for a small business, and more. BVCA Family and Community Services Director Ryan Bailey says the primary goal of this program is to simply help people whose livelihood and housing has been or is being threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Funded initially by money from the 2020 CARES Act, initially eligibility was limited to individuals and families earning 200% or less of the federal poverty level, and has been adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the strong response to One-Time Needs, BVCA now seeks to expand the program to a greater range of income-earners and establish a revolving-loan program to sustain it over the longterm.
One-Time Needs is available throughout BVCA's nine county service area. However, all funds raised through Big Give Gage County will be earmarked specifically for projects in Gage County.
Infant Toddler Quality Initiative
Project Details
This year for Big Give Gage County we’re raising funds and awareness for the Infant Toddler Quality Initiative.
BVCA’s ITQI is a fantastic program that provides free mentorship, training, and more to independent childcare providers in Gage County, as well as Jefferson, Saline and Thayer Counties.
Childcare Specialist Lisa Svoboda works one-on-one with providers who run both in-home and center-based childcare operations. Lisa acts as a coach and also as a clearing house of information and training. She makes sure her clients have access to what they need to provide quality childcare.
Along with free coaching and training, participants in BVCA's Infant Toddler Quality Initiative can also qualify for grants to purchase materials to make their operations better.
It might be toys and activities to keep young children engaged. It might be child-sized furniture, or pots and pans, or toothbrushes and toothbrush holders.
As you can probably imagine, the Covid-19 pandemic had a major impact on her clients and Lisa’s been working extra hard to help them sort through all the information that’s out there. The goal is to make childcare better in the areas BVCA serves, and to benefit the young children of southeast Nebraska.
Stop the Snowball
Project Details
Imagine a snowball sitting at the top of a hill, and that the snowball represents a money-related problem in a person’s life.
It’s a small snowball so it’s a relatively small problem: maybe it’s not having enough money for gas to get to and from work, or needing to replace a pair of steel-toed boots, or being a little short on an especially high utility bill. Sometimes, though, even a small amount of money is too much for a low-to-moderate income (LMI) person or family.
The problem doesn’t get solved, so the snowball starts to roll downhill. Very quickly it gets bigger, and as it rolls the problem becomes more difficult and expensive to solve. Perhaps the client misses shifts at work or even loses their job. Their power might be turned off, or they may face eviction.
What if the problem could have been solved back when it was just a small snowball sitting at the top of a hill? What if it could have been taken care of without the additional expense and emotional trauma inflicted on a person or family?
Blue Valley Community Action Partnership has set a fundraising goal of $5,000 to help the LMI population in Gage County meet those unexpected expenses that, while relatively small, can still seem insurmountable. We don’t have grant money to do this, so we are seeking private donations from the generous people of the community.
Thrivent Members: We are a choice Member Organization