| The CAPO Snapshot |
|
The CAPO Low-Income Energy Assistance SnapshotBy Jim Abrahamson Community Action Partnership of Oregon
Each January the Community Action Partnership of Oregon (CAPO) produces the Oregon Low-Income Energy Assistance Snapshot. The Snapshot reports on the status of low-income bill payment assistance programs throughout Oregon during a one week period in January. This year, the Snapshot will cover the week of January 14 – 18, 2008.
Click here for a PDF copy of the 2008 snapshot.
Each of Oregon’s 18 community action agencies report on the local conditions facing clients in what many times is the heart of the winter heating season. Agencies report the status of their funding sources (i.e. do they have any funds left or are all funds exhausted or committed), the local prices for bulk fuels such as heating oil, propane and firewood, the number of clients who called or came into the local office seeking assistance that week, the length of any client waiting lists that they may maintain, and any human interest stories that highlight the important difference that bill payment assistance makes in the lives of low-income Oregonians.
The Snapshot is provided to various media outlets in Oregon and to Oregon’s Congressional delegation in Washington DC. The Snapshot is made available to the National Fuel Funds Network as a tool that can be used on LIHEAP Action Day where advocates, utility representatives and other interested individuals go to Capitol Hill to advocate for increased funding for the Federal LIHEAP program. The next LIHEAP Action Day will take place on Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Additionally, members of the Oregon Legislature also receive copies of the Snapshot, or excerpts that cover the geographical areas they represent, to provide them with a look at the current situation that confronts their constituents as they struggle to pay their winter heating bills.
|
