TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, City Manager
FROM: Dan Atchison, City Attorney
SUBJECT:
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Update on the Social Service Pilot Program.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Safe and Healthy Community; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
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This report provides an update on the use of the $200,000 allocated by City Council through the Social Service Pilot Program to Mano-a-Mano, Salem Housing Authority, Marion-Polk Food Share, and Legal Aid Services of Oregon (“community partners”). The community partners report that the funds have been instrumental in providing assistance to hundreds of community residents through their existing, well-established services and are on track to fully expend the funds on services to residents by June of this year.
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ISSUE:
Information only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
On February 9th, City Council approved a Social Service Pilot Program allocating $200,000 to designated community partners to provide social services to community residents in need. The approved program uses were housing assistance, healthcare costs, food insecurity and legal aid. $50,000 was allocated to each community partner. The program limits the amount a grantee may use for administrative costs to 10% of the total grant award, and requires the grant funds to be expended by the end of June 2026. Full reporting from the community partners will be provided later this summer.
Legal Aid Services of Oregon (LASO): LASO reports that between March 16th and April 30th approximately $41,600.00 of the grant funds were expended. LASO assisted 31 individual clients, providing free legal advice and representation and conducted two outreach events. Assistance included, advice and direct representation for custody matters involving domestic violence, marital dissolutions involving domestic violence, federally subsidized housing assistance, landlord/tenant issues, and public benefits denial and reduction matters.
Mano-a-Mano: Mano-a-Mano reports that they identified 30 Salem families (approximately 120 individuals) who received assistance through the grant. The families had urgent and continuing need for assistance, including assistance with housing, access to legal services and food. $45,000 of the $50,000 grant was distributed equally to the 30 families, bringing a measure of stability to their lives. $5,000 was used by Mano-a-Mano in administering the funds, consistent with Council’s approval of the program and the grant agreement.
Marion Polk Food Share (MPFS): In March, MPFS spent over $10,000 supporting drivers to pick up donated food from local retailers. Drivers supported under this grant picked up 190,415 pounds of donated retail food, the equivalent of 158,000 meals. MPFS’s plan moving forward is to spend an additional $15,000 supporting drivers and the remaining $25,000 for food purchases. MPFS reports that the need for food is at an all-time high. MPFS tries to meet this need by distributing food to areas of greatest need in our community with as few barriers as possible. MPFS supports over 34 food programs in their network who serve Salem residents.
Salem Housing Authority: In the Housing Authority’s Program Management Report (PMR) on April 28, 2026 SHA Meeting Agenda, provided a comprehensive review of the Stability Support Fund Program made possible by the funds awarded through the pilot program: CITY OF SALEM - Calendar <https://salem.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx>. As detailed in SHA’s report, the program is available to Salem residents and provides up to $2,500 per household to address: past due rent or utilities, security deposits, eviction-related costs and other one-time costs directly preventing housing stability. Demand has been strong, with over seventy applications received so far.
BACKGROUND:
On February 9th, City Council authorized the Social Service Pilot Program and allocated $200,000 to address urgent needs in our community.
Dan Atchison
City Attorney
Attachments:
None.