Hope Community Resources Transfers Program to Homer Organization

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

There’s less government money to spread around to nonprofits this year. Hope Community Resources for instance has seen cuts in state dollars, its largest funding source.

Starting on the first day of the fiscal year, July 1, Hope Community Resources transferred its Kodiak Short-Term Assistance and Referral Program, or STAR program, to the Independent Living Center in Homer.

The STAR program helps people access services under the State of Alaska Developmental Disabilities Program. Part of what they do is guiding people through paperwork or pointing them to local resources they might need.

Director of the Independent Living Center, Joyanna Geisler, says the program comes with a state grant amount of between $60,000 and $70,000 a year.

She says the center already has three offices on the Kenai Peninsula: in Homer, Seward, and Soldotna.

“We do the best that we can with our budget to travel to those communities once or twice a year. I am hoping with the STAR program that we’ll be able to increase our presence on Kodiak because again with the STAR grant we have some dedicated funding.”

Geisler says the center has done outreach on Kodiak in the past. They’ve helped families get housing modifications and assisted people in figuring out their options for home and community based services.

Geisler says the center hopes to find office space in Kodiak and a local part-time employee by the fall.