 Annual Report 2010 Making Stimulus Dollars Work 
Residents in our local communities have received tremendous support this past year from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The agency has been able to offer unique and enhanced services meeting critical needs of our customers. We were fortunate recipients of nearly $10 million in ARRA funds supporting programs from 2010-2012.
The stimulus funding has allowed us to significantly expand Weatherization creating more energy efficient homes saving residents needed cash; emergency services were expanded to include assistance with medical, dental, and optical care, back to school, heat and utility, foreclosure prevention, food assistance and specialized services for area veterans and college students; and, our homeless programs were expanded to stabilize more people who need a place to call home. The timing of this funding was extremely helpful, as the fragile economy introduced us to a different population of people known as the “newly poor.” These are folks that have typically held jobs with decent wages, but have now found themselves without employment or at risk of foreclosure. The majority of these new customers state that they “have never asked for help before.” Therefore our customer base has grown and fortunately our funding has stayed in tune with the needs. Our Michigan residents continue to demonstrate resiliency as they await a statewide recovery. May we hope that the ARRA funds have held them over temporarily or created new long-term solutions allowing them to move towards self-sufficiency. Jill Sutton, Executive Director
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