Changemakers highlights the work of local nonprofit organizations serving Athens County.
ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — As winter approached last year, Paula Schoonover became increasingly concerned about the condition of her 87-year-old mother’s mobile home.
“I was getting worried, because it was getting cold,” Schoonover said. “I was afraid here we are going to be in the middle of the winter and the pipes was gonna freeze.”
Schoonover’s mother, Bessie Sherman, was already receiving hospice care at her New Marshfield home. Hospice provided a social worker who recommended that Schoonover reach out to Hocking Athens Perry Community Action for help, which she did.
Through its Home Weatherization Assistance Program, HAPCAP sent a crew to the mobile home and insulated the floor, sealed the duct work, replaced the furnace, insulated the water heater and installed carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.
Additional funds for the project came through Columbia Gas’s WarmChoice program, administered through the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development.
Schoonover describes her mother’s home as warm and safe now.
“They took pride in it. I felt like everybody cared to make it safe,” she said of the workers. “They were just good people, and I think it’s definitely a good program.”
Keeping people in their homes
One key goal of HAPCAP’s home weatherization, home repair and home renovation programs is simply to keep people housed. But despite the best efforts of HAPCAP and other social services agencies in Athens County, homelessness is on the rise due in part to lack of housing stock and high housing prices.
Since the Athens County Foundation facilitated a Housing Security Co-Create Group beginning in January 2024, HAPCAP has been a key partner at the table. The Housing Co-Create group is a collection of some 60 nonprofits and individuals with different interests and expertise in housing and homelessness issues.
The Co-Create model has proven to be highly successful in capturing the momentum of individual organizations and super charging that into group momentum. The biggest “win” from the group is the purchase and renovation of the former Sunset Motel to turn it into a homeless shelter, which is on track to open to individuals and families in 2026.
HAPCAP applied for and received a $2 million grant that will turn the Sunset into a shelter, an award that came through the Ohio Department of Development with funds from the federal American Rescue Plan.
“We have experience managing large grants … We have a proven track record of being able to do that,” said Eva Bloom, HAPCAP director of development, adding “We also have experience administering construction and rehabilitation projects in accordance with federal contracting requirements.”
These factors combined to make HAPCAP the right choice to take the lead on the grant.
But HAPCAP believes that the grant proposal was also successful in part due to the support of the community that was galvanized and ready to act thanks to the Housing Co-Create group.
According to Valerie Stillson, HAPCAP public relations coordinator, “We have heard from the funders specifically that the number of community organizations supportive of the project was one of the reasons our application was funded.”
More than just housing
Housing and community development is just one of HAPCAP’s five program areas; others include transportation, child development, community services and the SE Ohio Foodbank.
The nonprofit’s budget in 2023 was $44 million, a large number that is reflected in the large number of programs and services it offers in three counties, from transportation options (Athens On Demand and Athens Public Transit saw more than 320,000 passenger trips in 2024) to Head Start and Early Head Start (120 students served in 2024) to the 15,000+ people served through the SE Ohio Food Bank in Athens County alone.
But as impactful as HAPCAP is, demand for services outpaces funding, which has created a waiting list for programs like home repair and weatherization. HAPCAP’s Bloom invites donations and also volunteers at the SE Ohio Food Bank, but in addition, she asks that members of the community talk to decisionmakers about maintaining and increasing the funding for community action services.
“Federal funding, especially in today’s environment, it’s very uncertain. (Help) our policymakers understand that these programs make a difference,” she said. “When people have safe housing, they’re more stable, they’re more secure. Everybody benefits from that.”
Established in 1965 during the War on Poverty, HAPCAP has now been around for 60 years. “We are charged with being responsive to the needs of our community by being a Community Action Agency,” Bloom said. Indeed, CAAs are intentionally local in order to help people move from poverty to self-sufficiency in ways that are locally appropriate.
Bloom points to the example of HAPCAP’s Microloan Program, which was launched in 2021. A lot of the community members HAPCAP serves may be available for assistance through existing programs. But if they are not, the Microloan Program is designed to loan individuals $500-$1,500 for one-time expenses like a car repair – thereby avoiding payday lenders with interest rates so high that the borrower can become shackled with long-term debt.
Through the program, HAPCAP backs the loan made by OUCU Financial. The borrower pays only 3% interest and has two years to pay back the loan. In the meantime, HAPCAP provides financial literacy counseling. There is an income requirement, but no credit requirement. When the borrower pays back the loan it goes on their credit report thereby boosting their ability to secure a loan in the future. Once a loan is repaid in full, HAPCAP reimburses the interest that the borrower paid, making it in effect a 0% interest rate loan.
“We’re doing everything we can – and more, sometimes — to address the problems that we see,” Bloom said, “There is a real, true passion to help people that I see in my coworkers.”
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
