EMPIRE HEALTH FOUNDATION

The erp/row program (july 1, 2024 thru june 30, 2025) expanded from solely targeted state of washington rights of way to include city of spokane identified encampments on their properties within the city of spokane which allowed for more local coordination to take place with positive feedback from the police and code enforcement. The goal of the project this year was to identify, engage, provide trauma-informed encampment cleanup, relocate persons to housing solutions funded by this project or in other parts of homeless system or outside of the system. Providers continued to help people meet basic hygiene and care needs as well as provide move in kits to set them up for success in their erp housing solution as well as in permanent housing options. Based on data up to may 2025, 1,038 people were served with 559 enrollments. Of those, 154 were identified as having obtained permanent housing with another 155 exited to temporary housing solutions within homeless service system.

In year two of our grant project, we have been planning how we operationalize our equity healing framework, a core document guiding our community engagement. During this planning phase, we focused on incorporating what we've heard from community into our planning processes and translating learning into action. This has been done through four main activities: 1) the adoption of our 10-year strategic direction, 2) the development of the building connections initiative, 3) planning for the implementation of our strategies in partnership with the collective action committee (cac), and 4) the launch of our workforce development model to support grassroots, by and for non-profits from the communities we prioritize in alignment with our mission and 10-year strategic direction. We also supported the thoughtful transitioning of our previous rural aging initiatives, including medication management and tribal health coaching, in a way that strengthens sustainability opportunities of our partners

Technical assistance grants were provided to 31 organizations in varying amounts between $5,000 and $41,400 during 2024. This initiative was designed to empower and support organizations needs relating to grant writing, human resources, finance, board development and any other activity the organizations have identified as a priority.