Featured Grant Story: Upbring Neighborhood House

What is Upbring Neighborhood House?

Established in 1967, Neighborhood House provides emergency assistance, including food vouchers, hygiene products, assistance with utility payments, and other necessities to Lubbock County adults and families who are experiencing economic hardship. Neighborhood House also distributes children's books as part of their undertaking to equip and inspire the next generation among this population by promoting literacy alongside the Literacy Lubbock program. The project's target population is economically fragile households as well as those who are in a temporary financial crisis.

Grant funds from the Community Foundation of West Texas provided key support for the programmatic expenses associated with Neighborhood House. Funds were used for the expenses associated with providing clients with food and utility assistance.

The typical client served by Neighborhood House lives in a household with two or more people, and has a month household income of $800, which places them well below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level. As a result, these individuals and families are often unable to cover all of their basic household expenses. This sets up the individuals and families for negative outcomes.

At Neighborhood House, clients may receive food assistance, financial assistance with utility bill payments, hygiene products, and other types of assistance so that they are not forced to make difficult and potentially harmful choices. One such choice includes forgoing payment of utility bills so that they may be able to purchase food to feed their families. Ultimately, Neighborhood House enables individuals and families to weather temporary economic hardships, thereby strengthening the fabric of their entire community.

Upbring Neighborhood House in Action

During the grant period, Neighborhood House continued serving both walk-in clients on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as through referrals from churches, schools, and other social service agencies. Neighborhood House staff also continued working with clients to examine their household income and expenses and provided referrals to other services as appropriate. The staff continued to utilize a service that helps Neighborhood House and other local organizations manage client services, enabling collaboration among the agencies and avoiding duplication of services.

The staff also continued to build upon Neighborhood House's key strength: the program's strong relationship with the community. The staff are dedicated to ensuring the community is aware of the resources provided by Neighborhood House and have also developed working relationships with the City of Lubbock, which provides the program with funding for the utility assistance for clients.

To learn more about Upbring Neighborhood House, please visit their website, or by calling them at (806) 589-1907.