2023 Year End Review
Harford Community Action Agency’s mission is to help all Harford County individuals and families who are living in poverty and/or experiencing financial hardships in meeting their housing, food, energy & heating, and/or budget & family counseling needs. We support and encourage them on their path to be self-sufficient.
All Funds Invested in Harford County, Maryland!
As a nonprofit organization, HCAA relies on grants, in-kind donations, and the generosity of organizations and individuals like you to support our programs and services. All funds we receive are invested in our work here in the local community.
Every contribution makes a difference and is deeply appreciated. You may donate to us securely online through our website at www.harfordcaa.org/donate or send your gift in the enclosed envelope.
Thank you for your consideration of our request. Together we may one day render agencies like ours obsolete, because families will have everything they need.
How Much Can Your Donation Help?
$25
25 lbs. of Food
4-5 Meals
$50
50 lbs. of Food
8-10 Meals
$100
100 lbs. of Food
16-20 Meals
$250
250 lbs. of Food
40-50 Meals
$500
500 lbs. of Food
80-100 Meals
Programs Overview
Food Pantry
Supporting over 100 partners in Harford County for food needs. Emergency food is available once every 30 days to families in need. HCAA Food Pantry & Food Bank is the Emergency Food Organization (EFO) for the Maryland Food Bank and Feeding America.
Community Case Management
A program available to clients who are in need of one-on-one assistance with varying needs. A case manager will take time to create attainable goals with the client’s input in order to be sure that needs are met. Through referrals, outreach and encouragement, we will strive to give a hand up!
Food Advocacy
A program dedicated to reducing childhood hunger. A 6-week course that covers food-related topics such as: menu planning, budgeting, nutrition, and grocery store tours. This program will help adults feed their families with the best food available on any budget to provide children with nutritional and filling options.
The Office of Home Energy Programs
Provides assistance to Maryland’s low-income households to help families stay warm, connected, and help pay past due energy bills.
Support Services
The Homelessness Solutions Program helps prevent homelessness by providing residents with grant assistance to pay their rent or security deposit. Households requesting this assistance must have dependents in the home under the age of 21. There are both a programmatic and income eligibility that needs to be checked first prior to any assistance provided. Income eligibility is 30% of the annual income, and the programmatic eligibility is once per year.
2023 Program Statistics
Maryland Energy Assistance Program
5,488 Applications Received
3,732 Households Received Benefits
$3,243,409.67 in Benefits Paid Out
Electric Universal Service Program
3,706 Households Received Benefits
$3,797,814 in Benefits Paid Out
EUSP Arrearages
1,079 Households Received Benefits
$930,001.52 in Benefits Paid Out
Food Pantry / Food Bank
9,219 Households Served
993,754 lbs of Food Distributed
HCAA Food Bank
330,822 lbs of Food Transferred to Partners
1,163,516 lbs. of Food Donated from Retailers and Patrons
Mobile Food Unit
3,609 Households Served
41,333 lbs. of Food Distributed
Homeless Screenings
- Single Adults (Males = 251, Females 165, 1 Transgender and 2 Nonbinary) = 419.
- Households with children = 270 (Adults = 389 & Children = 436).
- Total Households = 689
Households Who Received Homelessness Solutions Program (HSP) Grant Case Management
- 689 Households.
FCCAU Shelter Placement
- 389 referred
- 268 individuals accepted
Emergency Winter Shelter
- Total Households = 40 (Families with Children = 7 & Single Adults = 33 and 2 no-shows).
Prologue Inc. Permanent Supportive Housing
- 0 individuals referred and accepted.
Motel Placement
- 18 households (15 single adult households & 3 families with children).
Referrals to Emergency Shelter For Families
- 13 Households placed at Harford Family House Emergency Shelter.
- 0 Households placed at Harford Family House Unaccompanied Youth Emergency Shelter.
- 1 Households placed at Harford Family House Permanent Supportive Housing Program.
- 4 Households placed Anna’s House Emergency Shelter.
- 3 Households placed in Anna’s House Permanent Supportive Housing Program.
Street Outreach
- 20 households received street outreach services and case management.
Community Case Management
HCC ASTROS Referrals:
70
UMMS Pantry:
180 Households Served, 2,880 lbs of Food Distributed
Agency / SNAP Outreach:
3,341
Bilingual (Spanish) Referrals:
52
Homeless Prevention Program
Eviction Prevention Assistance:
84 total households. 78 unduplicated households and 6 duplicated households.
Security Deposit Assistance:
47 households assisted.
Rapid Re-Housing:
44 additional households placed.
Peer Recovery Grant:
11 households received grant assistance including but not limited to sober living rental assistance, RRH Program placement, motel vouchers, transportation to work, eviction prevention, and vital records assistance.
Emergency Rental Assistance Program:
189 recipients for ERAP (Emergency Rental Assistance Program). Totally approximately $922,000 worth of assistance.
Food Advocacy Program
Food Advocacy Course:
174 families participated in the Food Advocacy course.
Food Related Activities:
224 people participated in a food related activity (Virtual Store Tours, Farmers Market Tours, Take It & Try It, and Workshops).
MDThink:
112 applications submitted to MDThink for SNAP Benefits (Food Stamp Assistance)
2023 Community Case Management
Provides one-on-one assistance to clients who are in need of varying resources.
A case manager will take time to create attainable goals with the client’s input in order to be sure their needs are met. Through referrals, outreach & encouragement we will strive to give a hand up!
SNAP Application Assistance
We know applying for assistance can be overwhelming. We are here to help with your SNAP applications.
RESOURCE ADVOCACY
We’ll help you work on your resume, interview etiquette, and completing online applications to get you back out into the work force. We also can help refer you to any of our internal services such as housing/eviction prevention, energy assistance, food pantry, parenting classes, and more.
ASTROS
Harford Community College ASTROS Program: Assisting Students To Reach Opportunities & Success (ASTROS) connecting HCAA’s services to college students in partnership with Harford Community College through direct community outreach with on site and remote counselling assistance to help students navigate financial barriers to success.
UMMS PANTRY
In collaboration with UMMS Upper Chesapeake Medical Center an on-site food pantry was created to address the community need and provide healthy food options in the safest, most effective way to Harford county residents facing food insecurity. HCAA also provides wraparound resources and services to residents experiencing financial hardships in meeting their housing, food, energy/heating, and/or budget and family counseling needs.
BILINGUAL REFERRALS
HCAA’s Bilingual (Spanish) services, internal and externally referred Spanish-speaking families are engaged by HCAA’s bilingual Director of Strategic Partnership’s to provide case management services and community resources.
Food Pantry / Food Bank
The Community Action Food Pantry and Food Bank is an emergency and/or supplemental food source which is available once every 30 days to clients who are in need of nourishment.
HCAA’s Food Pantry has been serving Harford County families in need of food for over 40 years. Our Food Bank supports 100 partners in Harford County with food for them to distribute to other homeless and needy families in other parts of the County. Our food pantry also offers the following program and services:
EMERGENCY FOOD
Emergency Food or supplemental food is available once every 30 days to families in need. Families receive enough wholesome fresh/canned fruits, veggies, meats, milk products, and/or breads and pastries for 3-5 days based on household size. Harford Community Action Food Pantry & Food Bank is an Emergency Food Organization (EFO) identified by the Maryland Food Bank in conjunction with Feeding America.
FOOD PANTRY HOURS
Monday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
9 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
FOOD PANTRY OFFICE HOURS
Monday – Friday:
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
REDUCING CHILDHOOD HUNGER/FOOD ADVOCACY PROGRAM
We will help your family eat healthy on a budget through a 6-week course (offered multiple times throughout the year) that covers food related topics such as: menu planning, budgeting, nutrition, and grocery store tours.
SNAP APPLICATION ASSISTANCE
We know applying for assistance can be overwhelming. We are here to help you complete your SNAP (food stamp) application correctly.
Food Advocacy Program
A 6-week program dedicated to helping families gain access to healthier food.
A 6-week program to help you learn new skills that will help your family purchase and prepare healthier food, even on a budget. You will also be connected with local resources to increase your access to healthy food.
YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:
- Meet MyPlate goals on a budget
- Read nutrition fact labels
- Make simple and healthy snacks
All participants take food home at the end of each class to replicate recipes at home and will receive a certificate and gift card upon completion.
To sign up for upcoming classes, please reach out to:
Energy Assistance
The Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP) provides assistance to Maryland’s low-income households to help you stay warm, connected, and help pay past due energy bills.
OHEP PROVIDES THESE SEPARATE GRANTS:
*Specific criteria and conditions apply, please inquire with program to determine if eligible.
MARYLAND ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (MEAP)
Provides financial assistance with home heating bills. Payments are made to the fuel supplier and utility company on the customer’s behalf.
UTILITY SERVICE PROTECTION PROGRAM (USPP)
Is designed to protect low-income families from utility turn-offs during the heating season. All MEAP eligible customers may participate in USPP. Participation also requires a year-round even monthly budget billing. Failure to make consecutive payments may result in removal from USPP.
ELECTRIC UNIVERSAL SERVICE PROGRAM (EUSP)
Provides financial assistance with electric bills. Eligible customers receive help that pays a portion of their current electric bills. Customers who receive EUSP are placed on a budget billing plan with their utility company. Budget Billing is a tool that utility companies provide to help spread out your annual utility bills into even monthly payments to avoid spikes in your bill caused by seasonal fluctuations in energy use. Please check with your utility company on eligibility requirements and budget billing policy.
ARREARAGE RETIREMENT ASSISTANCE (ARA)
Helps customers with large, past due electric and gas bills. If eligible, customers may receive forgiveness of up to $2,000 towards their past due bill. Customers must have a past due bill of $300 or greater to be considered eligible. Customers may only receive an arrearage grant once every seven years, with certain exceptions.
MEET OUR Energy Programs STAFF
Supportive Services (SSP)
Designed to alleviate/prevent homelessness, and assist clients with achieving financial independence and self-sufficiency.
HOMELESS SERVICES
Harford Community Action Agency (HCAA) became the primary provider in Harford County for homeless screening services effective 8/1/2014.
As the Centralized Intake Agency for Harford County, HCAA provides screenings for individuals and families with children that may be experiencing an episode of homelessness requesting emergency shelter and other housing stabilization services.
HCAA will screen individuals who are experiencing an episode of homelessness to be placed in the Welcome One Shelter, operated by FCCAU (Faith Communities and Civic Agencies United). The FCCAU Shelter has 26 male beds and 6 female beds.
Additionally, HCAA will provide families (with children) a referral into an emergency shelter option with Anna’s House or Harford Family House. All emergency shelter options are limited and households may experience a waitlist for these interventions.
RAPID RE-HOUSING
The Rapid Re-Housing Program aims to assists households (who meet certain grant parameters) to exit out of homelessness within 30 days of intake. Our program provides housing search assistance, housing stability case management, leasing assistance, first month’s rent, security deposit needs and, in some circumstances, ongoing rental assistance to fully transition a household into independent living. These households are provided ongoing case management to help link them to resources such as employment, supplemental benefits, medical insurance and budgeting to achieve financial and housing stability.
* RRH Program eligibility depends of housing status and income that will need to be confirmed prior to any assistance provided. Income eligibility is 30% of the Annual Median Income (AMI).
MEET OUR Supportive Services STAFF
Brian Wainwright
Director of Supportive Services
(443) 456-3629 ext. 2202
Eviction Prevention
HCAA has the ability to also assist low income Harford County households that are experiencing financial hardships.
Under the Homelessness Solutions Program (HSP) grant, HCAA has the ability to also assist low income Harford County households that are experiencing financial hardships that affect their ability to pay rent in accordance to their rental agreements.
The HSP eviction prevention assistance will provide aid to qualifying households once per twelve (12) months. An exception can be made in an extreme circumstance but this approval will need to be made by the SSP Director.
Eligibility for HSP Eviction Prevention Services:
Households will qualify for rental assistance if:
- The household falls within 30% of the annual median income. (Please see the income guidelines).
- An eviction notice is available or other approved documentation to show the “at-risk” status and vulnerability i.e. landlord ledger or documentation from the landlord on their letterhead.
Households will need to provide the following documents
- Photo ID for head of household.
- Copies of all social security cards within the household or knowledge of these vital records.
- Last 30 days of income for the entire household.
- Return the HCAA commitment letter after their landlord completes it.
