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42 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, January 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 14, 2004 Physician�s assistant Page Farrell examines the throat of Jackson Elementary School fourth-grader Tommy Simmons Monday. School-based health centers currently operate in four area elementary schools, thanks in part to funding from the federal government. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Grant helps local kids The Medford City Council meets Thursday to decide how to distribute $739,000 in federal assistance funds By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune More than 720 local children from low-income families benefited from health services financed in part by federal funds last year. "We provide health care to the kids who would otherwise not receive care," said Karen Holt, administrative director of Kids Health Connection, which provides health care to students in four area elementary schools. The health centers receive a small part of a $739,000 annual grant that includes assistance for affordable housing, public health and safety and other services for low- and moderate-income residents. But while federal money fuels the assistance, it is up to the Medford City Council to establish how it wants that money spent. The council will meet Thursday to discuss its plans for providing those services to the city’s neediest residents. Kids Health Connection, which operates school-based health centers in Jackson, Washington, Oak Grove and Phoenix elementary schools, has received $35,000 in each of the past two years from the Department of Housing and Urban Development fund. The money pays part of the salaries for a nurse and a nurse practitioner, Holt said. Advertisement She said without the grant money, the group would not have been able to help as many children. "(The grant money) allowed us to expand to Oak Grove and establish staffing there," she said. Medford has received $739,000 annually for several years for services like the health centers through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, said Louise Dix, Medford’s neighborhood resource coordinator. To keep receiving the grant, the city must adopt a five-year strategicplan addressing how the funds will be used. The proposed plan for 2005-2009 notes that the Medford’s median household income in 2000 was $36,500, which was 11 percent below the state median, and that 26 percent of families with young children lived in poverty. Meanwhile, housing costs have been on the rise, and median home prices exceeded $162,750. To help bridge the gap, the city’s plan proposesincreasing the supply of housing for low-income households and providing funds for down payments on homes. Other suggestions range from restoring existing housing to establishing neighborhood councils that would serve as advocates for safe and healthy neighborhoods. While the plan is very general, there are real examples of what can be accomplished with the federal money. Ron Demele, executive director of Rogue Valley Community Development Corp., said one example of howCDBG funds are used is on Howard Street in north Medford, where his organization has helped renovate a house. "We just actually finished it this week," he said, adding that it will be available for sale to qualified applicants for less than $135,000. Dix said the challenge in creating a five-year plan for the city is to make it broad enough to cover the possibilities over the next half-decade, but specific enough that it focuses the funding for maximum impact. 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