Federal recovery funds have helped struggling Utahns

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) — Despite the widespread attitude in Utah that anything federal is nothing but bad, the Salt Lake Community Action Program reported Wednesday that 92 jobs were created locally in the first quarter of this year directly because of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

During that same time period, the non-profit agency providing low-income Utahns a range of helps to find ways to become self-reliant spread more than $2.5 million to provide temporary rent assistance that prevented eviction of more than 170 families. It provided emergency meals to more than 17,000 people, or 12,933 emergency food orders to more than 4,598 unduplicated households between January and the end of March.

The resources of the recovery act are having immediate positive impact through several programs that are helping through hard times and that offer good jobs to those most affected by widespread layoffs and dwindling available jobs, said Cathy Hoskins, CAP executive director.

"These high-impact activities will keep pumping resources and hope into the economies of Salt Lake and Tooele counties through the summer and into the next two years," Hoskins said.

Early childhood care for working families has been expanded and 162 homes were weatherized the past three months, according to the agency.

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