Central Oregon households displaced by this summer’s wildfires will receive additional shelter, relocation and household assistance through a $100,000 federal award to NeighborImpact, with recovery efforts extending to families on the Warm Springs reservation.
U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Representative Janelle Bynum released the funding details September 30. The award comes through the NeighborWorks Disaster Grants program and will support NeighborImpact’s Wildfire Recovery Fund, which helps residents meet basic needs after losing housing or belongings.
July wildfires forced thousands of Warm Springs residents to evacuate and destroyed several homes, according to the congressional release. The funding will support emergency shelter and relocation assistance, along with replacement infant supplies, hygiene products, household goods, and laundry and cleaning supplies.
NeighborImpact serves economically disadvantaged residents of Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Its executive director, Scott Cooper, emphasized equal access for tribal communities in regional disaster recovery and described the congressional appropriation through NeighborWorks America as a resource for helping displaced residents.
The Central Oregon assistance follows a broader September 28 funding release from NeighborWorks America, which reported more than $4.14 million in supplemental awards to 23 community organizations across 17 states and the District of Columbia. The package supports affordable housing, disaster recovery, local businesses and the financial capacity of organizations delivering community services.
Eight disaster awards accounted for $715,000 of that national package. NeighborWorks identified a Central Oregon wildfire among the disasters covered by those grants, alongside flooding in New Jersey, severe storms in Kansas, a tornado in Wisconsin, a blizzard in Massachusetts and other emergencies.
NeighborWorks America is a congressionally chartered nonprofit that works through a nationwide network of local organizations. Its disaster assistance includes grants, technical support and training for community groups addressing immediate relief and longer recovery needs. Those efforts can involve helping residents secure housing, navigate recovery resources and restore damaged homes.
The September 28 national release did not separately identify NeighborImpact’s allocation in its summary. The September 30 congressional release supplied the specific $100,000 amount, named the recipient and outlined the assistance intended for Central Oregon residents.
Several details about the local award remain unspecified. The congressional release did not provide an application deadline, a household benefit amount or an estimate of how many families would receive support. It also did not identify the individual July fires or give a precise total of homes destroyed.
The listed expenses center on shelter, relocation and essential belongings. No separate allocation for home construction was identified, and the release did not confirm when the funds would reach NeighborImpact or when assistance financed by the award would begin.
The designated service area covers Central Oregon and Warm Springs. Josephine and Jackson counties were not named as recipients under this award, which directs recovery resources to communities affected by the Central Oregon fires.