Wednesday, Mar 30 2011 3:28PM
Mobile services in Colorado will provide food and medical services to rural communities.
Some Colorado nonprofit organizations have created mobile services that allow them to travel to rural communities where residents often cannot afford to travel far for assistance, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
With help from Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) awarded through El Paso County, Peak Vista Community Health Center created a mobile health clinic in a van to provide basic medical services to outlying areas of the county. Also, the nonprofit Care and Share will soon launch a mobile food pantry, a
rural community development program that aims to improve or create food pantries in needy areas, reported the newspaper.
Tiffany Colvert, the community development specialist for El Paso County, told the paper that some organizations have stepped up, realizing that many rural residents simply cannot afford to travel to the nearest city to receive medical or state assistance.
"They're doing some innovative thinking, knowing that often, these residents can't afford the gas it would take to come into town to, say, get a flu shot," she said.
However, there is no telling as to how long these programs may be able to function. President Barack Obama's proposed 2012 budget contains cuts to several low-income assistance services, including the CDBG program.