FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016
A N N UA L
R EPO R T
The mission of the Bucks County Opportunity Council is to
reduce poverty, and partner with our community to promote
economic self-sufficiency.
The Bucks County Opportunity Council continues to serve lowincome families throughout Bucks County and grow our partnerships, in line with our mission. We served over 9,600 people in
FY2016, which is only a small portion of the 41,406 low-income
people in in Bucks County.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Budget Crisis- For eight months, BCOC as well as many other
non-profits, did not receive critical federal and state funding, but
we managed to weather the Pennsylvania state budget crisis without much change in services, due to long term planning.
Food Storage- The County of Bucks now provides critical freezer
and refrigeration space in their Central Warehouse to the Bucks
County Opportunity Council’s food program. For the first time,
BCOC can accept large-scale and perishable food donations. This
storage has enhanced our relationship with Philabundance as we
are now a redistribution site for them providing more food for over
60 pantries in our networks.
Training— The Opportunity Council provides community education on issues of poverty, as a certified Bridges Out of Poverty©
agency. BCOC provided numerous Bridges Trainings, Morning
BCOC IS
COMMUNITY
ACTION:
Wheelz2Work– Addressing transportation for low-income families
is a key component to the success of families working to earn a
livable wage. Our vehicle donation program, Wheelz2Work, took
off this last year thanks to our partnership with Bucks County
Community College and the
Gene and Marlene Epstein
Foundation.
Community support makes our
wheels turn! Thank you for
your support of our successful
back to school drive, Adopt-AFamily efforts, food drives and
more.
We couldn’t do the work we do
without the support of the community. Thank you for your
support.
VOLUNTEERS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
Whether it’s driving the food
van or completing tax returns,
volunteers make an incredible
difference at the Opportunity
Council. With a lot of varied
 Donated Cars solve the responsibilities, BCOC volunteers help to make the organitransportation issues for
zation go.
clients
Every day volunteers pick
donated food from Wegmans
 Bridges Out of Poverty
Food Markets and deliver it to
creates communities of pantries. Last year, over 40
learners and poverty
volunteers help prepare over
1,050 tax returns for fellow
fighters!
Bucks County residents.
Twice a week from April
through October, volunteers
work at the Hope of the Har Economic SelfSufficiency helps move
families out of poverty
Conversations and Poverty Simulation to bring our community to
the table to address poverty. We strive to create a Bridges Community.
vest Charitable Garden at
Delaware Valley University
planting and harvesting fresh
fruits and vegetables for our
network of pantries.
Council. It is the community
coming together to help those
less fortunate, a true example
of community action!
These tasks plus many more
make a real difference to the
work of the Opportunity
Number of Individuals who volunteered
3,876
Number of hours individuals volunteered
91,074
ANNUAL REPORT
Page 2
EMERGENCY SERVICES
BCOC provides stabilization
services through rapid rehousing, among other emergency services The goal of
rapid-rehousing is get the client housed as quickly as possible in the most efficient,
stable way.
Deb lost her full-time job. She
cobbled together two part-time
jobs, but then her hours were
cut. The apartment she had lived
in for several years was going
to be turned into condominiums.
In the span of three months she
was facing homelessness.
“Like a lot of folks my age, I
was not doing poorly. I lived
in a home and had a full-time
job. But it only takes a series
of disasters piled on top of one
another to knock your feet out
from under you,” Deb explained. During the recession,
“If you don’t have a home, you
don’t have a launching pad to do
anything else.” Deb said. She
was desperate. That is when
Deb contacted the Opportunity
Council. With the support of
BCOC, Deb was able to find an
apartment and that made all the
difference. Shortly after moving
in. she was offered a full-time job.
Through Wheelz2Work, she received a safe and reliable car,
which broadened her career prospects and led to a new, better job.
That enabled her to move to a better apartment. Today she is completely self-supporting. “I have
limitless gratitude for the Opportunity Council. With their help,
everything fell into place.” Situational poverty can occur quickly
after a job loss, health crisis, death
of a spouse, or divorce. Many people in Bucks County have experi-
enced this kind of loss and have
relied on BCOC to help them
get back on their feet.
559
Households were
prevented from
being homeless
in fiscal year
15-16
ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY
Nikki Matthews personifies the
successful ES graduate: hard
working and motivated.
Nikki grew up in poverty, working part-time jobs and collecting
welfare benefits. But she wanted a better life for herself and
her son, Anthony, who was 4 at
job fell through.” Nikki graduCounty Community College.
“I knew the school work would ated from Bucks County Community College in 2005 and
be hard, but what made the
immediately secured a fullsituation overwhelming was
time job. Earning a livable
the stress and worry of knowwage freed her of the need for
ing that any adverse event
could completely de-rail my
plans,” Nikki recalls.
the time she joined BCOC’s
Economic Self-Sufficiency Program (ES). In 2004, Nikki took
“The financial and emotional
support I received from the
Opportunity Council enabled
out loans to enter the practical
nursing program at Bucks
me to focus on my school
work. I knew they had my
back if the car broke down or a
government assistance. She
continued her education and is
now a Registered Nurse with
an Associate’s degree. In the
fall of 2015, BCOC celebrated
$1 invested in
Economic SelfSufficiency
saves $4.6 in
government
subsidies.
the 19th class of graduates
from our Economic Self Sufficiency program.
WEATHERIZATION
The Opportunity
Council provided
home energy
services in 372
homes last year,
making them
more energy
efficient.
Scott lives in a mobile home in
Bucks County. He has a fixed
income with health issues and
Scott contacted the BCOC
Weatherization program. After
a visit and inspection, the mo-
clients on the need for heater
maintenance, energy conservation, heat optimization, bath-
severe arthritis. Scott dreaded the
upcoming winter months because
the trailer was always too cold
bile home was retrofitted to
make it more energy efficient,
including adding insulation and
room ventilation, and the dangers of carbon monoxide. Education is em-
and uncomfortable, and his pipes
would freeze. But he couldn’t
new windows.
powering and
can save clients
afford to make repairs, and didn’t
really know what was needed.
Probably the most important
work of the Home Energy Conservation Program is educating
time, money,
and aggravation.
FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016
Page 3
FOOD
In 2015-2016, the Opportunity
Council distributed 1.1 million
pounds of food! The food insecurity rate in Bucks County is 9.2%,
equating to 57,320 individuals that
are food insecure and are likely
ineligible for federal food assistance programs and thus dependent
upon charitable food programs.
(Feeding America’s Map the Meal
Gap).
Partnerships help the food program
flourish: The County of Bucks
agreed to donate walk-in freezer
and refrigerator space to BCOC.
This storage has allowed BCOC to
partner with Philabundance to
increase the amount of fresh
fruits and vegetables we receive. In addition, our partnerships with Rolling Harvest
Food Rescue, Delaware Valley
University, Wegmans, SHARE
and Applegate Meats among
others continue to help supply
food to over 60 partner pantries on a regular basis. Volunteers who harvest, drive the
food van and truck and provide
administrative support ensure
we are feeding our community
together!
VITA
For 12 years, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program has been helping hardworking, low income families in
Bucks County prepare their income taxes. Each year clients are
overwhelmed with this task and
worried about the cost involved.
also saved an additional $211,000 in tax prep fees.
This is good news for the clients, but also for businesses in Bucks County, who benefitted from the
significant extra dollars pumped into the local
economy.
In 2016, VITA
Volunteers
completed 1,058 tax
returns for lowincome residents in
Bucks County. Since
In 2016, with the help of over 50
BCOC volunteers, 1,058 tax returns were prepared for low and
moderate income clients in Bucks
County. Clients received $1.5
million in returned income, and
the program began
VITA has performed
over 10,000 returns.
WHEELZ TO WORK
In July 2015 in conjunction
with Bucks County Community
College Foundation and the
Gene and Marlene Epstein Humanitarian Fund, BCOC relaunched Wheelz to Work.
Given that transportation is one
of the biggest barriers to economic self-sufficiency in Bucks
County, having reliable
13
Vehicles
were donated to
BCOC clients through
Wheelz to Work in FY 1516
transportation makes a huge difference.
The Opportunity Council accepted
13 used vehicles in FY 2016. The
cars are checked to make sure they
pass inspection and are road safe
and then given to clients in our Economic Self-Sufficiency program.
Board of Directors—2017
Tobi Bruhn
Jeane M, Coyle, Chair
Don E. Dailey
Edward L. Denton
Constance M. Furman
Consolidated Statement of Activities
Karen M. Gundy
Year Ended June 30, 2016
Elaine Keckeissen
2016
Unrestricted
Temporarily
Total
Cheryl A. Leddy
Warren C. Levy
Restricted
Support and Revenue
Nikki Matthews
Support
Government
$3,385,882
$3,385,882
Community
$236,850
$366,166
Michael W. Mills, Treasurer
$603,016
Donated Materials,
Amy Moyer
Dennis Parenti, Vice Chair
Facilities and Services
$616,242
$616,242
Special Events, Net of Expenses
$6,605
$6,605
Total Support
$4,245,579
Financial
$2,162
$2,162
Other
$34,642
$34,642
Total Revenue
$36,804
$36,804
Subtotal
$4,282,383
$366,166
$302,241
($302,241)
Total Support and Revenue
$4,584,624
$63,925
Program Services
$4,079,655
$4,079,655
Management and General
$507,411
$507,411
Fundraising
$72,488
$72,488
Total Expenses
$4,659,554
$4,659,554
$366,166
$4,611,745
Revenue
Charles J. Quattrone, Jr.
Sajida Salim
Cheryl M. Schrier, Secretary
Karen Silk
COMMUNITY ACTION
Net Assets Released from Restrictions
Expenses
$4,648,549
$4,648,549
Change in Net Assets
($74,930)
$63,925
$(11,005)
Net Assets - Beginning of Year
$1,216,445
$219,702
$1,436,147
Net Assets - End of Year
$1,141,515
$283,627
$1,425,142
The Bucks County Opportunity Council is the designated Community Action
Agency (CAA) for Bucks
County, Pennsylvania. the
lead anti-poverty organization in the county.
“The Opportunity Council has always reported
and measured the outcomes of the dollars
that they get better than anyone else in the
county. We get to see that the money is being
put to good use, with great outcomes, and the
people are doing well.”
- Bucks County Commissioner Charles Martin
www.bcoc.org
@BCOpportunity
@BCOpportunity