OSWEGO COUNTY – Oswego County Opportunities, a not-for-profit human services agency, has been serving Oswego County residents and making a difference in the community for 55 years now.
OCO was born from President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in March 1966 and since then, has grown to include several services from housing to transportation. OCO’s history can be found here.
Senior Director of Operations Betsy Copps said while the value of each individual program at OCO is in the eye of the beholder, she believes one of the services that makes the biggest impact on those it serves are their residential services.
“Housing has become a critical need,” Copps said. “There’s a lack of safe, affordable, accessible housing.
Copps said having reliable housing is often taken for granted by those who do have access to it. Those who do not have a reliable place to live face barriers because of this, such as not having an address to put on a job application, to open a bank account, to register a child for school, or to register a car.
“All of these things we do are part of the normal course of life,” Copps said. “Without a place to live, a reliable place, a safe place for us, we can’t overcome a lot of these barriers that keep people in a poverty situation. So housing is a real big part of the mission these days. If we can get people safely housed, it really makes such a difference.”
She also said when the pandemic hit homelessness in Oswego County became more apparent as they were more visible on the street rather than staying with friends or family.
“[In Oswego County,] we don’t see homelessness in the ways that you sometimes on TV or on video, or people standing on the corners,” Copps said. “It’s a little more subtle in our area because we’re so rural, so we don’t always see them out in public. People will co-house with others, they’ll what they call ‘couch surf,’ especially young adults… When COVID hit, people didn’t necessarily want extra folks in their house, especially folks who might be coming and going. So suddenly there were more people ‘on the streets’ than there had been in the past.”
OCO is now preparing for its next cycle in strategic planning with focus groups, surveys and polls for feedback from county residents and their needs. This helps them to better invest their time, money and resources moving forward.
“Housing has been a consistent need and we don’t see that changing anytime soon,” Copps said.
In 2019, OCO opened 17 new housing units in Scriba for people experiencing homelessness. Copps said OCO is also involved with plans for other housing projects in the Pulaski area. This project is just now in the early planning stage.
Copps said she is pleased to see more housing options being created in the Oswego area and other non-profits tackling the housing issue as well, because it directly addresses poverty – the issue that caused the creation of OCO.
When the pandemic began, OCO, an essential organization, adapted to the necessary changes and altered the way services are delivered. Copps said while the state was on pause, OCO got creative and repurposed some employees to do other things.
“People were amazing. They were so willing to step up and do things way outside of their typical job experience,” Copps said. “We had people who would get the grocery lists from our residents and they’d go shop, they’d get their food, they’d get their cleaning products and they’d deliver them.”
Looking forward, she said OCO plans on keeping some of the changes brought on by the pandemic, such as their ramped up social media and offering more flexibility for remote work when they recruit employees. Copps said OCO will also look into using telemedicine as an option for their health care services.
“A lot of these electronic services, I think, are here to stay,” Copps said. “We’re going to look at how we can continue to incorporate those.”
More information on OCO’s multiple services can be found here: Community Services, Health and Nutrition Services, and Residential Services.
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Besides their housing services, their busing is criitical for those in poverty, but they really should switch to electric vehicles and save beau coup dollars on diesel costs. And downsize from 20 passenger behemouths to vans like Wayne and John are driving. They can be made wheelchair accessible.
Curious when they will start opening their services up. Seems like they are way behind other agencies who are open to the public, allowing staff to do visits outside with precautions and even transport clients. If you try to get in the main office you are quickly told you can’t come in.