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The United Way COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund announced Phase 2 grants totaling $450,000 to 22 human service organizations providing critical services serving people in south central Indiana. With support from the COVID-19 Fund, these organizations can continue to provide life-changing services to members of our community affected by the pandemic. In addition to contributions from community organizations and individuals, United Way of Monroe County received a $1,200,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment, in partnership with Indiana United Ways. Of this grant, $849,570 was contributed to the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to support non-profit organizations in Monroe County. The remaining amount was distributed to the community foundations in Brown, Greene, and Owen counties to support COVID-19 relief in those communities.
Organizations serving Brown, Greene, or Owen counties should contact their respective community foundation for information on the application process to receive funds. Links can be found at www.monroeunitedway/COVIDRelief. This follows Phase 1 grants that awarded $309,425 to 17 human service organizations in Greene, Owen, and Monroe counties in March. The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund has now granted a total of $1,151,429 to support priority needs during the pandemic. The Phase 2 grants focused on these priorities in Monroe County in response to the pandemic: sustaining critical operations and levels of service for area nonprofits meeting community members’ basic needs, funding temporary staffing or volunteer mobilization efforts in response to loss of volunteer base critical to daily operations, maintaining capacity of local food security and basic needs systems in order to meet additional demands, supporting affordable childcare for essential workers, and promoting the health and personal safety of individuals, especially as existing systems of care are disrupted. Phase 2 grant recipients include:
Additionally, based upon the recommendation of the City of Bloomington’s Social Services Working Group, $150,000 was pledged to Hoosier Hills Food Bank to support the priority need of maintaining the capacity of local food security. In addition to offsetting the decline in food donations at a time of significantly increasing demand, this funding will also provide food staples to programs and agencies in Brown, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, and Owen counties through the fall. “We’ve seen sources of food donations decrease or disappear at the same time that we’ve seen substantial increases in need by our partners and clients,” said Hoosier Hills Food Bank Executive Director Julio Alonso. “United Way’s early support in Phase 1 enabled us to start purchasing food before the food supply chain was impacted and has helped fill the void left by the loss of donated food. Together with other support, Phase 2 funding will help keep us supplied with food into the fall, which is crucial because we know there will be lingering effects as recovery begins.” From food security and housing assistance to childcare and mental health care, the Phase 2 grants will be used to fund priority needs. To see a full list of how funds will be used visit www.monroeunitedway.org/COVIDRelief-Impact. New Hope for Families will use the $35,000 grant to fund three programs to provide summer childcare for children of essential workers, childcare and education for children of families experiencing poverty and homelessness, and the expansion of emergency family housing in response to increased need during the pandemic. Citizens for Community Justice, Inc.’s $9,380 grant will support increased virtual and on-site resources for those facing eviction due to circumstances related to COVID-19. Catholic Charities Bloomington will continue to provide virtual mental health care, using their $22,000 grant to fund support and consultation calls, individual and family telehealth sessions, tip sheets for clients, and virtual support groups. “The Phase 1 grant provided the equipment and licenses needed to provide mental health services from our home to the client’s home via Telehealth services. Phase 2 of the grant allows us to increase our capacity to serve more people in our community with mental health care needs,” said Catholic Charities Bloomington Clinical Director O’Connell Case. “Thank you, United Way, Lilly Foundation, and other partners for equipping us with the secure and durable computers to make it possible to provide this service and serve more people in need.” A committee of cross-sector community partners identified critical needs and resource gaps to guide decisions regarding the COVID-19 Fund. The granting committee includes representatives from the Bloomington Health Foundation, City of Bloomington, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Monroe County Government, Indiana University, and United Way of Monroe County. “The community’s generosity continues to fuel the incredible network of nonprofit agencies as they rise to meet new challenges. The work supported through the Relief Fund assures that in our community we are continuing to attend to individuals’ and families’ critical emerging needs,” said United Way of Monroe County Executive Director Efrat Feferman. The fund received more than $850,000 in Phase 2 grant requests from 27 organizations. COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund supporters include Bloomington Health Foundation, Bloomington Sunrise Rotary, Bloomington Township, Blueline, Boston Scientific, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, City of Bloomington, Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County, Cook Medical, Duke Energy, Etch Clothing Co., First Financial Bank, First United Church, First United Methodist Church, Hoosier Energy, Indiana United Ways, IU Credit Union, IU Credit Union Volunteer Board of Directors, Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington, Lilly Endowment, Inc., Monroe County Government, Old National Bank, Owen County State Bank, Perry Township, Private Individuals, Smithville Charitable Foundation, Susan Yeley Homes, Tim Ellis Realtors, Truist Foundation, United Way of Monroe County, United Way Worldwide, and Van Buren Township. $25,000 matching grant for donations remains open New individual donations to the United Way COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund are generously being matched up to $25,000 by the Bloomington Health Foundation (BHF). This is the second such matching fund offered from BHF targeting individual and community health-related needs. Individuals may text COVIDRELIEF2020 to 44-321or visit www.monroeunitedway.org/COVIDRelief to make a contribution to the Emergency Relief Fund. Local Resources Individuals in need of services including food, shelter, childcare, financial assistance, and more are encouraged to search www.helpingbloomingtonmonroe.org or to call 2-1-1 to connect to the right help. Community-wide resources and updates are centralized at www.monroecountycovid-19.org by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce in partnership with a cross-sector coalition of partners. Individuals may text COVIDRELIEF2020 to 44-321or visit www.monroeunitedway.org/COVIDRelief to make a contribution to the Emergency Relief Fund.
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