St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund

Organizations That Serve Individuals As noted earlier, only 10 organizations applied for funding to re-grant to individuals. 2 Almost all of these organizations reported that they served low-income and vulnerable people who worked in relatively low-wage jobs, such as hospitality, retail, or service sector – exactly the fields most threatened by extensive layoffs. As a result, they identified seeing an immediate and tremendous need. Child Care One of the pressing issues for the community is the lack of child care for essential workers, as nonprofit and for-profit centers closed their doors to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and their own exposure per the statewide order to shut down. As schools were closed, this problem was exacerbated as thou- sands of families now had to consider all-day care for children old enough to go to school or young enough to require supervision during the day. Twelve (9%) applicants said they had provided child care, but most of them were after-school programs which were uniformly shuttered. A survey of over 600 providers coordinated by Early Childhood OC found that there were many Early Care and Education programs operating for essential workers throughout the county, but all state and federally funded programs were closed. In addition, very few organizations were providing all-day care for older children, and services outside of traditional work hours and for infants were severely curtailed. In some cases, essential workers were turning to grandparents to watch their children, potentially exposing this high-risk population to infection. Transformed Service Delivery As noted briefly earlier, most organizations were still offering services, although many needed to transform their delivery methods. Twenty-nine applicants (22%) reported an increase in clients and demand for services. Increased demand was greatest in health care, food, and emergency housing. To respond to the need, many organizations, whose staff are primarily remote, were offering telephone or internet support, including 16 (12%) that offered tele-health, including mental health and addiction and recovery services. As one organization describes, "Clients now call in and virtually meet with their case manager in order to help them create their customized plan towards self-sufficiency." Many organizations providing basic need items to their vulnerable populations such as food, hygiene supplies, and more, quickly created novel drive-through or delivery methods to get these necessary items safely into their clients' hands. Other organizations are using YouTube, Facebook, and similar social media platforms to ensure clients stay connected to them and each other. Several sites that serve youth are developing special online content or resources to provide for their clients. As a potential silver lining, many organizations are using this time as an opportunity to become more proficient in these remote services, and may have an expanded ability to serve their clients in innovative and accessible ways -- if they are able to get through the crisis period. Applicant Overview The OC Community Resilience Fund launched formally on March 16, 2020, inviting nonprofits to submit an online application and letter to see rapid respond funding "This shift in virtual program- ming was unplanned and estimated costs to reformat are in the thousands of dollars." Youth services provider 2 All public charities are able to provide direct resources to individuals, but there are stringent IRS guidelines for doing so compliantly and to ensure exempt purpose is protected. We anticipate that some of the nonprofits who applied for core operations may also be working to provide direct resources (e.g. food, bank cards, rent assistance, diapers, etc.) to OC residents, and will be tracking that activity in subsequent evaluations.

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