St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund

COVID-19 in Orange County Summary

Issue link: https://blog.providence.org/i/1367419

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 1 of 2

COVID-19 and its attendant economic shutdowns has had a major deleterious effect on Orange County's communities and the nonprofits that support them. What follows is a listing of top-level findings from this evaluation: Impact on Community • Job losses and economic slowdowns have had a larger impact on lower income families, communities of color, and immigrants. There are widespread concerns about a wave of evictions that will start once local, state, and federal protections expire. • There is a dramatic increase in demand for the social safety net – food banks have reported a 4 to 40 times increase in demand and calls to 2-1-1 have more than doubled. • There has been significant impact on the physical and mental health of our community. • COVID-19 itself has had a disproportionate effect on people of color and low income individuals. For example, while only 35% of the county population is Hispanic/Latino, 56% of cases are. • Residents have delayed preventative services due to cost, availability, or concerns about exposure to COVID-19. • Mental health is becoming a growing concern as stress, anxiety, and depression build, and worries mount of people turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms. • Agencies are also worried about growing incidence of domestic violence that is lurking unreported, as children lose their access to mandated reporters. • Irregular schooling and the closure of day cares and preschools also raise fears of diminished child development for children of all ages. Reports indicate as many as 40% of private child care centers are in danger of closing. Impact on Nonprofits • The nonprofit community is being asked to mitigate these issues while facing increased demand for services, decreased revenue, and increased costs to provide more basic needs supplies, remote services or increased safety measures. • Assistance such as the PPP Loan Program (received by 65% of respondent organizations, and 90% of those who applied) and emergency philanthropic efforts have helped nonprofits weather the initial impact. • Only 20% of survey respondents had to perform layoffs; 49% of organizations cut staffing via layoffs, furloughs, and/or reducing hours The Orange County Community Resilience Fund (OCCRF), a partnership between St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund, the Orange County Community Foundation, Charitable Ventures, and OC Grantmakers, was launched to respond to the immediate and lasting impacts of COVID-19 in Orange County. By June, OCCRF had distributed $4.3M to 164 organizations. In addition to the direct support, OCCRF commissioned a broader impact evaluation to look at many data sources – including grant applications, surveys, interviews, economic data, news stories, reports from other organizations, and other resources – to capture the impact of the pandemic on our communities and nonprofits. Findings

Articles in this issue

view archives of St. Joseph Community Partnership Fund - COVID-19 in Orange County Summary