The Jewish Federation Covid-19 grant application is now live. This single application serves all of our Emergency Assistance programs including Lifelines and United Way funding. After Wednesday’s zoom session with our community partners an email will be sent to our entire database to announce the opening of this application process. The Emergency Assistance application is attached for your review so that you can support your members/constituents and encourage them to submit an application if they are in need.
The newly established Covid-19 grants program is funded from the generosity of donors in our community. The guidelines are below. If anyone has questions regarding the application please contact our professional staff at assist@jffs.org. Jillian Katz, former manager of our Passport Grants program will be the point-person for the Covid-19 grants and will be working on a team with Nancy, Lifelines Case Manager and Kathy Mellon, Special Projects. This team collectively has years of experience in grant-making for our Jewish community:
1) GRANT ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be Jewish residents of Orange County and have suffered economic hardship as a direct result of the COVID-19 crisis due to loss of employment or illness which must be verified with proper documentation.
2) FREQUENCY: Grant applications will be received on a rolling basis with decisions made on a weekly basis. As a result, applications will be reviewed on a first-come first-served basis with priority given to clearly denoted urgent and time sensitive needs.
3) HOUSEHOLD GRANT LIMIT: Initially, $1,800 per household. This amount shall be monitored monthly and potentially adjusted depending on total funds raised and actual (versus projected) needs in our community. Grants will be allocated as follows:
a) Food – Supermarket gift cards will be distributed in $100 increments per person per household. A household of 4 is therefore eligible for $400 total in gift cards.
b) Housing – up to $1,000 for rent or mortgage or utility assistance payable directly to a bank or landlord or utility service company.
c) Healthcare – CVS or Walgreens gift cards in $25 increments to cover prescriptions; funding to cover insurance premiums or deductibles payable directly to third party.
4) SUCCESSIVE AWARD AND OTHER GRANTS PERMITTED: Grantees may apply more than once but priority is given to first-time grantees and additional awards require advance approval of Grants and Allocations Committee. Grantees may apply for multiple funding sources such as COVID-19 funds and Lifelines or United Way funding without impeding their maximum for a Federation COVID-19 Emergency Grant.