Local Human Service Agencies to receive CARES Act Funding
Mayor Andrew J. Ginther was joined by Columbus City
Councilmember Priscilla Tyson and Franklin County Board of Commissioners
President John O’Grady to announce $20 million in funding to human services
organizations that provide programs that address essential needs
of Columbus and Franklin County residents. The funding will be provided
from the CARES Act dollars through the Columbus and Franklin County Resilience
Initiative.
“We knew when COVID-19 first came to our region that we
would have to address the crisis on three fronts: a health crisis, an economic
crisis and a human services crisis,” said Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. “Today we
are today announcing the recipients of the human services grants – 110 entities
in total. These grants were given to organizations across many sectors
including – youth, seniors, families and veterans. And we were able to leverage
city CARES dollars with county CARES dollars – assuring that we could have a
greater impact across the community.”
The City and Franklin County are investing in a diverse
group of human services agencies serving a wide variety of residents living
Columbus and Franklin County. The money will be used to support services
such as the purchase of technology to enable remote learning, telehealth and
mentoring to the provision of basic needs including food, clothing, PPE,
diapers and other basic necessities.
“I believe that we have to seek every opportunity to help
our residents through this pandemic,” said Councilmember Tyson, ahead of the
vote for the funding at City Council tonight. “These funds will serve as a
resource to assist families with maintaining their necessities – by helping our
non-profit partners strategically deliver services to those in need.”
“The need is so great right now. Requests for funding that
came in totaled more than four times what was available. So the county and city
went through a lengthy screening process to ensure the money would go to
agencies in good standing, with a proven track record, which target some of our
most needed services right now such as housing, combatting violence and
addiction,” said John O’Grady, President of the Franklin County
Commissioners. “The work that these agencies do has never been more
critical than the demands they face right now.”
The selection of agencies followed an extensive review of
over 247 agency proposals by both an internal technical review team and an
external review committee chaired by Elon Simms of the Crane Family Foundation.
The external Resilience Initiative Review Committee focused on making sure that
there was an equitable distribution of the funding.