March 14, 2020

Coronavirus – Nonprofit Resources

Resources to help your organization navigate through the effects of the coronavirus.

Tele-Health for Substance Abuse

Telehealth During Covid-19 Quarantine

The Child Care Council of Westchester is Here to Help You Find Child Care

The Council is reaching out to the child care and after school community to see who is open and has openings to provide care during this time of need. Their staff is there to help. Please call 914-761-3456 x 140. Kindly leave a message and they will return your call. Please check the Child Care Council Facebook page for child care updates and other important info regarding COVIV-19. Resources that parents might find useful while at home with their children will also be posted.

Small Business Administration Loans

Join national call with SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza on COVID-19’s economic impacts and the SBA’s targeted relief efforts for the nation’s small businesses, including nonprofits. Friday, March 20th, 2020 at 2:30 pm ET. Register here. Find out more about the three step process.

New York State Paid Sick Law S8091-A10153 NY 2020 provides for:

Employers with 10 or fewer employees and a net income less than $1 million will provide job protection for the duration of the quarantine order and guarantee their workers access to Paid Family Leave and disability benefits (short-term disability) for the period of quarantine including wage replacement for their salaries up to $150,000.
Employers with 11-99 employees and employers with 10 or fewer employees and a net income greater than $1 million will provide at least 5 days of paid sick leave, job protection for the duration of the quarantine order, and guarantee their workers access to Paid Family Leave and disability benefits (short-term disability) for the period of quarantine including wage replacement for their salaries up to $150,000.
Employers with 100 or more employees, as well as all public employers (regardless of number of employees), will provide at least 14 days of paid sick leave and guarantee job protection for the duration of the quarantine order.

For detailed information about what the law provides, please visit A Better Balance’s fact sheet here. With special thanks to Westchester Women’s Agenda for their advocacy and information.

Mortgage payments will be waived for 90 days

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said mortgage payments will be waived for 90 days for those with financial hardships as the state ramps up measures to mitigate the health and economic impacts of the new coronavirus.

The directive includes:

Waiving mortgage payments based on financial hardship
No negative reporting to credit bureaus
Grace period for loan modification
No late payment fees or online payment fees
Postponing or suspending foreclosures
Waiving ATM fees, late fees, overdraft fees and credit card fees at state chartered banks.

100 percent of the nonessential workforce must stay home

This order exempts essential services. All private businesses are urged to allow their non-essential employees to work from home.

Essential services include industries such as shipping, media, warehousing, grocery and food production, pharmacies, health care providers, utilities, banks and related financial institutions, as well as other industries critical to the supply chain.

Information on laws and regulations offered by the Human Services Council

NPW has been participating on calls hosted by the Human Services Council. Although NY City centric, the calls offer critical information around current and new laws and regulations and questions from agencies are answered by subject matter experts. We will continue to participate on calls. If you wish to do so, here is the most up to date information:

Calls Next Week, starting Monday, March 23rd are Monday, Wednesday and Friday
The number to call is 425-436-6324 and the PIN is 515229#
Participants are encouraged to send questions in advance to info@humanservicescouncil.org.

FAQ for NY State Businesses and Other Helpful Resources

Empire State Development (ESD) has created a FAQ to offer information to businesses regarding State regulations and general guidance related to the coronavirus that can be helpful to nonprofit organizations as well. If your question is not answered, please contact ESD via their website.

NYS DOH Coronavirus Hotline: 1-888-364-3065 (fully language accessible)
NYS DOH Coronavirus Website

Other Helpful Resources:

Federal Government Families First Coronavirus Response Act

We are awaiting summary information and concerned that there is not sufficient economic relief for the nonprofit sector.

Medical Supplies

Please use this form to request medical supplies from Westchester County Department of Emergency Services – Emergency Management Division Medical Supply Shortage Request Form. Return to: wceoc@westchestergov.com. Please let us know if you have not received a response within 24 hours:

Email Suzanne Gardos at sgardos@npwestchester.org
Write Emergency Medical Supplies in subject line of email

We know there is a shortage of supplies and are also working with a member agency to gain access to these needed supplies.

Children’s Bureau

Early Childhood Development

COVID-19 – Information and Resources (Mostly sourcing from other websites):
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – Tips for Social Distancing, Quarantine, and Isolation During an Infection Disease Outbreak View disclaimers about external links
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director’s Message: Coping with Coronavirus: Managing Stress, Fear, and Anxiety View disclaimers about external links
Office of Child Care
Office of Child Care COVID-19 Resources
Information about COVID-19 for CCDF Lead Agencies: Relevant Flexibilities in CCDF Law
Flexibility in Spending CCDF Funds in Response to Federal or State Declared Emergency Situations
CCDF Frequently Asked Questions in Response to COVID-19
Child Care and Preschool Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist View disclaimers about external links
Preparing Child Care Programs for Pandemic Influenza View disclaimers about external links
HHS-ACF COVID-19 Resources

Office of Head Start

Managing Infectious Disease

Office of Child Support Enforcement

Office of Community Services

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Office on Trafficking in Persons

3/18/20

Temporary Food Distribution Points

Use this link to find temporary food distribution locations. Help provided by Feeding Westchester

3/13/20 Update from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

Funding for States to Address COVID-19

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced upcoming action by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide resources to state and local jurisdictions in support of our nation’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The $8.3 billion dollar Supplemental passed by Congress included statutory language which prescribed the exact formula for disbursing the money: states will receive 90% of their 2019 CDC PHEP grants. This marks the first portion of funding to states from the $8.3 billion supplemental. Today, CDC is contacting State Health Officers to move forward with awarding over $560 million to states, localities, territories, and tribes. CDC will use existing networks to reach out to state and local jurisdictions to access this initial funding. To view the list of CDC funding actions to jurisdictions, click here.

Helping Communities Know Mitigation Strategies

The CDC released their “Implementation of Mitigation Strategies for Communities with Local COVID-19 Transmission.” Essentially, this is a guide describing possible mitigation strategies for communities dealing with transmission at three different levels: (1) None/Minimal, (2) Moderate, or (3) Substantial. Community mitigation strategies, which are non-pharmaceutical interventions, are often the most available interventions to help slow the transmission of COVID-19 in communities. The Mitigation Plan includes a set of actions that persons and communities can take to slow the spread of respiratory virus infections. The Community Mitigation Plan can be found here.

Guidance on Infection Control For Healthcare Workers

The CDC released updated guidance on infection prevention and control recommendations. Healthcare workers are fighting this outbreak on the front lines, and this guidance is intended to provide assistance to healthcare settings that are handling suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. This guidance is applicable to all U.S. healthcare settings, but not for non-healthcare settings. There is separate guidance for that. The new guidance on infection control can be found here.

Guidance for Preparing Workplaces

This week, the Department of Labor released practical guidance for how to prepare workplaces for COVID-19. This guidance will help to educate workers and employers about the COVID-19 outbreak. The guidance can be found here.

Guidance for Laboratories

The CDC has been actively working to address the need for testing across the country. In addition to public health laboratories, private labs are doing testing. In addition to reviewing the Updated Guidance on Evaluating and Testing Persons for Coronavirus Disease 2019, the CDC recently updated the FAQ website for laboratories, and we encourage you to read through the site to answer preliminary questions, though we stand ready to answer other questions that you may have.

Guidance to Prepare Homeless Shelters

We recognize persons experiencing homelessness are an especially vulnerable population. CDC released guidance on March 9, to help homeless shelters plan, prepare and respond to COVID-19. The guidance can be found here.

OMB Flexibilities

On March 9, 2020, OMB issued a memo that provides administrative relief for recipients and applicants of Federal financial assistance who are directly impacted by COVID-19. The grant flexibilities include 10 actions that HHS can take to provide short-term administrative and financial management relief, allowing funds to be awarded quicker and giving grantees the ability to focus on their critical response, research, or services. More information can be found here.

General Preparation Information

On March 9, 2020, the White House Coronavirus Task Force released practical steps that we recommend posting and sharing to keep workplaces, school, home and commercial establishments safe. This information can be found here.

The COVID-19 response is a whole-of-government effort and each department has a number of specific resources. We encourage you to explore those resources as necessary to respond to the situation in your communities.