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National Non Profit 2020

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(Continued from Page 1) We quickly adapted to meet the evolving needs of our community by expanding services, finding innovative ways to replace programs that were previously offered in person and developing new programs that meet the needs of our new reality. Providing healthy nutrition and preventing isolation in seniors: • Meals on Wheels has been serving meals to over 700 seniors per week, which is a 90% increase since pre- COVID. Not only do these meals provide home bound seniors with necessary nutrition to keep them healthy, the meal delivery also allows a quick and safe wellness check and an opportunity for some interaction with the volunteer drivers. • Due to closure of congregation Elderday Adult Day Health Care transitioned to providing services remotely. An exciting outcome of this change was the creation of a new program - the Senior Center without Limits, which was developed with the City of Watsonville, City of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County Parks. This free online program brings enriching and stimulating activities like yoga, art, and music to seniors in their homes. Fundamental assistance to families: • Food distributions at our FRCs expanded to meet the burgeoning need for food assistance throughout the county. Many people that have not needed help before have found themselves at risk for food insecurity. Additionally, 626 families that lost wages due to the pandemic received grocery gift cards. • In partnership with UndocuFund partners and generous donors, we have provided rental assistance to 438 families that have lost wages due to the pandemic, but are not eligible for traditional public benefits (like unemployment) due to their immigration status. • FRC doors have remained open and staff are available to bridge language and literacy barriers to assist clients in applying for public benefits, which allow them to feed their families and pay their bills. Protecting the next generation: • Our early education centers have stayed open for children of essential workers throughout the pandemic, incorporating the most stringent hygiene and socializing measures and following all state and county public health guidelines. • We served "Summer Lunch" to hundreds of children weekly across the county to fill the gap in school-sponsored lunches during the summer months. We now know that we will be in this new socially distanced and changeable reality for many months to come. State and Federal funds have brought needed relief and will hopefully continue to do so as people remain out of work and businesses are closed. However, often it is nonprofits that will carry out federally financed efforts and policies– and nonprofits that will fill gaps in the safety net and meet community needs, no matter the cost. For more information about Community Bridges response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit communitybridges.org/COVID19. VolunteerCenter Really Connect. Really Connected Nonprofit Adaptability and Emergency Preparedness In October, 2019 the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County entered into a partnership with 24 nonprofits selected from across the state of California to serve as a California LISTOS Campaign partner with the California Department of Emergency Services. The goal for Santa Cruz County– To reach 11,500 low income families, seniors living alone, and adults with a Mental Health diagnosis living independently with information, training, and emergency resources in 2020 by engaging non-disaster response human service organizations in Santa Cruz County that work with high risk/special needs populations. Under the initiative of Get Ready/Estén Listos, Community partnerships were established, local agencies were trained, and outreach began with the plan for a full launch starting in the early spring of 2020. Just as this work was beginning, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and this fledging new system of support was immediately put to the test. "Fortunately, because of the partnerships already established and volunteers recruited, we were able to widen our focus and adapt our emergency preparation resources to immediately disseminate crucial information about COVID-19 safety and the shelter in place order to those in need in Santa Cruz County," states Patty Small Engagement and Project Coordinator for the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County Get Ready / Estén Listos project. "Within the first two months of the shelter in place order, volunteers and local nonprofit staff were able to provide 19,445 people with COVID safety materials and information in partnership with Community Action Board, Community Bridges, Community Connection, Families in Transition, Grey Bears, MHCAN, Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, Inc, and Volunteer Center program staff," continues Small. School families received COVID safety information at school chromebook and breakfast/lunch pick-up locations, seniors participating in free grocery programs were provided with materials, emergency shelter clients were provided with both written material and in-person consultation, mental health clients were provided with 1:1 consultation, and materials in both Spanish and English were handed out to thousands of community members through local food distribution programs. "Nonprofit agencies throughout Santa Cruz County are the first resource for so many community members most in need of basic essentials. What we kept hearing from our nonprofit partners was that many families, seniors, and vulnerable folks were deeply concerned about where to access resources and some were confused about the initial shelter in place order, so this was a crucial and incredibly important effort. We are so grateful to our partners for mobilizing and adapting so quickly. It is a true testament of the power of nonprofit collaboration and we believe that our community is safer because of their efforts," states Small. In addition to COVID-19 response, LISTOS staff and partners have continued general emergency preparedness outreach and have provided online, phone, or in-person training to nearly 2,000 community members thus far. "The pandemic has driven home just how important the emergency preparation and outreach process is. For some folks, being stuck at home is an inconvenience, for others – it's life threatening. Unfortunately, while managing the ensuing pandemic, we could simultaneously find ourselves facing power outages, earthquakes, flooding, and fires. We want to ensure that vulnerable or hard to reach populations have the resources they will need, and now, while spending more time at home, it is the perfect time to update or create your emergency and disaster preparedness plans," states Small. Community members who are interested in learning the ways they can keep themselves and family members safe during an emergency can visit the Volunteer Center website at scvolunteercenter.org to sign up for a free emergency preparation online class, download an emergency preparation toolkit, or watch educational videos. The next available free online class will happen on Thursday, August 20th from 10AM- 11AM. Community members can register at https://bit.ly/31F7MFy Additionally, community members can sign up for a text class by texting LISTOSCA to 72345 to receive resources via 7 texts over 7 days or via santacruz.arist.co . Online zoom and text classes will cover how to make an emergency plan, how to coordinate with others, how to register for county and PG&E emergency alerts, and more. "As a trusted partner with the State of California we've had the opportunity to infuse a significant amount of financial resource into generating disaster preparedness among the most vulnerable populations in our local community. In doing so, we are part of the larger effort to reach to over 1 million Californians that have no current connection to the preparedness and response community. The Volunteer Center family is so proud to engage in this work at this moment when the needs of our community are so great," states Small. For more information about the Get Ready/Estén Listos initiative contact Patty Small at 831-722-6708 ext. 311.

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