HOW YOU CAN HELP
- Order takeout and delivery from East Somerville businesses
- Buy gift cards and pre-pay appointments
- Maintain memberships such as gyms
- Tip service workers extra
Volunteer and other ways to help:
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CHA is facing a shortage of medical supplies, including PPE. They are asking the community for donations of new and unused PPE.
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Mutual Aid Group: https://mutualaidmamas.com/
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General 10 things you can do to help: https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/wellness-prevention/feeling-helpless-about-coronavirus-10-things-you-can-do
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Volunteer Needs: http://www.cambridgevolunteers.org/needed-now/covid-19/
Contribute to a fund to help:
Restaurant Strong Fund: https://www.thegreghillfoundation.org/restaurantstrong/
$1,000 grants for
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Full-time tipped compensated employee (Minimum of 30 hours total per week, can be multiple restaurants)
BARTENDER EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: https://www.usbgfoundation.org/beap
Emergency Funds for Boston-Area Service Workers
The Boston Music Maker Relief Fund
Camberville Hospitality Workers Fund
Mental Health Resources provided by Centering Healthcare
Help spread the word - resources to those who need it:
The CARES Act is a federal law that directs $2 trillion in funding to COVID-19 relief efforts. The CARE Act is wide reaching and includes help for individuals and small businesses. For more information on what is included in the CARE Act, visit www.somervillema.gov/coronavirushelp. Local business owners can also find information at www.somervillema.gov/covidbizhelp.
Assistance for individuals includes:
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Direct cash payments
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Most individuals earning less than $75,000 will receive $1,200. For married couples earning less than $150,000, each partner will receive a $1,200 check.
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An additional $500 will be given for each child.
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Direct cash payments will arrive within approximately three weeks via direct deposit if you have set up a direct deposit account with the IRS. The IRS will be communicating about payments via mail, so keep an eye on your mailbox.
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Payments will decrease for those earning more than $75,000 and will phase out completely for individuals making more than $99,000 and for married couples making more than $198,000.
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Individuals whose previous income makes them ineligible but who have recently lost their job are not currently eligible to receive the payment. These individuals should be eligible for the expanded unemployment benefits.
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Any adult who is claimed as a dependent is ineligible to receive a payment. This is often the case for college students.
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A valid Social Security number (SSN) is required to be eligible. If a spouse or a child uses an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) instead of a SSN, the entire family is ineligible for the payment. There is an exception for members of the military.
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Payments are based on either your 2018 or 2019 tax filings. People who receive Social Security benefits but don’t file a tax return are still eligible.
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Expansion of unemployment benefits
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$260 billion is directed to expand unemployment insurance programs.
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New job seekers and workers who are able to continue working from home are not covered.
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It also expands unemployment insurance to cover those who are self-employed, freelancers, and “gig economy” workers.
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The CARES Act extends unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks, allowing individuals to receive benefits for up to 39 weeks in Massachusetts.
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Federal benefits will increase $600 per week through July 2020. This is in addition to the Massachusetts weekly benefit maximum of $823. Massachusetts is waiting on guidelines for distributing these funds. More information will be available on the State’s COVID-19 unemployment page.
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Health Coverage
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Private insurance plans are required to cover COVID-19 treatments and vaccination when it becomes available.
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All COVID-19 tests are free.
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Student Loan Relief & Work Study Expansion
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All federal loan and interest payments are deferred through September 30, 2020, without penalty.
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The package allows schools to convert work-study funds to grants and to continue to pay work-study wages while school is suspended. Check with your school to see if you are still eligible for work-study.
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Unemployment Resources from the State and the general Department of Unemployment website
WorkShare The State’s Office of Workforce and Labor offers a program allowing businesses to reduce the hours of permanent full-time and part-time employees between 10% to 60% with the remainder of hours being made up with Unemployment Assistance. This can help prevent layoffs and keep workers employed without undue hardship on a business. You can apply here, or get more information from the State’s Rapid Response staff by emailing charles.bennett@state.ma.us or calling (617) 620-4965. The City will continue to make more information on unemployment assistance available in the coming days.
MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES
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podcast series on managing our minds in the face of this unprecedented situation. If you don't do anything else, please listen to at least part of this. https://unfuckyourbrain.com/pandemic-panic/
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An article on creating structure in crisis: https://www.rookiemag.com/2015/04/structuring-life-with-depression/
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Article on work-home productivity: https://newrepublic.com/article/156929/work-home-productivity-coronavirus-pandemic
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, “In the context of health and ecology, things that grow unchecked are often considered parasitic or cancerous. Yet we inhabit a culture that privileges novelty and growth over the cyclical and the regenerative.”
And some ideas for what to do when you put your phone down.