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Austin Weekly News • August 19, 2020
AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2020 QUARTER 3
ACT COVID-19 Response Highlights In order to ensure that the social services essential to Austin are able to survive, ACT has created a COVID-19 Response Strategy to support the community in four ways: Advocacy, Communication, Resource Development, and Resource Deployment. Here are a selection of updates on the progress we have made.
Up to 100 volunteers are needed to host each of the Pop-Up Food Pantry events in Austin.
ADVOCACY
ACT voices the needs of the key agencies that make up Austin’s support infrastructure, from education resources to social block clubs and nonprofits.
$550,000 was the total amount granted from the Chicago COVID-19 Response
Fund directly to ACT member organizations to best serve Austin residents. Originally only expected to be $25,000, ACT’s advocacy in conversations with United Way of Metro Chicago and the City made the case for increased support for Austin.
COMMUNICATION ACT leverages all communication channels to disperse accurate, helpful information, and to provide updates on our progress in order to uphold ACT’s core value of transparency. Hundreds of residents from in or nearby Chicago’s Austin neighborhood participated in a virtual town hall meeting on April 25, 2020. Experts shared up-to-date information about the impact of COVID-19 in our community, highlighted key resources, and discussed the best ways to protect yourself and your family. The RERRT supported ACT in hosting this event, which streamed live on ACT’s Facebook page.
$50k went to each of these members:
$25k went to each of these members:
ACT transformed their weekly Activities in Austin email to be solely about COVID-19 relief opportunities. The email lists resources for families, businesses, and nonprofits, as well as job openings, and ideas of ways to help.
Subscribe to ACT’s emails at
AUSTINCOMINGTOGETHER.ORG
RESOURCE DEPLOYMENT ACT creatively solves problems through collaboration with our partners to determine the best ways to get essential resources to Austin residents wherever they may be. ACT was able to support families by connecting them to:
50K
Masks Distributed
600K+
Pounds of food distributed
500
Laptops Distributed
5
COVID-19 Testing Sites
$140K
in Direct Financial Assistance to Families
