Besides providing food for people who have no current income, the program is also building bridges, both among activists in sister social justice organizations and between communities. But our means are limited, so we make ongoing efforts to identify other emergency food and resource programs, like Ulster County’s Project Resilience and school district lunch programs, and we help our immigrant friends connect to them.
Entirely an effort of volunteers, UIDN’s Household Support program depends on a growing fund of dollars and in-kind donations. In all of 2019, we spent $14,200 on food and hygiene goods. We spent more than half of that amount — $7,300 — in just the first 14 weeks of 2020. And the need for help is still increasing as jobs disappear, while Project Resilience and school district lunches move toward termination in the late spring.
Addressing Housing Issues
Housing insecurity ballooned, so we greatly expanded rental assistance. Jobs may disappear, but rent does not. UIDN’s existing program of direct rent support increased more than five-fold from January to April, and May expenses already exceed those for April. The Governor’s deferred rent policy helps temporarily, but ultimately, unmanageable bills will come due. We therefore took a new direction: UIDN negotiated with landlords and utilities, offering payments up front if they accept reduced payments from families with well-documented needs. As we write this UPDATE, those negotiations have served 71 families.
Digging into the Digital Divide
We worked to bridge the “digital divide” to inform many families of county and local resources. County government, school systems, and many other agencies have been conscientious in posting critically needed COVID-19 information in Spanish as well as English, but many immigrants in Ulster County are refugees from Guatemala who speak native languages other than Spanish, and even many Spanish speakers do not have access to television or the internet. Since March, UIDN has brought critical information about safety and services to our immigrant friends, and has worked with the Kingston School District to ensure that children in homes without internet are included in access to distance learning. Together, we pressed Spectrum to recognize that problem and find a solution.