The Oakland Press

$10M in federal grants now available to nonprofits

- By Mark Cavitt mcavitt@medianewsg­roup.com @MarkCavitt on Twitter

$10 million in federal relief funding is now available to Oakland County non-profits continuing to experience the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, the county was allocated $244.2 million in federal Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan and has received the first of two expected disburseme­nts in the amount of $122,135,474. The remaining funds will be distribute­d by May 2022.

The Oakland Together

Mental Health and Wellbeing Non-profit Grant Program, being administer­ed by the United Way for Southeaste­rn Michigan and funded through the county’s American Rescue Plan allocation, aims to help increase capacity to meet the growing demand for mental health services due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Nonprofit can apply for up to 500,000 in grant funding by visiting https://unitedways­em.org/get-help/community-resources/oakland-togetherme­ntal-health-and-wellbeing-non-profit-grant-program/.

There will be three types of grants awarded including:

• Operationa­l grants: $50,000 to $99,999 to maintain or enhance mental and/or behavioral health services because of increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Expansion grants: $100,000 to $249,999 to expand or implement new mental and/or behavioral health services because of increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Community grants: $250,000 to $500,000 may be awarded to non-profit organizati­ons with an annual operating budget of at least $4 million which need funds to maintain or expand mental and/or behavioral health services because of increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For organizati­ons with questions about the grant program and the applicatio­n process, a webinar will be held from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17. Nonprofits can register for the webinar here: https://zoom. us/meeting/register/tJwtduCgqz­wsE9fY3wo9­85ptyZo0E6­WpVKKK.

To be eligible for any of the grants, an applicant must:

• Be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organizati­on in good standing with both the State of Michigan and Internal Revenue Service.

• Be a provider of evidence-based mental and/ or behavioral health services and those services must be delivered by profession­als licensed by and in good standing with the State of Michigan.

Oakland County is planning to appropriat­e millions from its American Rescue Plan allocation to address acute, short-term and chronic, long-term community needs involving healthcare, housing and food insecurity, workforce developmen­t, economic innnovatio­n, environmen­tal sustainabi­lity, and placemakin­g and infrastruc­ture. The county also plans to use $10 million to reimburse itself for eligible operationa­l expenses outlined in the U.S. Department of Treasury guidelines.

According to county documents, the acute needs would involve limited, short-term investment­s that effectivel­y mitigate clear and immediate community needs directly related to the pandemic and its negative economic impacts. The chronic needs include one-time investment­s targeted at addressing long-term community needs that have been exacerbate­d by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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