The County Council on Tuesday unanimously approved four special appropriations totaling about $30 million to support continuing programs providing pandemic-related assistance to county residents.
The appropriations include:
- $12.8 million for the Montgomery County Food Security Fund “to purchase bulk foods, including fresh produce, and support logistical and marketing operations, including call center support, online platforms, and communications/direct outreach to vulnerable populations,” according to the staff report. The county expects to seek reimbursement from FEMA for these funds
- $4.6. million for the Por Nuestra Salud y Bienestar (For Our Health and Wellbeing) initiative of the Latino Health Steering Committee “in response to the disproportionately high number of cases of COVID-19 in the Latino community . . .includes outreach and education, testing and contact tracing, clinical follow-up and a ‘hospital at home’ support effort, case management, and mental health support,“ and
- $3.3 million for the African American Health Program Executive Committee Targeted COVID Response, including “targeted testing, contact tracing, outreach and education, distribution of COVID kits, mental health supports (including specific outreach about domestic violence), food delivery, and data collection for ongoing analysis and evaluation.” The county expects to seek reimbursement from FEMA for testing and contract tracing, according the staff report.
The three special appropriations are part of a package forwarded from County Executive Marc Elrich to the council for approval.
In addition, the council appropriated $9.9 million in federal CARES funding to the Montgomery County Government Federal Coronavirus Relief Fund to provide additional funding for a number of other current programs.
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