Baltimore County, MD COVID-19 Baltimore County Small Business Emergency Relief Grant Fund Program, 26 Aug 2020

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From YouTube: The Evolving Role of Non Profits and the Federal Government in the COVID 19 Response

Description

In the ever-changing COVID-19 landscape, the non-profit sector has stepped up to supplement government resources, helping to ensure that people have access to food, housing support and other critical community services. Given the increasing uncertainties around federal and state programs and policies, these next few months threaten to deliver unprecedented levels of financial hardship to families in our region.
This webinar offers a glimpse of what lies ahead, with expert economic and policy forecasts and an analysis of local data trends to help inform decision-making. Community leaders will offer a view from the field, detailing what service providers are seeing, how they’re responding, and identifying the critical gaps. This session features policy updates by Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin

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I wanna welcome all of you again, we're honored to have such a diverse panel of leaders.

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I'll provide a more detailed introduction of each panelist as we move forward,, followed by their individual comments.

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And then we're gonna save as much time as we can for question and answers with a combination of questions.

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We received in advance and ones that can be submitted during the event.

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So speaking, of, don't be shy, type. Any questions you have.

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Into the chat feature on your screen,, you can open chat by clicking on that little icon at the bottom. That looks like a cartoon bubble., since we only have 60 minutes for the discussion,, I'm told my other role is to keep the time moving,.

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So that we get through everything we want to talk, about.

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So if you don't mind, we're gonna get started with remarks from our county executive., along with his leadership team,, the ce is been working around the clock to support baltimore county residents through the covid-19 crisis,, while continuing to do the business of moving the county forward..

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I know the ce is both grateful and proud of. The support of federal delegation and community partners have provided.

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To help meet the needs of our residents., so mr. county executive,, we would love for you to kick off our discussion.

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Right, thank you, terry., really appreciate that.. I wanna thank you and your team for organizing this webinar.

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And for bringing everyone together for this discussion., I also wanna recognize leaders you already mentioned on this panel,, including our great senator ben cardin,,.

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Who has been working tirelessly to help bring resources back.

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From washington, to us and baltimore, county, and frankly, to all the jurisdictions of the state.

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Senator cardin has been so committed to helping us that when the cares act, passed, his staff literally hand delivered our application in washington to ensure that it was received and processed.

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So thank you,, senator cardin, for your leadership,, as well as the other leaders in this panel who are doing incredible work around the region.

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And the state. I wanna thank all of you who are listening, in, to make time to be here.. Thank you for everything you have done and are doing to support our communities during this unprecedented crisis..

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Since the beginning of the crisis and of this pandemic,.

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Our administration has made it a priority to grow and expand our work with the nonprofit community.

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And now we've gotten to a point where our relationship with the nonprofit communities become an essential part.

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Of all that we do., we know it's up ended the way we live our lives for residents,, nonprofits and government alike..

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So when covid-19 hit,, we took an all hands on deck approach,.

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To support our residents and manage the public health response., we began reaching out to nonprofit in the community to figure out how we can work together to improve the lives of our residents and wanna. Thank all the nonprofit,.

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The community partners who quickly jumped into action.

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They just been an incredible resource and partner and asset for the county and our residents.

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Together, we're making sure that we have our residents.

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Meet their basic needs like food and shelter, and our nonprofits are playing such a critical role to ensure that need is met..

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You've been able to rapidly scale up countywide food distribution,, connect more residents to benefits and do more to help our residents with things like eviction prevention., with the help of the maryland food bank and other nonprofits in partnership with our school system,, we've delivered almost 5 million meals to residents.

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We're doing food distribution six days, a week, to every corner of the county. and it just wouldn't be possible without the nonprofit community,. The national guard and bcps.

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With so many residents facing evictions and hardships,, we wanna provide a bridge to those who need it..

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So with terry's leadership and his team,, we created an eviction prevention program to help those who are struggling. and we're also working with the fair housing action center to provide financial, coaching and counseling.

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For those who need it. so we're doing the basic needs,, but we're also managing a health crisis, doing things like getting more ppe's for first responders.

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We set up a covid-19 emergency fund,, where we've tapped in to the philanthropic community for about over $400,000 for nonprofits,.

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In addition to groceries for those food, insecure families, who are partnering with nonprofits., we've also partnered with nonprofits, to streamline some of our services and make more resources. Available.

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a few weeks ago,, we announced a new partnership with the cash campaign,, where our residents call 311.

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To schedule a free benefits screening for over 20 different programs., so it's all about making it easier or working around the clock..

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We know that even more needs to be done., so we're expanding our outreach efforts to coordinate with,.

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For example,, our immigrant community partners., we wanna partner with all of you to make sure we're filling the gaps and providing services..

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So we're thankful that baltimore county is home to so many dedicated community partners who are stepping up and helping meet the need..

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This is an unprecedented crisis,, but we are- and we will get through this together. so again, thanks to everyone for your work, to improve the lives of our residents.

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and thanks again to our incredible group of panelists, who are great partners, doing great work out. There.

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Op, you made me, sorry. (laughs).

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That was a great introduction,. I loved it. (laughs).

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I do something,, what would it be without a technical, glitch?

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thank you,, mr. county executive and next we are gonna, hear.

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From the honorable ben cardin., senator cardin has proudly represented maryland in the united states senate since 2006.

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before that,, serving nearly 20 years in the us house of representatives,.

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A third generation marylander, senator cardin knows firsthand how covid has affected baltimore county residents, businesses and community partners.

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senator cardin, and our congressional delegation have helped to secure federal covid funding for baltimore county's fire department to purchase ppe.

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For over $422,000 for maryland, legal aid.

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And over 200 million for maryland, schools.

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As maryland's senior senator, he's a tireless federal advocate.

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For county residents and the nonprofits that serve as the foundation of our local safety net.

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welcome, senator cardin.

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Well, terry, thank you for the introduction. and thank you for what you're doing. and to the county executive. As I said to you before, we got started,, I'm a proud resident of baltimore county..

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Thank you for your incredible leadership. During covid-19.

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Your messaging has been clear,, your actions have been decisive,, you have saved lives in baltimore county and you have energized all of us, whether it is your government partners or whether it's a nonprofit community..

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So I'm very proud of your leadership.. I think it's been a model for other regions of our country.

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To follow your example., so thank you for that commitment to the people of baltimore county.. I wanna make a few points, and that is the nonprofit community is critically important.

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For those of us in government and carrying out our mission.

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That was true before covid-19 became even clearer during covid-19., but the most important thing we can do to help our nonprofit community,, the most important thing we can do to help the people of our community, to help our economy.

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Is get this virus under control,.

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To listen to our public health experts,.

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To follow the right recommendations in regards.

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To what we need to do when distancing, wearing a mask and testing, et cetera.

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and we've had that leadership in baltimore county., but that's the most important thing we can do is to get that done. and I am very disappointed,.

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We've seen the inconsistent messaging coming out of washington,, the lack of preparation and the list goes on and on and on,, not making ppe available, not having enough for testing,.

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Et cetera,, which has made baltimore county's job more difficult., it's made the nonprofit sector more challenging., and so I just really wanna start with that.

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secondly,. We need to help and congress did the right thing.

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When it passed the cares act..

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It recognized that for us to deal with this pandemic,.

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We have to do a marshall plan response.

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To the pandemic itself, through public health capacity.

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In our health care providers- and we provided that in the cares act., we have to help state and local government, and we did that in the cares act..

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We have to help individual families and we did that during the cares act by providing refund checks and providing unemployment insurance..

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We did all that and we have to help our businesses and we pass extraordinary measures to help all businesses.

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Under the paycheck protection program for small businesses.

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I'm the ranking democrat on the small business committee.- I'm one of the architects of that program..

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My top priority was to make sure nonprofits.

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Could qualify under the ppp program and they did.

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We were able to get them help on their payroll.

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For eight weeks and some other expenses.

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and many nonprofits took advantage of that and that helped them., but you see,. When we passed the cares act,, we thought that this pandemic would be behind us by the summer,. We didn't anticipate.

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That it would be a continuing problem into the fall.

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And that's why in mid may,, when that became apparent,.

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The house of representatives passed the heroes act.

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To provide the next round of help for state and local governments for our community.

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'cause, we recognize for all of our stakeholders,, including our nonprofit community,, that you need to have partners,. You can't do everything for our community on housing.

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And healthcare and education and food.

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you work in partnership with the other stakeholders and governments. A critical partner,, but government revenues have been decimated.

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In baltimore county look: what's happened to the income tax revenues with so many people, unemployed,.

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What's happened at the state level with the sales tax revenues with people staying at home,.

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What's happened of sorts to hotel taxes and car rentals.

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And things like that produce the revenue, all decimated.

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So we need to help our state and local partners.

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That's in the heroes act to provide substantial help,.

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To baltimore county and the jurisdictions of maryland and the state of maryland, about 15 billion in total over the next two fiscal year,, the state and local governments,. But we need to do more.

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We got to help families buy unemployment, insurance.

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Otherwise,, where does families get the money.

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To pay their basic needs?, we have the nonprofit community,, god bless you,, but you're being stretched right now, because your resources are being tapped.

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and quite frankly,. Your demand is much, much greater.

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And then what happens to protection against foreclosure.

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Or eviction that expired?

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the heroes act provides a significant help for renters.

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And homeowners to protect against eviction and foreclosure 'cause, it's the right thing to do for our community,.

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It's the right thing to do, for the banks and for the landlords,, but it also provides us relief.

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From people being out in the streets that put more pressure on the nonprofit community and government community- and they don't have the capacity to deal with it., that's all in the heroes act., I could go through the entire list of all the different programs that are included,, including nutrition programs,, including the postal service,.

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Including election issues,, including our schools,,.

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All providing help.

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the bill should have been enacted in may.

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Senate's now, in recess, until september.

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We need to take up the heroes act in the senate and pass it.

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We can have a full partnership.

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And yes, there's the next round of help for our business community,. The next round of small business relief., I'm gonna tell you, senator rubio, republican chairman of the committee,, I'm a ranking democrat on the committee,.

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Will give you a bill within 15 minutes once we were allowed to bring it to the floor., we'll work together in a bipartisan manner to help small businesses and help nonprofits.

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But we gotta get the bill on the floor and mitch mcconnell need to bring it up, 'cause to date, he's not doing that.. So my message is pretty clear.

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Thank god,. We have the nonprofit capacity in baltimore county in the state of maryland,. You do incredible service to the people of our community.

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We all gotta be strong to get through this.

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And we have to provide the resources we need for the county, services,, the state services,, the nonprofit community and the private sector., and we're working through that as your federal delegation, get these issues before the united states. Senate.

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Thank you, senator.. That's a some some really important insight,, particularly about the importance of government and nonprofits working together..

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So, let's shift a bit from federal to state and local perspective.

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we're joined by the distinguished economist, dr. darius irani., as the vice president of strategic partnerships in applied research at towson university,, dr. irani fosters the development, a strategic collaboration.

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Between business, government and educational institutions.

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That contribute to the economic vitality of the greater baltimore region. additionally,, dr. irani, serves as chief economist for the regional economic studies institute at towson university,, a policy group providing economic, fiscal impact and policy analysis.

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To state agencies,, nonprofit organizations and private sector firms., dr. irani,, I think data and the ability to make decisions.

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Based on real time, information is so critical in this time.

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And something that our county executive and leadership team have turned to time and time again.

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we're so glad you can be with us today to share this unique perspective on your analysis of the situation. welcome.

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Thank you, terry. thank you, honorable senator and county executive, olszewski.

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It's a great honor to be here..

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I'm an economist.. I've had the good fortune of studying.

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Of these many business downturns and we are facing unprecedented and economic challenges,.

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Of historical proportions., I mean this goes back to the great depression.

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The challenge really is that this is of a pandemic in nature.

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Unlike the past recessions, where it was an asset bubble, bursting, overpriced, housing.,.

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This is one in which the federal government,, the state government, local government, said, hey,. We need to shut down businesses until we can get this virus under control..

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We need to start wearing face. Masks. we need do physical distancing,. We need to do testing,.

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We need to get ppes, all these things sort of shut down our businesses,, which were exactly the right thing to do., but we needed stronger, consistent policy from our federal government to make sure these were affective. unfortunately,. We have sort of, slacked off on this.

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And you can sort of see around the country.

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Federal government needs to take an active role. As senator cardin has indicated,. We need to be supporting unemployed individuals,. We need to be supporting businesses, households,.

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State local governments,, just by not funding.

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The extra $600 a week, we're taking $50 billion out of the economy every month for households.

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That would spend that money back into the economy., so households who are out of work would immediately take that money and spend it back, buying groceries,, paying rent, all those good things..

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So this is critical.. I cannot emphasize how critical it is for us to get something passed to help our economy. Recover.

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This is a role the federal government needs to play.

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just to put into perspective, our gdp declined by 32%,.

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Annualized last quarter,, our investment is down by 49% annualized.

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We have only 5 million job openings, yet there are 20 million individuals, unemployed., there's a 15 million job opening gap..

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We have over a million unemployed cleanses this past week,.

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Compared to,, this is so off the charts in the worst days.

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Of the great recession, we have about 685,000 claims per week.

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1.1 million is considered to be a little bit high compared to what it was before,, but compared to the 12 million we had in weeks. Prior.

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Well, maryland, we've been hit hard., our first quarter. Gross state product was down about 5.1%.

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Now we will lag the national data.

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We saw that unemployment numbers were 7.6% unemployed,.

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54,000 new jobs., but remember,. We also have 200,000 continuous claims,.

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Compared to just under 50,000, pre covid.

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We have economist that have done some long term forecasting and looked at maryland and over the next three years,.

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We are predicting that about 200,000 jobs will be lost.

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Now gradually, we'll call those back on about $25 billion.

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Lost in gross state product over the next two years.

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So there are some unprecedented challenges..

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I fully endorsed that we need, as an economy,.

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Federal government intervention,: this is the time when the federal government needs to spend money supporting our small businesses,.

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Our unemployed, workers, or state local governments.

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Who again, are coming into this crisis already challenged.

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And now this crisis has put extra pressure on their budgets,.

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Which means that next year or the year after, they're gonna have to make some harder, decisions. and again,. This crisis was caused by a health situation.

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This is exactly the role the federal government to play in this and sort of help prop our economy up and guide us through this calamity.

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And thank you very much..

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Thank you,, dr. irani.. Let's continue with this theme and let's continue to drill in locally.

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I like to introduce you now to one of our local experts, momen abukhdeir,, who is baltimore county's.

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First chief data and performance officer, leads the administration's data driven good government initiatives,, including the implementation of baltimore, county's, first countywide performance management program and open data, initiative.

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momen and his bc staff team have been integral to the county executive, covid response,, providing access to real time, information that has enabled data informed decisions to protect and support county residents., and I think how we dig into this data is gonna, be critical.

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To how we address what's coming ahead., so momen, welcome.

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Thank you. again,. I don't really need to introduce myself any more than that.. Thank you for that. Introduction.

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Really, the purpose of bc, stat,.

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If you could start the powerpoint, please., but the purpose of bc stat in this specific areas,.

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To pretty much bring data to any area.

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Where decisions are occurring. and the county executive stressed that, since the beginning of this program- and we focused a lot on departments and specific priority, areas, such as opioids.

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And the opioid crisis.

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and then, like all of you and the most of you,, we had to sort of pivot towards the covid-19 response.

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And so what we did is we switch gears.

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And we provided data analytical support to a lot of various groups within local government.

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We supported the emergency operations center.

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With the senior staff,, the county, executive,, the health department,, the communicable disease program,.

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Food distribution task force and the individual and family benefits and engagement workgroup.

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next slide, please.. So I wanted to go through some of the ways that we sort of did this, provided the support, so we started off by really creating real time data dashboards for our emergency operation. Center..

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We looked at various different data points and one of our hardest tasks was deciding what data was worth tracking and how to track. It,.

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Whether it was partnering with the it department and having an ad-hoc database, that was for that one specific purpose or just getting a bunch of different spreadsheets that we had to consolidate and create into different visualizations for our eoc.

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So, just running through really quickly some of the data, different dashboards that we had, we had the county, covid-19 data,, which was obviously the cases of the deaths, the locations of where things were occurring..

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We had meal distribution data,.

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We acted as a central repository for all of the various different food distribution that was occurring in the county and we put it in one consolidated dashboard..

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We tracked all the ppe inventory within the county.

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We looked at the health hotline, calls that were coming in,.

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We helped the social distancing task, force,.

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Where we partnered actually with the university of maryland transportation institute and got some mobility data.

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To be able to be a little bit proactive with our enforcement,, especially with masks and social distancing.

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Next slide, please., we also looked at pretty much one of the things.

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I skipped over there, was we looked at sort of the stress on our normal day to day operations in our first responders.

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So we looked at the number of calls coming in for police fire ems during this pandemic, to make sure that we were able to sort of handle.

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Any sort of overload to the system. we also looked at, obviously, and what we're showing here.

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Is we consolidated all of those various different dashboards.

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Into a dashboard of dashboards,, a summarized dashboard.

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I know it's blank,, because a lot of this data is confidential,, but this is part of,. It gives you a general sense.

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Of the information that the county executive and the senior team and the eoc and the health department are looking at on two to three times a week,.

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And can have access to on any given day or any given time.

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So we look at the number of new cases that are added.

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Cumulative cases we look at the seven day average for deaths. seven day confirm case average,.

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We look at the percentage of deaths related to long term care facilities., and this is a really surprising number,, but a lot of people don't know that.

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about 80% of our deaths are related to long term care facilities,, whether it's nursing homes, assisted living facilities, et cetera..

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We look at the number of days where we've had decreased hospitalizations or ventilator utilization hospitals, our search capacity.

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Or inventory days remaining for the majority of our important ppe items,, whether they're gloves, surgical, masks and n95 masks.

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next slide, please..

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We also look at the number of occupied icu beds,.

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We look at the number of ventilators in use,. We try to predict different ways...

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We try to predict whether or not we're gonna have an influx of cases by patients under investigation.

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Being transported by our ems department to hospitals from both in general, the community and then also long term care facilities., we look at obviously our positivity rate.

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again, inventory levels, the number of employees that are teleworking,. We look at the number of our staff that are either in isolation, quarantine,, especially regarding our first responders.

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and then we at the very bottom look at some social indicators such as snap, applications,.

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Unemployment claims and meals distributed.

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next slide, please..

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So I wanted to show just a couple of slides on how we drove into this data.

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and again,. So we have so that those first two slides that I showed and then we have some graphs and again,.

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This is just a population tested, we've had 21.5% of our population tested and our positivity rate currently sits around 3.6%.

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Next slide, please., we look at again, the hospitalizations for covid-19 patients., and we break this down even further by the various different hospitals..

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So we know when there's an uptick, which hospital, which area, et cetera., we continue to track this and again,. This was very instrumental in deciding, for the county executive and his team, deciding for when to reopen and whatnot.

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next slide, please.

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and then five we slice and dice the data. In so many different ways. We looked at, for example,.

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This is the age distribution of cases in blue and then also deaths,, which are in red, by month since the beginning of this pandemic,, and you can actually see how it sort of skews to the left.

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To the younger populations as the pandemic sort of progressed.- and you see all the way in august, where the largest age group is actually the 18 year old age group.

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and again,. This is very important because we continue to track this, as schools are reopening and whatnot.

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next slide, please.. So we also support again,. This is the health department.

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What we did is we spatially analyze a lot of these different clusters of the identified hotspots.

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And that actually informed where we distributed a lot of our safety kits.. We also identified areas where we thought the testing centers should be based on the cases.

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Next slide, please.

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With food distribution,, we identified areas that we thought were the most food insecure based on their mileage to the closest grocery store..

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Next slide, please.

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And in the interest of time, for the benefit engagement work that we did, we've been working very closely with terry and his team to try to come up with eviction projections to see sort of what the district court filings will be.

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For failure to pay rent. and and we're trying our best to sort of project that, based on various different other variables., we're looking also,. We obviously don't want it to get to this point,, but we're still looking and trying to be as prepared as possible by looking at the demand at our shelters.

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And the capacity of our shelters in the event.

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That a lot of individuals do become homeless.

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and again,. We're looking at all of this data to help inform the decisions that are made.

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Within this administration., I believe that that concludes my presentation.

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Oh, sorry,, I just wanted to add one last thing..

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If you do want access to some of the data,, we do have a public facing dashboard. That's available at that link where you can get some of the data that I have mentioned.

E

A

Great,, thank you. Momen..

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I'm gonna go psa now because I hear that our chat room.

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Is not filling up., so if you're struck by anything you wanna get first in line.

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For a question that we can address during q&a,, just please click open your chat box and put it in there and we will get it out to the panel..

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So moving on,, we're gonna finish with two nonprofit leaders.

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With the idea being to get a real sense of what's going on out there. and then in the q&a and discussion, try to blend all of this together during a conversation.

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Up next is a friend, colleague and dedicated servant. Leader,.

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Mitch, posner. mitch has served as the executive director of the community action network,, also known, as can since april 2019.

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This long standing county based organization operates two of the largest shelters in the county, as well as transitional and permanent supportive housing,.

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Food pantries and a number of additional critical services.

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Mitch,, I know your teams are out there working every day.

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In the field, and you've got one of the best clear, sights.

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Of vision of, what's going on., so we're eager to hear your thoughts and observations.

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F

Yeah, thank you, terry.. Thank you! So much., I'm really honored and pleased to be here to represent our clients., our incredible staff of essential workers..

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We heard that term a lot earlier in the pandemic, but can has not closed for one minute since the pandemic started and our staffs been on the front line..

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So yes,, I bring you observations from what we see here.

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Every minute of every day, in the areas you described.

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I wanna to start though, by acknowledging and reinforcing.

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What both the county, executive and senator cardin had to say earlier on..

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First of all, I wanna directly. Thank you terry and your team,.

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Dr. branch who you've worked with, as relates to the safety of our residents and guests at the shelters.

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And the staff at the shelters., everybody should know that baltimore county immediately helped us relocate,.

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I think it was 60 or 62 people who were in the shelters.

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Who were at most of risk due to age or underlying health conditions in hotels.?

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And so then subsequently, we've been working to move people.

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Out of the shelters into permanent independent housing, with the help of the county.

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So actually, we've helped 78 people, guests of our shelters.

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Move into permanent independent housing in the cross, winds of this pandemic.

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And also I've been working with elizabeth sachs.

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And her team, the emergency food task force that the county executive stood up immediately and I am overwhelmingly impressed by the ability.

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Of the county to get up and running these distribution centers that have,, as I think that ce said earlier, have fed over 5 million meals to people in the county.

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And senator,, I just want you to know that the financial aid.

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That came through and all the different programs that you mentioned, earlier, has absolutely, positively helped can directly and indirectly,.

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So, first of all, we for one are recipient of a ppp loan,.

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Which helped us keep our staff fully employed and funding some other things that we're doing.

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With the unemployment insurance benefits and the 1200 dollar checks, and all of that, that's totally kept our clients solvent and with the ability, at least to make choices of which bills to pay,. It's still not enough to pay all their bills,.

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But at least they've been able to make some dignified choices.

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And so I could go on, but let me tell you as terry said,.

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Can runs very large, homeless shelters,, we run the largest food pantry in baltimore county,, at least compared to 200, partners of the maryland food bank.

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That exists in baltimore county..

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We have a transitional housing unit for men, women and children.. We have 27 units of permanent, supportive housing.

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We are one of if not the largest eviction prevention, funding, source and or helping source.

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In the county, again,, thanks to partnerships with baltimore county government., and we have five outreach centers across the county that help people with budget counseling,.

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Applying for benefits such as food stamps or snap and so forth., so we very much sit in the intersection of the 2020 storm,.

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The perfect storm,, if you will,, of all the different winds about the historic persistent,.

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Economic, racial inequities in our economic system.

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And now, where they are meeting the terrible impact of covid-19.

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That being said,, let me start by just telling you a little bit about what we've done by reading you, an email that I received last sunday, evening.

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My name is abigail and I reside in parkville, maryland. 21234.

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I'm laid off due to covid-19.

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and I'm currently struggling to make ends meet.

F

I need help with my rent and food as I am buried under debts.

F

And insufficient funds to help sustain., I'm in need of help.. I won't be able to make rent next month and I still haven't paid this month's rent fully and had to drop my fall semester classes because I can't pay my tuition..

F

Is there an application? I can submit, please.

F

So my great team jumped on this and we are very much.

F

In the process of helping abigail pay, her.

F

It will actually be her september rent,, but I wanted you to know that she is one of 125 households.

F

That we are helping avoid evictions. So far since march 9th.

F

We're at about 125 households that we have helped avoid evictions.

F

I think I've mentioned earlier: we've helped 78 of our guests at our shelter, move into permanent, independent housing.. So that's been a huge success for us.

F

And to dramatize the food insecurity issue.

F

So our pantry is open five days a week, five hours, a day.

F

In the course of time, since march, 9th, up to last friday,.

F

We'd seen 3300 people come to our doors.

F

And we've provided over 207,000 meals worth of food.

F

Through our food pantry. now, none of this could be possible without the partnership that we have with baltimore county,, the state of maryland and the federal funders of our csbg funds and other sources.

F

But it clearly,, I feel, like I'm staring,,.

F

I'm getting close to the cliff staring at an abyss because, as all these cares act, funding sources.

F

Come to a close both for the individuals, who've been receiving benefits and for the county government,. My understanding is, I must spend those funds by december 31.

F

So come this winter as more people get further behind.

F

In their rents and we're seeing, people are talking to us who are three, four or five months behind in rent.

F

We're seeing people who absolutely don't have enough food to put on the table and think about the holidays. Coming up,, thanksgiving, christmas,, new year's et cetera.

F

And then we look at heating, bills, utility bills, beginning to be increased as the winter sets in.

F

And that's a huge need: that's been unaddressed., so all of that, when you combine that with the lack of jobs,.

F

As was reported, earlier,, the deficit in jobs.

F

And even if you have a job,, the childcare challenges.

F

That we know are very real for our clients.

F

I think it's really looking rather bleak in the months.

F

And maybe year ahead., so we would appreciate and value and benefit.

F

From any and all partnerships, any and all funding sources.

F

Because I can't imagine there'll be enough, no matter how much might be forthcoming.

F

A

Thanks, mitch., it's a sobering picture,, one that we know.

A

And we experience every day but to hear it in one place, bring some reality.. Let's continue with that.

A

building on that unique practitioner. Perspective, we're now gonna hear from another colleague, renae davis.

A

As supervising attorney at the maryland legal aid, bureau,.

A

Renae works alongside community advocates and promotes the involvement of maryland legal aids,, baltimore county office and community outreach activities.

A

In these challenging times, maryland, legal aid continues to be the largest provider of free direct legal services.

A

In maryland, a dedicated nonprofit serving.

A

Specifically, county residents delivering civil legal services to low income folks, all across the state. renae welcome.

G

Was muted, again. there you are.

G

once again,. Thank you for having me here.

G

Again, just piggybacking off of what mr. posner said,.

G

Maryland legal aid has been in the trenches since the beginning of this pandemic..

G

We provide free legal services to low income people.

G

In the state of maryland,, where we are a statewide private, nonprofit law, firm.

G

And we provide free civil legal services.

G

Throughout the state to 23 different counties., we have 12 offices located statewide.

G

During this pandemic, we never closed, we always remained open,. Our buildings were closed,, but we were consistently working with our clients.

G

Via telephone and also online., so our goal was to always remain in the trenches.

G

With the residents of baltimore county,.

G

The type of legal services that we provide assistance, with,.

G

Specifically housing, family law,, consumer,.

G

Government benefits, unemployment, health, care,.

G

Are those necessities that we're speaking of today.

G

That a lot of our residents in baltimore county.

G

Have been impacted by this pandemic.

G

This pandemic has impacted these benefits.

G

One of the things we have been seeing since the pandemic.

G

Is an increase of assistance being sought for evictions,.

G

Housing, landlord tenant, issues, assistance with receiving.

G

Unemployment benefits and also health care.

G

One of the things that we've found is that.

G

Even though eviction prevention funding is available,.

G

It's a limited amount. and so we're kind of the office of last resort,.

G

When mr. posner cannot help those clients.

G

That have fell behind with their rent, because it's so much.

G

They come to us because they're facing evictions.

G

Luckily, that the moratorium has the executive order.

G

Through the government has prevented the evictions., but as we're all aware, as of july 25,,.

G

That executive order, expired.

G

and so we're expecting a trickling effect.

G

Of evictions increasing over time.

G

As the courts face into different dockets.

G

And so our goal is to make sure that we partner.

G

With as many nonprofits in baltimore county.

G

So that they are aware that we're here.

G

So when you're unable to provide any assistance.

G

Via financially, food or assistance with application.

G

For staff, also unemployment that we're available.

G

To be advocates for the residents of baltimore county.

G

One of the things that we're finding as we progress in this pandemic is that tenants.

G

Are now beginning to be harassed by landlords.

G

Landlords are now contacting us regarding bankruptcies.

G

Because they're facing foreclosures.

G

also, we're seeing that there's delays in receiving unemployment, benefits., and so we have to, on behalf of the clients, try to see if we can expedite that., you have overlap..

G

A lot of the clients are coming to us with two and three problems,, it's layered..

G

So one of the things. I hope that we can continue to do,, which we have been doing with the county.

G

Is create this holistic type of system.

G

Where we continue to partner together so that we can triage these issues, that our residents are facing, and streamline that process,.

G

Because it's gonna take all of us working together,.

G

To make sure our residents in baltimore county is assisted.

G

And help as much as possible, as we can.

G

Another thing that I think is important that we think about is also...

G

And I believe that the onus is on us.

G

To make these resources that we're talking about accessable to the residents and to make them aware.

G

That it is out there and that it's available to them., so our goal at maryland, legal aid is to continue.

G

To let the residents know in baltimore county.

G

That we're here, we're gonna, be here..

G

Our doors opened on july 27, to our physical building, for them to walk in.

G

And the reason we did, that was because.

G

We thought it was important that we open our doors for walk. Ins, is because everyone doesn't have accessable ability to technology..

G

Everyone doesn't have accessibility to a computer, specially with the libraries being close and also telephones.. A lot of our clients are using government issued phones., and so they have limited amount of time and minutes per month.. So we wanted to make sure our clients are aware that we're there for them.

G

they can walk through our doors and we're here to help them.

G

Any way possible with any type of civil legal services.

A

Thank you, renae.

A

as a former law professor,, it seems like a very long time ago,.

A

I think it's really important that this is shedding a real light on the importance of legal services for vulnerable individuals right up there with providing food and other basic needs..

A

Society has gotten that complex..

A

So you were all very efficient speakers, by the way.

A

So we have full 20 minutes for questions.

A

And I have a couple starters.: we have a couple that came in from the chat and senator cardin. If you don't mind., I'd like to jump in., there's a very straightforward question that I just got in,.

A

That simply says, "we're out here "and we're frustrated watching these things develop "and, we see where things are going.

A

"what can regular people do "to help move our representatives forward "on this support agenda in congress.

A

"In the most effective way, possible?".

C

Well,, first of all,, let me thank the panelists..

C

I thought the information was extremely helpful.

C

And thank you all for your service..

C

You all have a lot of credibility in the community.

C

You're representing nonprofits, you're meeting with your supporters.

C

Explain to them the circumstances.

C

when you take a look, for example, as to what congress needs to do.

C

you're here from the professor, that these are unprecedented times..

C

It requires major response from the federal government,.

C

Not just around the edges,, we gotta do things that are consequential and when you listen to.

C

How the nonprofits are responding,, you recognize that they need to have a strong state,.

C

They need to have a strong county.

C

These resources need to be there and they're, not there today., so try to get beyond the politics of washington.

C

That are being used to say that we are affecting real people's lives.. We have people who need housing.

C

We need protection against eviction, yes,.

C

We also need resources in families, so they can pay their rent.. That's gotta be done.. These are unprecedented times.. So I think you could give credibility to this argument.

C

To try to take it above the type of politics.

C

That the president is trying to reduce us to,.

C

So that we do what's right for our country.

C

and it's right for our economy., it's right for all of us.

C

and I must tell you,, I started by saying: get this pandemic under control..

C

Everybody benefits from that,, it saves lives, but also saves. Businesses, saves jobs.

C

So I think we all need to make this point.

C

As loudly as we can. and the bottom line is way in,, this is a democratic country.

C

We are on the verge of a national election.

C

Let your voices be heard, both by how you feel on these issues and make sure you participate in this election.

A

Thank you, senator cardin.. We have another question that came in from the chat,.

A

This one for you, mr. county executive and I think it perfect segue from the senators comments just now.

A

question: is, "if the heroes act or similar legislation.

A

"Does not go through,. What's the county going to have to do?.

A

"Will, it have to consider laying off employees?

A

"how's the county gonna make up for lost revenue?".

B

Thanks, terry. I'll just echo the senators comments.

B

in a word, yes., I mean,. We are facing really dire budgetary circumstances.

B

And I wanna again, thank senator and all those who were members of congress that support in passed. The cares act.

B

For baltimore county, it was $140 million of support,.

B

So that we could stand up the testing,, the contact tracing,.

B

The ppe, housing eviction prevention, the business support,.

B

All the things,, the legal aid,, all the things that we know that we need to sustain and keep our county moving forward from a public health perspective,, but also from an economic.

B

And just quality of life, health perspective.

B

Without those dollars, we would be really hamstrung.

B

We in our budget cycle had reduced about 150 million dollars from the baseline.

B

What we thought we would be spending as we closed out fiscal 20 and entered into fiscal year, 21.

B

So we're talking significant reductions., I believe the cuts that we had to work with the county council to enact this year's budget cycle was the largest amount of cuts that they have ever enacted,.

B

At least met recorded history. On the council.-.

B

So we're talking about big numbers.

B

We are currently at maintenance of effort budgets for our school system, for our libraries..

B

We had our employees push off and they got no colas included in this year's budget..

B

We were fortunately able to stave off any furloughs and layoffs., but to the extent that the economic challenges,.

B

That dr. irani mentioned continue, that we see more challenges,.

B

We're gonna have to have more difficult choices about how do we balance the budget because we are obligated to have a balanced budget.

B

just for context,. I mean, this always stuck with me.

B

In the first three weeks of the economic fallout.

B

Of the pandemic., there were as many unemployment claims in maryland as there were of the entirety of the great recession..

B

So just let that sink in for a second in terms of what people are facing.

B

and so we're not immune from that,.

B

To the extent the cares dollars, at a minimum cares dollars.

B

Can be repurposed to help fill our budget gap.

B

That will be helpful to the extent it can be spent beyond the end of the year. That will be helpful. but really again,. As has been pointed out,, this crisis is not gonna, be over at a hard stop.

B

At the end of the year., so the more resources we have,, the better we'll be able to keep getting that [unclear] locally, from a public health,.

B

From personal wellness, from a business support, perspective.

B

So the stakes are real.

B

and again,. We have some great leaders out there, like senator cardin,, like our community advocates on this panel,, who are telling the stories about why this is needed., but it's really dire. If we don't have other solutions.

B

Between now and then.,.

A

Great, thank you, mr. county exec., I'm gonna read a question that just came in and then I'm gonna use my prerogative as moderator.

A

To kind of add in a question for our nonprofit providers,.

A

'cause, I think this gives some great context., so the question we got in chat, is, "not for profits are almost to a fault people driven.

A

"Built around interacting with others, "and structured to reach those most in need, "all, while being unable to carry over additional funds "from year to year, like most corporations can.

A

"how, do you anticipate being able to help those nonprofits.

A

"That are crucially involved in meeting with people.

A

"Through the reality of covid-19? "because. It won't be going away anytime, soon." and mr. ce. What I wanna do is, I wanna add a question that we had on our list and direct it to renae and mitch first,, which is,?

A

How are you dealing with the realities of social distancing.

A

And other restrictions in what is essentially.

A

A caring face to face contact driven business?.

A

How is it impacting you and what are you doing?

A

and then we'll come back to this larger question, mr. ce of supporting nonprofits.

G

Okay, I'll go ahead and address that.

G

as far as maryland legal aid,. The first step was making sure.

G

Our staff was safe and making sure that we had the ppes.

G

And the logistical setup in our office to make sure.

G

That our staff could actually return.

G

To the physical buildings., because we thought it was important because we are a community based law, firm.

G

We're people to people face to face,.

G

We wanted to make sure that we continue that., so we first had to address the safety of our staff.

G

Secondly, we had to reach out to our community partners.

G

And stakeholders to see how we can be of assistance.

G

To them to continue to do community outreaches.

G

We do have a unit that is specifically for our community.

G

And they have came up with phenomenal ideas on how to continue to do outreach,. We are in the community.

G

We're still conducting outreaches via the internet.

G

And also in person., so we make sure our community advocates have ppes.

G

To protect themselves and also the potential clients.

G

We are also on social media., we're letting people know we are here..

G

We never left. we're on facebook,. We are doing lunch and learns every tuesday at noon for clients to call us,.

G

Ask any questions: they have that's on facebook,.

G

We're pushing on instagram.

G

any interaction or questions you have,, you can reach out to us there.. So our goal right now is to let the community know,.

G

We're still here. we're still available to help you, we provide legal assistance..

G

So that's been one of the things that we've been really doing right now,.

G

Is letting everyone know, hey, we're here,, we're still here.

G

and if we have to come out to the community, we're open to that, of course, safely.?

G

So we always wanna make sure that dialogue is there with our community partners, to see how we can get creative and still provide the same services. Pre pandemic,.

G

During pandemic and post pandemic., so that's how we've been able to address that.

G

but again,, like I said earlier in the introduction,.

G

On july 27, we opened our doors for clients to walk in.

G

So we're still face to face with the clients.

A

Great, mitch, anything to add to that.

F

Yeah,, first of all,, let me just acknowledge that renae and maryland legal aid and can are partners.

F

And one of renae's attorneys.

F

Who we had a pre existing relationship between our organization.? So I think, in coming to grips with dealing with the pandemic. That was very valuable to both of us, because we were able to immediately transition.

F

To electronic and telephonic connections,.

F

But we had a trust between our staff that.

F

And I know, dave has been very helpful in a number of cases.

F

That we've been dealing with eviction, related.

F

so,, a couple of obvious logistic things that we did.

F

And we knew that we couldn't stop handing out food to people.

F

Who depended on us at our food pantry.?

F

So we had not had a client inside our building.

F

Since march 9th., but we have given out,, we have seen 3300 clients.

F

At our front doors., so we have two front doors,, one of which now has plexiglass shield and our intake specialist sits behind the plexiglass.

F

The client shows their driver's license and other id up to the plexiglass.. We take down some information that we need,.

F

We enter it into the hmis center. The system,.

F

They get approved., they go to the next door, where I have to tell you.

F

A volunteer who happens to be the chairman of our board has missed about four days., I'm wearing masks, wearing other protective equipment,.

F

Helping people handing boxes of food, bags of frozen meat.

F

And other essential items to any and every taker, who comes.

F

And with the help of the maryland food bank in the county,.

F

And federal funding we've been able to really stock up.

F

Our warehouse and our pantry., the shelters as terry knows,, maybe better than I do.

F

We really, because we haven't taken any new admissions under the advice of the baltimore county health department.

F

Our census right now is very low..

F

As I said, we've moved a lot of people into independent housing,, which is probably the safest place for them to be.

F

and we're working with terry and his staff to determine how we can reopen at a diminished capacity.

F

But safe environment.

F

It's a tough challenge when you basically are living in a dormitory type, environment, bunk, beds,.

F

Head to foot, side to side., so we're looking at probably cutting the capacity of the shelters in half, I guess, terry,, right.

F

so, and the eviction prevention and the other outreach benefits. Work. We're doing is all being done via fax, via telephone.

F

So we do have these outreach offices scattered around the county.. We haven't been in any of those physical locations.

F

But we have handled the increased volume of calls.

F

I think it's we get about. 275 calls a week on average.

F

During the pandemic, that are handled by our five outreach, offices.

A

Great, I wanna turn back to the county executive, with thoughts on supporting nonprofits. and then I think, with the few minutes we have left,.

A

I have one specific question for momen and dr. irani.

A

And then kind of a closing question. so, mr. ce thoughts on assisting nonprofits in their work?.

B

Yeah, I mean, I just generally I'll say,.

B

The value of our nonprofit partners cannot be understated.

B

The only way we were able to distribute 5 million meals to date is because we have such great community partners.

B

We're bridging the gaps, because we have folks.

B

Who have the relationships in the community who have their own networks.?

B

So it's critical that we find ways to support our partners.

B

We're trying to be creative and doing that whether it was the $400,000 we already mentioned through our covid response, fund,, which was ultimately,.

B

Those dollars were directed meant to be operational support for many those doing works in the community.

B

And other places were saying: where can we use our care dollars on things like food to help amplify that work.

B

and then how can we sort of bolster and surround them on things like eviction, prevention, on other places, where they're doing work with the county can come and surround that or be a partner on benefits screening., so we're really trying to find,? It's been encouraging,.

B

Frankly, to see that, there's more that we can be done., I think, having the cares. Money has been really helpful.

B

And impactful. people have been grateful., we're very generous and we're grateful for how generous they've been for the covid response. Fund,.

B

Which has been a vehicle for us., it's never enough, though., I mean, nonprofits are already sort of operating as efficiently as they can on very small budgets., and so we know this is just exacerbating the problems., and so we wanna make sure, just as we're keeping people from losing their homes and their businesses,.

B

We can't afford to lose our nonprofits 'cause they're, they're, already sort of helping us fill the void and we lose that out of the ecosystem,, we're really in trouble. so that's,. I could probably go on,, but we got a few more question when we get to the full arrival.

A

Great, so let's get to data here, quickly,.

A

Because you have a large audience of nonprofit leaders on this webinar right now., so dr. irani and momen,, we spend a lot of time internally.

A

Talking about what data we can track to predict, what's coming., you have lots of nonprofits in the community there on the frontlines, interacting with people,.

A

Any advice for them on what they should be doing with data collection ways we might work together better.

A

To try to get our hands around what's coming and how to best deal with it.

E

To jump in pretty quickly.

E

Whenever you see data analysis,, especially with regards to a lot of these different issues, you're gonna, see a lot of census, data being used.

E

and the majority of time it's almost always census. Data.

E

And because of that, there is a component that.

E

You can't really drill deep, as deep as you wanna get.

E

Into a local jurisdiction or a specific neighborhood.

E

As you'd want to with the census data., so the one thing that I would ask that has been very helpful.

E

For us, and a lot of the work that we've done is pretty much double: checking and doing quality checks.

E

On what the census data is showing., we would look at, for example, how many households, in a specific census, tract.

E

Are individuals who are renting and then renting with and contributing more than 30% of their income towards rent.

E

So there's all these various different sort of data,.

E

Data points that are available by census tract, but it would be very helpful to know the individuals that you're actually dealing with, one,, how many months behind are they on rent,.

E

Are they teleworking or telework eligible?.

E

What is the extent of their food insecurity,?

E

Is the food that they're receiving at food distribution sites sufficient for the allotted time,.

E

They know there's a lot of things, questions that we sort of really want to find out and double check sort of our census data to be able to get a better sense of what's happening in specifically,, specific neighborhoods and the customer base that the nonprofits are sort of reaching out to..

A

Great dr. irani, anything you wanna, add?,.

D

Sure,, so I would just reiterate what momen said, was that, basically, it helps validate some of the census data which, in and of itself, is already obsolete. By the time we see it.

D

So having data out there or be able to look at it.

D

Allows us, as momen done to do predictive, analytics,.

D

Of where do we need to set up the next testing stations??

D

Where do we need to provide more legal, aid,, all those sorts of things.? So it's critical from our own forecasting point of view.

D

We do this in the scouring of some of the unemployment, as.

D

And kinda, seeing what the skills are needed.

D

but yeah, if they can begin collecting data and providing it, especially the county,. I think it's critical, because that helps allocate ever more scarce. Resources, help address the challenges. The county, faces.

A

Great quick example,, I think, is in the eviction prevention phase two that'll be conducted by many of our nonprofit partners,.

A

The county's developing a portal for all the applications.

A

To come in so that we're able to track that data uniformly.

A

Across all those platforms., it's just like a moderator to throw out a deep question right at the end of a panel,, but I think it's worth asking.

A

And that is,, as I go around and talk to community leaders,.

A

What I hear is, the coronavirus may be something new,.

A

But the economic ills that are being exacerbated by it.

A

Have been with us a long time.

A

and we're gonna be fighting them at different levels.

A

For the foreseeable future., what is and I'll throw this open to anybody who wants to leave us with some strong thoughts.?

A

What are potentially some of the positives.

A

That could come from all of this turmoil with the extra funding relaxed regulations with housing,.

A

Innovation driving us to do certain things..

A

Can we come out of this with some wins for people.

A

By taking advantage of what's here is the final question.

C

Well, terry, first,. Let me again thank you and the county exec putting this together.

C

before covid-19. We knew vulnerable. People were vulnerable.

C

They're challenged with housing, they're challenged with nutrition, they're challenged in education, they're challenged in the economy., and we know that we had these disparities in this country,.

C

Some of it's systemic problems,, some of it, is opportunity gaps,. We know that.

C

And that's why we all work together to help our vulnerable communities.

C

when you go through a downturn,, whether it's covid-19.

C

Or economic downturn, or whatever it may be,.

C

Vulnerable people suffer the most..

C

So if you look at the great recession, 2008.

C

We had a wealth gap in america up before the 2008.

C

It grew during the 2008 recession,.

C

Poor people did much worse than wealthier people.

C

But here's perhaps the silver lining and covid-19,.

C

We already made available through the cares act over $2 trillion.

C

We're negotiating a package that will probably be somewhere between one and $3 trillion.

C

On the next covid relief package.

C

If we are smart in the way we use that we can help bridge the gap, for example, digital divide in education,.

C

If we can really make broadband available to every household,, that will go a long way in dealing with a lot of the challenges we have..

C

If we can use the covid-19 to deal with the disparities.

C

We have an access to health care by creating capacity.

C

In underserved communities that will make a difference.

C

On the economic front., we're looking at building up financial capacity.

C

Within vulnerable communities, so that when you use a ppp type program,.

C

And you need to find a seven, a lender, they're already in your community,. You don't have to create them, as we've been trying to do during covid-19., so we can make the fundamental changes.

C

By using covid-19 related funds to build capacity.

C

Within minority communities, within vulnerable communities.

C

We can come out of this, perhaps building a stronger america.

A

Thank you, senator,. I think that's a good call to action for us. mr. county executive,. Anything you wanna add before we close?.

B

Again,, I think the senator is right. Here.

B

and it's. This crisis is laying bare.

B

What we've already known in many ways- and so you should use this with..., we should ramp up the fierceness of our urgency.

B

And then also, hopefully, use these resources and this flexibility and the desire.

B

And the need to innovate. to make these systemic changes that are gonna actually get us where we need to be for all of our communities that have been underserved.. We look forward to doing that with all of you..

B

Thank you for listening in today.

A

There you go, great., I see jasmine, has posted contact information in the chat., so if you need to get a hold of people individually, that spoke today. can't thank our panelists enough,, including our elected leaders and there'll, be more of these conversations.

A

thanks for coming out and joining this one today.

A

take care, everyone, be well.