{"id":467,"date":"2020-05-22T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/humanservices\/?p=467"},"modified":"2020-05-26T13:28:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T20:28:06","slug":"covid19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/humanservices\/2020\/05\/22\/covid19\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting our Communities during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greetings from Human Services!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a minute (okay, more like 2 months) since my last message out from Pierce County Human Services Department, and how things have changed.\u00a0 I won\u2019t keep you long, since I know you are all busy and a long weekend is about to begin, but I have just a few updates to share with you.<\/p>\n

First, COVID-19.\u00a0 It\u2019s sickened hundreds in our county,\u00a0proved fatal to over 70 individuals, and has changed life as we know it for everyone else.\u00a0 Human Services was one of the first county departments to \u201cgo virtual\u201d in mid-March, so all of our staff have been working from home for about 2 months now.\u00a0 It\u2019s not been easy for many reasons, but I am proud to report that all staff are fully employed from their homes, and we\u2019ve been able to keep almost all of our programs up and running in some modified form.<\/p>\n

Senior care is happening\u00a0via phone and video chat, ECEAP teachers are creating videos for our kids<\/a>, and we\u2019ve (finally!) moved to signing contracts electronically so we can continue working with our large provider community.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud of the work the Human Services team has done to adapt to their new environment so they can continue serving our neighbors and those who need us most.<\/p>\n

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Terrell, a student from one of our ECEAP classes, proudly shows off his artwork from a virtual zoom lesson provided by his teacher.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beginning in February, Congress began passing several funding packages to address our country\u2019s response to COVID-19.\u00a0 On March 27, they passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which includes the Coronavirus Relief Fund.\u00a0 Jurisdictions with populations over 500K, like Pierce County, received a direct appropriation of relief funds.\u00a0 Smaller jurisdictions (from Tacoma to Carbonado) are receiving an allocation of relief funds through our state\u2019s Department of Commerce. \u00a0\u00a0For all of these funds, the spending requirements are few, but important: spend before the year ends, don\u2019t supplant other expenditures planned before March 2020, and use the funds to respond to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The County\u2019s share of relief funds is $158M, and you\u2019ll see lots of information on social media and in the news about how we are spending these dollars to help our community respond to and recover from COVID-19.\u00a0 Here at Human Services, we are focusing on the following areas of need:<\/p>\n