United Way and Greater Houston Community Foundation launch recovery fund

By R. HANS MILLER | TIMES SENIOR REPORTER
Posted 3/26/20

In a 3 p.m. press conference Thursday, the United Way of Greater Houston and the Greater Houston Community Foundation announced the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund, a financial fund begun to …

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United Way and Greater Houston Community Foundation launch recovery fund

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In a 3 p.m. press conference Thursday, the United Way of Greater Houston and the Greater Houston Community Foundation announced the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund, a financial fund begun to help residents in counties throughout the Greater Houston area, including Waller, Harris and Fort Bend counties. Launch of the fund comes as the economic toll of COVID-19 continues to rise and residents have stepped up to address that need, said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who hosted the press conference.

“What makes Harris County strongest is our people, the people who make up Harris County,” Hidalgo said. “That is what makes us best.”

 The Houston Endowment has started the fund with a lead gift of $1 million and has pledged to give another dollar for every $4 donated by the community, up to another $1 million. Other donations include $150,000 from the Wells Fargo Foundation and two gifts of $100,000 from both the Houston Texans Foundation and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Representatives of the new nonprofit fund said money donated to Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund will be distributed to nonprofit partners in the Greater Houston area that already have the infrastructure in place to help those in need, rather than directly to those in need. This prevents them from having to create a new infrastructure to distribute grants to help residents, they said.

“Nearly half of the households in our Greater Houston area struggle daily to make ends meet and the sudden loss of work, wages and child care can be a devastating financial hardship,” said Anna M. Babin, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Houston in a March 25 press release. “Our primary goal is to make sure the most vulnerable in our community affected by COVID-19 have access to food, health care, shelter and other basic necessities to sustain them in this crisis.”

Those in need of assistance are encouraged to call 2-1-1, the Texas/United Way HELPLINE, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Those calling that line may also be connected to other resources that can assist them.

Local organizations like Katy Christian Ministries have been tapped to help distribute funds such as this in the past such as when Hurricane Harvey devastated the region in 2017, but KCM Executive Director Deysi Crespo said that such an arrangement has not been established at this time.

“I know that there was a survey that we participated in, but to my knowledge, no [we are not currently enrolled to distribute funds for the Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund],” Crespo said.

Houston, COVID-19, Waller, Harris, Fort Bend, Lina Hidalgo, Houston Endowment, United Way of Greater Houston, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Greater Houston COVID-19 Recovery Fund