PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - The City of Long Beach is seeking proposals to develop collaborative partnerships among Black-serving provider agencies to promote health and wellness among Long Beach Black residents, who are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible organizations are encouraged to apply through the City of Long Beach’s Vendor Portal, PlanetBids, by 11:00 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 7.

“COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Long Beach Black residents and using CARES Act funding to equitably support our residents will improve the quality of life in our communities,” said Mayor Robert Garcia.

The City received $40 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding, and allocated $1,000,000 to specifically support Black Health Equity. This Program provides up to $600,000 to support Black-serving nonprofit organizations and microbusinesses for service delivery to the Long Beach Black community to reduce the impact of COVID-19 for Black residents. This funding also will provide direct relief funding for Black-serving nonprofit organizations and microbusinesses (defined as less than $150,000 in annual revenue) who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Other initiatives to support Black Health are addressed in separate programs and include a Mental Health provider program and a Black Health Collaborative in collaboration with California State University Long Beach.

Eligible majority Black-serving nonprofit organizations and microbusinesses can qualify for the following grants based on the category of service they propose to deliver and can apply for more than one category. The following breakdown demonstrates the categories of services that may be funded.

• COVID-19 Virtual Training
• COVID-19 Health Education and Outreach Services
• COVID-19 Healthy Living and Resource Guide
• COVID-19 Care Package Delivery Service

In addition to the direct services indicated above, Direct Relief Funds also will provide direct relief funding via working capital grants to eligible nonprofit organizations and microbusinesses

Details related to scope areas, eligibility requirements and submission instructions are available at PlanetBids. The City has also developed a video with instructions on how organizations can submit a proposal.

The Health and Human Services Department continues to develop strategies to support segments of the community affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and will release additional RFPs funded by the CARES Act to further these efforts.

For the latest information on COVID-19, with details on all that the City of Long Beach is doing to keep our residents safe, visit longbeach.gov/COVID19 and follow @LongBeachCity on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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