H eadlines
Trillions in New Pandemic Relief Available
L OCA L
SOPHIE PANZER | JE STAFF
and partner organizations what
the bill means for the Jewish
community. Elizabeth Cullen, health
policy counsel, said the relief
package’s multi-billion dollar
investment in public health
would help make the COVID-19
vaccine accessible to millions of
homebound seniors and people
with disabilities and ensure
more people have health insur-
ance coverage.

UPPE R DU BLI N
! M LE
OO LAB
DR AI
BE V
2 TS A
I UN
N M OW
OD L
EL EA
S SIN
OP G
EN !
ANYONE WHO RECEIVED
a $1,400 check from the
government this month knows
something big happened in
Congress recently, but the
latest pandemic relief package
goes far beyond individual
payments. The American Rescue Plan
passed March 6 and allocates
$1.9 trillion to individuals, small
businesses and nonprofits, state
and local governments, food
distribution sites, health care
providers and schools. It also
extends emergency unemploy-
ment benefits and provides tax
breaks to low-income individ-
uals and families with children.

The Jewish Federations of
North America held a webinar on
March 18 to inform stakeholders
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JEWISH EXPONENT
Clockwise from upper left: Pam Kurtzman, Jorge Castro, Steve Gross and
Elana Broitman discuss the new pandemic relief bill.

To put this into perspective, this is the
largest investment in the public health system
in the history of the country.”
ELIZABTH CULLEN
“To put this into perspective,
this is the largest investment
in the public health system in
the history of the country,”
Cullen said.

The money, she explained,
goes directly to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention
and to federal community
health centers. Bill language
specifies that $15 billion should
be used for the creation of
pop-up clinics and mobile
vaccine distribution to reach
people in underserved commu-
nities, $460 million is for
ramping up vaccine commu-
nication and outreach and
$47.8 billion will go to creating
a national COVID-19 testing
strategy. She said the bill allocates $4
billion to address the mental
health and substance use crisis
that has accompanied the
pandemic, with $50 million in
grants available to local nonprofits
and community organizations
that tackle the issue.

Aaron Kaufman, senior
legislative associate, said the
relief package includes $12.67
billion for home- and commu-
nity-based services for the
10 million Americans with
disabilities on Medicaid.

“Those are things like
showering, shaving, dressing,
activities of daily living,
non-emergency medical trans-
portation, job coaching, et
cetera,” he said. “This money is
very, very exciting.”
The new round of aid
makes several changes to the
Paycheck Protection Program,
the forgivable loans designed
to help small businesses and
nonprofits keep employees on
payroll through pandemic-in-
duced closures and revenue
loss. While the CARES Act
defined small businesses as
those with fewer than 100
employees, that number was
increased to 500. The new
rules also reduce the amount
of financial loss a business is
required to show to qualify.

The deadline to apply
for PPP aid from the Small
Business Administration is
March 31, but JFNA encour-
ages applicants to contact
state representatives and urge
them to extend the deadline.

There is a pre-written letter
asking senators to cosponsor
S. 723, the Paycheck Protection
Program Extension Act of
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



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2021, that can be signed and
sent at JewishTogether.org.

Stephan Kline, associate vice
president for public policy, said
non-public schools, including
Jewish day schools, are eligible
for a total of $5.5 billion from
ARP and the COVID-19 relief
bill that passed in December.

Schools are eligible if they
enroll a significant percentage
of low-income students and
can show they are among
the schools most impacted
by the crisis. The money will
be administered by state
Departments of Education.

Darcy Hirsh,
director of government affairs, said
emergency food and shelter
programs are getting $510
million in all, which will be
administered by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
to a nationwide network of 14,000
local emergency food and shelter
boards and state committees.

Hirsh said $50 billion will go
to improve access to child care
through grants to low-income
families and grants for child
care centers that lost money
and resources due to lack of
enrollment. She urged anyone
interested in applying to reach
out to their state Department
of Social Services.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM At a Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia community
meeting on March 19, Montgomery
County Commissioner Ken
Lawrence Jr. said his county will
receive $161 million from the relief
package. Lawrence Jr. said a large
portion of the money will go to
food distribution, particularly
for students missing free meals
they would normally receive at
school, and vaccinations. Some
will go to help small businesses
and nonprofits with the costs
of closures.

Money will be allocated to
address issues that have been
worsened by the health crisis,
such as homelessness and
addiction. Hank Butler, executive
director of the Pennsylvania
Jewish Coalition,
said Pennsylvania received $13 billion
from the rescue package, with
$5.7 billion allocated to local
governments and $2.5 billion
used to address government
deficits. The state legislature is
still debating how to use the
remaining $4.8 billion, although
Butler said the vaccine rollout
would be the highest priority. l
This Passover, help us
make it possible to celebrate
another kind of freedom.

Freedom from a pandemic.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the
world, there’s reason for hope. And no country has offered more
hope for what life might be like again than Israel, which has led
the world in immunizing its people.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s paramedic and Red Cross service,
has played a major role in this success. MDA has treated tens
of thousands of stricken Israelis, administered Covid tests to
more than 4 million, and vaccinated Israel’s most vulnerable
populations, including all its nursing home residents.

When you support Magen David Adom, your gift has an
immediate impact in helping Israelis — today and every day.

Make a gift today. Pesach kasher v’sameach.

afmda.org/passover spanzer@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0729 JEWISH EXPONENT
MARCH 25, 2021
11