The Live Free Detroit Coalition (LFDC) in partnership with the Family Independence Initiative (FII) endeavors to provide respite for Detroiters’ hard hit by COVID19. The Coalition has $75,000 in direct cash assistance earmarked for Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck residents financially impacted by the pandemic. The Live Free Detroit Coalition says it hopes the funds are matched by city, county, and state officials to help sustain Detroit’s fragile economy.
The application for assistance can be found on the Live Free Detroit Coalition’s website at https://livefree.forcedetroit.org/, online at https://forms.gle/Sq5bgR5nKo6Bg6zC8 or by visiting Facebook @LiveFree313. Funding for recipients would be disbursed as soon as May 1, 2020, at up to $500 per household.
“This thing has ravaged Detroit… we have to focus our collective efforts towards the betterment of Detroit,” says coalition member, Alia Harvey-Quinn, Executive Director of FORCE Detroit. Detroit residents are among the nation’s most impacted. With 36,641 confirmed cases and 3,085 deaths in the State on Friday, April 24. A quarter of the death toll has plowed through Wayne County, which now has 1443 new deaths, with most of the cases in Detroit.
The criteria for assistance include unpaid leave due to social isolation orders, care of vulnerable or infected relatives, loss of wages resulting from layoffs and involuntary business closures, unpaid leave due to the absence of school or daycare.
The LFDC has a multi-organization membership including FORCE Detroit, The Peoples Action (TPA), New Era Detroit, and other organizations. Negus Vu, President of TPA, says, “Hard-hit areas like Detroit that already suffer from Economic deprivation are crucially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is imperative that all hands are on deck from the top to the bottom!”
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