May 5: Important Updates and Resources From the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs

Support for NYC Small Businesses Owners and Nonprofits:

The Federal government has expanded its loan programs allowing small business owners and nonprofits to apply for up to $10 million through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Loans are available on a first-come, first-served basis. More information about the Paycheck Protection Program in multiple languages can be found here: bit.ly/PPPNYCinfo

Sign up for upcoming webinars from NYC Small Business Services to help business owners and nonprofits learn about financial assistance from the SBA:

·         May 6 at 9:30AM: Assistance Overview for NYC Small Businesses Impacted by COVID-19 bit.ly/SBSCOVID56

·         Sign up for COVID-19 Emergency Financing Assistance from NYC Small Business Services: bit.ly/NYCSBSCounseling

Important Community Testing Update:

The City of New York is working to expand testing for COVID-19 rapidly throughout the five boroughs. Community testing sites operated by NYC Health + Hospitals use self-collection of swabs to minimize contact between patients and health care workers. Self-swab testing for COVID-19 is safer, simpler and faster. Free and convenient walk-in testing is now available. No appointment is necessary. Check the below website regularly for more locations as sites continue to be opened:

·         View more information on testing and find a location near you. 

On Friday, we held a roundtable discussion for community and ethnic press with Dr. Oxiris Barbot, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene on testing.   Watch video from the roundtable for more information on testing.
 

GetFood Delivery Assistance Program is seeking nonprofit providers to increase capacity.

·         Meal Prep: Organizations that have commercial kitchen capacity to prepare and package meals with a focus on culturally sensitive meals and ethnic foods.
·         Distribution Staff: Organizations with up to 300 nonprofit provider staff to manage distribution sites. Visit NYC.gov/Nonprofits for more information.

NYC is Distributing Free Masks

New York City will be distributing 7.5 million masks at locations across the city free of charge. This program will continue to grow and reach additional locations in the coming days. Use the map below to find the closest distribution location, date, and time: Visit nyc.gov/FaceCoverings for a map of locations.

NYC Taxi is hiring for delivery work!

Through the TLC Driver Food Delivery program, TLC drivers will now be paid $53 per route, rather than hourly ($40 base pay + $13 for expenses), when delivering meals to New Yorkers in need. Drivers can use personal cars and complete multiple routes. This change helps drivers make more money.  Sign up at nyc.gov/deliverytlc in multiple languages. 

"We Speak, We LEAD": Free Online Professional Development for Immigrant Women

We Speak NYC and New Women New Yorkers have teamed up to launch  "We Speak, We LEAD," a free online workforce development and professional English language learning program for immigrant women. This free series of 10 interactive job readiness workshops supports and prepares participants for entry into the NYC workforce or to pursue higher education, and helps them improve their professional English and gain confidence.

·         Register now for the pilot program. An information session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 from 3-5 p.m., and the program runs from May 19 until June 23.

A reminder that many city services are available to all New Yorkers no matter what your immigration status is and regardless of your ability to pay. 

Visit the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) COVID-19 webpage for up to date resources available to immigrant communities. Site now live in Arabic, Bengali, French, Haitian Creole, Korean, Polish, Russian, Chinese Simplified, Spanish, and Urdu.