The Department of Public Health asked MAPC to serve as a Local Affiliate Organization for the distribution of approximately $800,000 in emergency funding to local health departments. Specifically MAPC was asked to provide this funding for cities and towns in the Region 3 Health and Medical Coordinating Coalition, a representative body for which MAPC serves as the sponsoring organization. Region 3 covers 45 communities in Northeastern Massachusetts, including the North Shore, Cape Ann, and Merrimack Valley.

To distribute the funding in a timely and strategic manner, MAPC formed a cross-departmental team including staff members from MAPC's municipal collaboration, public health, finance, operations, legal, and IT teams. First, the team conducted a survey-based needs assessment to determine funding requests and the types of additional support communities needed. Among the uses communities were looking to support included: additional nursing staff for case tracking, reporting and monitoring; cleaning supplies and services for municipal buildings; and coverage for overtime and backfill for staff working extra hours during the crisis.

With the initial assessment complete, staff then developed a distribution formula for all communities, executed letters of agreement with the cities and towns and got a first round of funding out within two weeks of being asked to take on the role. MAPC is now working with these cities and towns to evaluate longer term needs and make a further round of funding available.

For more information, please contact Mark Fine at mfine@mapc.org.

On April 2, 2020, MAPC published a research brief analyzing COVID-19-related layoffs and estimating the scale of housing assistance that might be needed in the coming months.

The report looks at the nearly 329,000 initial unemployment claims filed in Massachusetts between March 16 and March 28. This analysis demonstrates that COVID-related unemployment has the potential to create a huge housing crisis in Massachusetts. While imminent federal supports will cover costs for virtually all households who receive them, complete relief is only temporary. Many households will need help after the one-time direct payments are exhausted. Furthermore, many workers may not be eligible for federal assistance, or it may not arrive in time. Therefore, there is a need for the state and federal governments to provide additional subsidies and to intervene in eviction and foreclosure proceedings so that workers are not displaced from their homes during this crisis.

MAPC will continue to update this analysis as new information and unemployment numbers become available.

Click here to read the research brief.

A cross-departmental team consisting of members of MAPC's leadership, government affairs, public health, housing, and municipal collaboration teams is working to help communities on some of the homelessness issues that our municipalities are facing. We are enabling communities to share ideas about finding sites, staffing, and equipment to care for shelter guests who may come down with COVID-19, and to protect other guests and the general public from spread of the disease. We are also trying to coordinate with the Commonwealth on these issues and to help shelters to meet expanded transportation needs during the crisis.

The Arts & Culture team facilitated two discussions with the Massachusetts Arts Data Working Group, sharing the various data collection efforts being launched by organizations, municipalities, and state agencies to track the impact of COVID-19 on the arts and cultural community.

The Arts & Culture team has also compiled a list of resources for artists and cultural workers, many of which also apply to a larger group of freelancers, independent contractors, and gig workers. Click here to access these resources below.

Learn more by contacting Jenn Erickson at jerickson@mapc.org.

Across departments, MAPC staff are determining which projects can move forward digitally, which need adjustments, and which must be put on pause. We've piloted large-scale digital engagement, including virtual public meetings. If local communities are ready to move forward with their planning projects, we will be there to help them figure out how.

Contact Mark Racicot at mracicot@mapc.org with questions about planning projects.

Across MAPC, staff members are gathering resources for our cities and towns on how to respond to the meany effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find many of these further down the page, including:

• Small Business/Economic Development Resources and Programs: National, state, regional, and local resources for communities and small businesses
• Resources for Freelancers, Independent Contractors, and Gig Workers: Resources for freelancers in response to COVID-19, with a focus on resources for artists and cultural workers
• COVID-19 information
• Food access resources
• Housing resources