Lehigh County Creates $5 Million in Non-Profit Relief Funds

Lehigh County, PA - Effective Friday, August 14, 2020, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners voted to create funding streams to provide relief for nonprofits, tourism, regional entities and educational and workforce entities. This includes $5 million for nonprofits and community entities and is in addition to a fund already established to provide emergency aid for small businesses.

In order to maximize transparency, the county has enlisted the help of community partners to promote the grant programs as well as receive, organize and help process the applications. In partnership with United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Lehigh County COVID-19 Relief Non-Profit Grant will now begin accepting applications for non-profit organizations. Funding from this grant must directly correlate with COVID-19 expenses. All related expenses can be charged from March 1, 2020 to December 30, 2020. 
 

Click Here For Application Portal

Click Here For Overview and Guidelines

For questions on program guidelines and overview, please contact Carmen Bell at carmenb@unitedwayglv.org. 

The source of funds for these programs is the Lehigh County COVID-19 Block Grant. Applications for relief from these grant funds must directly correlate with COVID-19 expenses. All related expenses can be charged from March 1, 2020 to December 30, 2020. All COVID-19 grant funds MUST be spent by December 30, 2020.

Applications will be processed by the corresponding community organization. They will be reviewed by primary committees and submitted to the County Executive who will then make recommendations to the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners.

“It's a great honor to have this opportunity to impact the community need during this time of crisis, and it's also quite humbling in that it is a huge responsibility that we do not take lightly.  At the end of the day, we will have had a hand in ensuring that community need is met and that good work is able to continue because of this grant opportunity,” said Carmen Bell, UWGLV, of being directly engaged in the process.

These programs as well as the small business program is authorized under the Lehigh County COVID-19 Block Grant of $33.3 Million received under the CARES Act.

• $8 Million for county/municipal government COVID response offset
• $5 Million for Small Business Grant Pool
• $6 Million for drug, alcohol, behavioral health and Human Services
• $5 Million for non-profit and community entities
• $5 Million for regional co-operation and tourism
• $4 Million for Broadband, Education and Workforce assistance

Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board will assist with the education/workforce broadband fund and Discover Lehigh Valley will assist with the tourism and regional fund.

Applications for all Lehigh County COVID-19 Relief Grant Programs can be found on the Lehigh County website at lehighcounty.org.