Updated on July 10:
Families who are ineligible for federal benefits, including immigrants and refugees, will be eligible to apply for one-time cash assistance payments between $1,000 to $1,500.
City Council approved the aid on Monday, July 10.
The money comes from federal pandemic relief funds, and is aimed at families struggling from the pandemic who could not get unemployment benefits or pandemic assistance money. To qualify, the head of a household must be ineligible for federal benefits and families must have at least one child in the home under the age of 17. Families must also live in a qualified area, have a child who qualifies for assistance or have experienced housing or food insecurity.
The nonprofit Impact Charitable will work with community groups to reach out to families, conduct screenings and help them apply for the money.
"Our goal is to continue aiding City and County of Denver residents who can demonstrate they have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 or its aftermath," said Heidi Rodriguez, spokesperson for the city's Agency for Human Rights & Community Partnerships.
We'll have a future update on how families can apply once we have more details.
Our original story follows below.
Families who do not qualify for federal benefits and could not get things like pandemic stimulus checks and unemployment money might get one-time checks from the city of Denver.
The checks, funded through $3 million in federal pandemic assistance money, are aimed at helping families disproportionately affected by the pandemic who cannot get other assistance, like immigrants and refugees.
City Council's Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee unanimously approved the resolution for funding Wednesday. All of Council will vote on the contract in coming weeks.
According to a presentation from the Office of Immigrant & Refugee Affairs, the goal of the program is "to mitigate the negative financial aftermath and impacts of the pandemic and to support economic stability citywide."
In order to qualify for the program, the head of a household must be ineligible for federal public benefits and have at least one child in the household under the age of 17.
The family must either live in specific areas that designate neighborhoods in need of additional support, have a child who qualifies for benefits programs or experience housing or food insecurity. While foreign nationals cannot get long-term federal assistance like unemployment, they can get one-time cash payments.
City officials expect the program to serve between 1,800 to 2,200 households, including around 4,200 children. The checks would range from $1,000 to $1,500, based on the number of children in a household and certain income markers. The city would partner with the nonprofit Impact Charitable, which would engage community partners to do outreach and screening for eligible families.
"My thanks for the tenacity of this kind of community investment," said Council President Jamie Torres during the committee hearing. "We know that we still have a lot of families that are struggling or dealing with a medical ailment from earlier long COVID, and I think though some parts of our city have been able to bounce back really well, others are having a hard time."
