The city of Covington and the Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium are seeking nonprofit and social service agency applicants for about $700,000 in federal grants to provide services for vulnerable populations in the region.
Covington is a consortium city, meaning it’s automatically allocated a certain amount of federal funding every year in the Northern Kentucky HOME Consortium. The consortium provides forgivable housing loans to individuals and funding for social service agencies. Other cities in the consortium are Independence, Florence, Erlanger, Ludlow, Bellevue, Newport, and Dayton. The money comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, disbursed to cities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that our non-profits are doing a lot of really good work, but we’re not looking to use these one-time funds for ongoing services,” Covington’s CDBG & HOME Program Coordinator John Hammons said in a press release. “This is their chance to be creative, to fund something that’s in addition to what they normally do, or to meet needs that are not being addressed.”
Hammons said that following a recent period of public input, people would like the money to be spent on initiatives that focus on the following:
- Case management
- Mental health and substance abuse
- Employment
- Housing and homelessness prevention, including shelter diversion and eviction diversion programs
- Rent and utility assistance
- Transportation
- Childcare
- Financial counseling
Agencies in any of the consortium’s cities are welcome to apply. Applications are due by 10 a.m. on May 5 with award winners being announced by July. Visit Covington’s dedicated RFP webpage to apply.