Good Morning Everyone,
Please find the latest updates and information from The City of Boston and/or relating to COVID-19.
COVID-19 CASES
REOPENING IN PHASE 3
CHIEF OF EQUITY
SUMMER FOOD RESOURCES
ADULT MEAL SITES CLOSING
NEW ROUND OF BOSTON RESILIENCY FUND GRANTS
SECOND ROUND OF FUNDING FOR CHILDCARE ENTREPRENEUR FUND
BOSTON SAVES CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNT UPDATE
ARTS AND CULTURE COVID-19 FUND
EFFORTS TO INCREASE HOUSING SECURITY
FIREWORKS
GENERAL REMINDERS
STAY INFORMED
COVID-19 CASES
The City of Boston has 13,556 positive cases of coronavirus (confirmed and presumptive). So far, 9,504 of these 13,556 residents have fully recovered. Unfortunately, there have been 710 COVID-19 related deaths in Boston.
The City posts race and ethnicity data for deaths, as well as for confirmed cases here.
The Boston Public Health Commission will be providing the updated total of cases in Boston residents as it is received from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Information can be found at boston.gov/coronavirus or bphc.org.
Massachusetts has 110,137 positive cases of coronavirus (confirmed and presumptive) and 8,198 deaths reported at this time. Massachusetts has also tested 899,417 individuals to date.
The City of Boston has two dashboards to provide statistics on COVID19 cases in Boston and throughout Massachusetts. View them here.
The City of Boston has a free texting service to provide daily updates and information about the coronavirus. Text BOSCOVID to 888-777 to opt-in for English. Language and communications access remains a priority for Mayor Walsh, so this text service which was available in Spanish, Haitan Creole, French, Cabo Verdean Creole, and Portuguese, now includes Somali, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese and Russian.
- Text BOSEspanol to 888-777 for Spanish
- Text BOSKreyol to 888-777 for Haitian Kreyol
- Text BOSFrancais to 888-777 for French
- Text BOSKriolu to 888-777 for Cabo Verdean Creole
- Text BOSPortugues to 888-777 for Portuguese
- Text BOSSoomali to 888-777 for Somali
- Text BOSChi to 888-777 for Simplified Chinese
- Text BOSbilAraby to 888-777 for Arabic
- Text BOSViet to 888-777 for Vietnamese
- Text BOSRus to 888-777 for Russian
Updates in 10 total languages can additionally be accessed through boston.gov/coronavirus#multilingual-help. Each language has its own page and hosts multilingual print materials distributed citywide.
REOPENING IN PHASE 3
- Phase 3 Step 1 began on Monday, July 6 in Massachusetts, except for Boston, where it will begin on Monday, July 13.
- The following businesses are eligible to reopen in Step One of Phase III, subject to industry-specific rules concerning capacity and operations:
- Movie theaters and outdoor performance venues;
- Museums, cultural and historical sites;
- Fitness centers and health clubs (limited to 40% occupancy);
- Certain indoor recreational activities with low potential for contact;
- Professional sports teams, under the authority of league-wide rules, may hold games without spectators;
- Casinos
- Boston is taking this step one week later because of the size of its population, density, and the size of our commercial, hospitality, and other sectors.
CHIEF OF EQUITY
- The Mayor announced a new Equity Cabinet for the City of Boston. The purpose is to elevate and accelerate the work the City is doing to dismantle systemic racism; address inequities; and create fair opportunities for all Bostonians.
- The Mayor announced Dr. Karilyn Crockett as Boston’s first-ever Chief of Equity.
- Karilyn has already had an immense impact in Boston:
- She served for four years as the City’s Director of Economic Policy, Research, and Small Business Development.
- In that role, she helped create the first citywide Small Business Plan and Economic Equity & Inclusion Agenda.
- She also strengthened the City’s Resident Jobs Policy, which leverages our city’s growth to create more opportunities for women and people of color.
- Karilyn is also a proud product of the Black community in Boston. She grew up in Dorchester and attended Boston Public Schools for most of her K-12 education. She went on to Yale University, where she earned 3 degrees, including a Ph.D. in American Studies. After college, she founded MYTOWN: an organization that hires high school students to research local histories and create walking tours. It created over 300 youth jobs and was named “One of the 10 best Youth Humanities Programs in America” by The National Endowment for the Humanities.
- Karilyn is also a leading scholar of equity and urban planning in Boston. She published a groundbreaking book called People Before Highways, which has changed our understanding of urban renewal, and puts the community at the center of the story. And for the last 2 years, she has been a lecturer in Public Policy and Urban Planning at M.I.T.
- She understands the roots of racial inequity and the tools we need to break it down, and is passionate about our community’s ability to lead this work.
SUMMER FOOD RESOURCES
- The City of Boston will continue offering meal sites for youth throughout 97 locations that opened on July 6, 2020, including sites in Boston Public Schools, Boston Centers for Youth & Families, Boston Housing Authority, YMCA and community-based organizations. For locations, please visit here.
- BPS will continue providing meals delivery to students who regularly receive door-to-door transportation.
ADULT MEAL SITES CLOSING
With the launch of these new programs and services, adult meal sites opened in response to COVID-19 stopped services on Friday, July 3.
- Adults accessing these sites are also encouraged to utilize existing resources including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. For Information on eligibility and applications, please call the Project Bread Food Source Hotline at 1-800-645-8333.
- A list of food pantries can be found at www.gbfb.org/need-food/ and resources will be available through the Office of Food Access at boston.gov/food.
- For those not eligible for federal assistance, people can find affordable, fresh, and healthy food at Boston farmer markets. Starting the week of July 6, all farmers markets will have Resiliency Farmers Market coupons available for all residents, regardless of their legal status.
NEW ROUND OF BOSTON RESILIENCY FUND GRANTS
- The City provided nearly $2 million in grants to 15 organizations, including a range of food access providers. They include Mass Farmers Market, which will provide weekly coupons to people in need, regardless of immigration status, to spend at farmers markets across the city. Additional grants are supporting domestic violence shelters; housing programs; addiction recovery; and more.
- To date, the Boston Resiliency Fund has raised $32.4 million and distributed $22.5 million of those resources into communities where the needs are greatest.
SECOND ROUND OF FUNDING FOR CHILDCARE ENTREPRENEUR FUND
- The second funding round of the Childcare Entrepreneur Fund will provide cash grants and business skills workshops to 25 family childcare entrepreneurs in Boston this summer and 25 more in the fall. Applications are available through July 22, 2020 at www.boston.gov/childcare-fund.
- Childcare Entrepreneurship Fund grant recipients will attend six virtual workshops on topics including accounting, marketing, shared services, and resources available to them as they reopen. After completing the workshops, grantees will receive a $3,500 grant to use to stabilize or expand their business.
BOSTON SAVES CHILD SAVINGS ACCOUNT UPDATE
- The Boston Saves program just completed the first year of universal access to free savings accounts for 5-year-old children, and the City is eager to sign up new families. Any families with a child entering kindergarten are eligible for a $50 account and ongoing support to build those savings for the child’s education. Visit BostonSavesCSA.org to learn more.
ARTS AND CULTURE COVID-19 FUND
- The Boston Artist Relief Fund, in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts, has provided grants to 515 individual artists.
- The City is creating a $1 million fund for organizations that have been impacted, called the Arts and Culture COVID-19 Fund. Funding is available to Boston-based organizations with budgets less than $5 million. Applications will begin on Tuesday July 7 at boston.gov/arts.
EFFORTS TO INCREASE HOUSING SECURITY
- The City has filed several bills in the current legislative session to protect tenants and increase housing stability. These include:
- A bill that guarantees tenants of a building the right to buy that building with a nonprofit partner if it goes on the market.
- A bill protecting elderly tenants from eviction and displacement.
- A bill to guarantee tenants facing eviction the right to legal representation.
- The Mayor also supports a bill filed by Senator Sal DiDomenico to pilot a Right to Counsel for tenants impacted by COVID-19.
- During the public health crisis, the City has made $8 million available for rental relief for residents who are not eligible for unemployment insurance or federal relief. As of last week, the City has distributed over $1 million of those funds, to cover rent for hundreds of households, and will continue to distribute funds as needed.
- The Mayor is asking the State to extend the eviction moratorium for as long as it takes to protect housing stability in the City of Boston and Commonwealth, and with whatever supports are necessary to protect landlords from foreclosures and other harms.
FIREWORKS
- The Mayor announced a new Task Force to address the increase of illegal fireworks in neighborhoods across Boston. The Task Force will be made up of the Mayor’s Chief of Civic Engagement, the four At-Large City Councilors, the Boston Arson Squad (Fire Investigation Unit), the Boston Police Department’s Bureau of Community Engagement, and community leaders.
- If residents hear or see fireworks being displayed in their neighborhood, please call 911 immediately for a police response. If residents wish to report the illegal purchasing or selling of fireworks, they can do so anonymously by contacting the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1 (800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463).
GENERAL REMINDERS
- Learn more about the reopening process: www.mass.gov/reopening. View The Full Report | View Guidance For Specific Industries.
- Apply to the Boston Reopen Fund boston.gov/reopenfund. The $6 million Fund is a resource to help small businesses minimize risk and manage economic recovery during reopening.
- Learn about the ONE+Boston program, which gives income-qualified first-time Boston homebuyers greater ability to purchase a home in Boston.
- Enter the Mayor’s Garden Contest.
- When going outside, wear a face covering, practice physical distancing from others (6 feet apart), and avoid mass gatherings.
- Anyone experiencing a medical emergency should call 911.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol; avoid shaking hands
- Cover your coughs and sneezes; clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces; and avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- If you think you might be sick, please call your doctor or 311 to be connected to the Mayor’s Health Line 617-534-5050. Buoy Health has created a free online diagnostic tool which screens for COVID19 at buoy.com/mass.
- Donate supplies to first responders here.
- Donate to the City of Boston Resiliency Fund here.
- Volunteer with the City of Boston here.
- Fresh Truck Open Air Markets schedule.
- City Hall is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays, 9 am – 5 pm. Learn more about the status of city departments and hours of operation here.
- Tell the Parks Department where you would like to see more open space in our neighborhood here.
STAY INFORMED
Receive the latest COVID19 info from reliable sources. Visit: bphc.org/coronavirus; boston.gov/coronavirus; mass.gov/2019coronavirus. Call: 311 or 211.
Stay safe.
Best,
Shanice–
 | Shanice PimentelNeighborhood Coordinator and Constituency Liaison forBack Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Kenmore, and Mission Hill Mayor Martin J. WalshOffice of Neighborhood Services617-635-2679 Sign up for neighborhood news here.Click here to follow me on Twitter. |
