FEDERAL

1. CONTACT your member of Congress/ Senate on the importance of emergency arts funding:
   1. Call: Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation $600/wk relief ended July 25th. ExtendPUA is advocating for pandemic relief to continue until the pandemic is over.

      • Call your senator and see ExtendPUA’s action items list for more options.

   2. Sign: An Open Letter to the Senators of the 116th Congress: Fund the Arts through the Be an #ArtsHero campaign

      • Take Action: Be An #ArtsHero - ACTION PACKET

   3. Write: Congress asking them to approve emergency supplemental funding for the arts - this campaign is led by a??Actors' Equity Association

   4. Sign on letter: The PPP Coalition is an ad hoc grassroots coalition of local, regional, and national entities from the "last-to-reopen" sectors of the American economy. They seek to improve PPP through a few key changes to the program that will benefit all borrowers, small businesses and nonprofits, regardless of their industry. Share with nonprofit colleagues across the country and follow on social media @PPPCoaltion.

   5. Write or Call Congress: H.R. 40: Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act was introduced to the House in January 2019 and needs to be considered by committee before it can be sent on to the House or Senate as a whole. Write Or Call Congress.

2. Updates on Federal

   1. Health, Economic Assistance, Liability, and Schools Act (HEALS Act): Senate Republicans released a 4th stimulus package on July 27, 2020. The package includes:

      • Appropriations: The spending plan calls for $300 billion in new appropriations, $235 billion for health and education programs. $105 billion in new federal spending on education, including $70 billion for K-12 schools, $29 billion for colleges, $1 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education and outlying areas, as well as $5 billion for governors to spend on education.

      • PPP: Allows borrowers a second round of a PPP loan, so long as the nonprofit has 300 or fewer employees; expand the types of expenses that are forgivable

      • Liability Protections: The bill would temporarily limit liability for personal injuries arising from alleged COVID-19 exposure at a school, college, nonprofit, church, or business.

      • Tax Provisions: The bill would extend but reduce unemployment benefits; provide another round of direct checks to residents with income up to $75,000 ($150,000/couple) and dependents; temporarily extend the Work Opportunity Tax Credit; extend the time period and expand uses of Coronavirus Relief Fund resources made available to state and local governments under the CARES Act; and increase federal coverage of unemployment costs of self-insured employers to 75% from 50%. Summary

NEW YORK STATE

1. COVID-19 Rent Relief: The deadline to apply for the NYS Rent Relief Program is Thursday July 30th.
2. Paid Family Leave: Families First Coronavirus Response Act and NYS Paid Family Leave have provisions for employees to take off time to care for children or those affected by COVID-19, as well as paid sick leave.
3. Travel Advisory: Governor Cuomo has added 10 additional states to the restricted travel list. New York employees must forgo their paid sick leave benefits if they take non-essential trips to high-risk states. This does not apply if the employee travels for work or at the employer’s request. For more information, see the NYS COVID-19 Travel Advisory website.

4. Updates on COVID: 

   • The number of total hospitalizations continues to decline in NYS. On July 26th the state had 642 hospitalizations total. Even amidst the summer months and slow reopening everyone must continue to practice social-distancing, regular hand-washing, and wearing masks.

NEW YORK CITY

1. 2020 Census Week of Action:

   • Sign up to help with outreach during this week’s “Census Week of Action.” Please complete the Census if you have not already!

2. COVID-19 Testing: Find a location to get tested at nyc.gov/covidtest.

3. Child Care Opportunities: The City is seeking to contract with businesses, including nonprofit organizations, to create wrap-around child care opportunities for preschool and school-aged children on days when they are not in school during the 2020-2021 School Year.

   • If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, you can find the Learning Bridges Request for Information (RFI) here. The City will be hosting an RFI informational call on July 30: register here. When reviewing the RFI in PASSPort, any PASSPort account holders should send questions using the discussion forum in PASSPort. If you do not have a PASSPort account and you have questions, please contact CP@dycd.nyc.gov.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Dance/NYC Coronavirus Preparedness Resources.

• Dance/NYC Racial Justice Resources 

• Join the movement: #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers.

• Dance/NYC hosts weekly dance field-wide calls to address our questions, needs, and plans for the future as a field. Calls occur every Thursday, 4:00 pm. – 5:00 p.m. Register!