Disaster Relief in Nevada County

The Relief Fund will consider grant requests servicing western Nevada County (defined as West of the Highway 20-80 interchange) for the purpose of: 

• Serving vulnerable populations as defined above, who have been impacted by the hardships associated with COVID-19 and shelter-in-place restrictions by providing such things as food, housing, living expenses, transportation, and other basic needs. 
• Mitigating the mental-health impacts of COVID-19 and shelter-in-place restrictions including social isolation, increased depression and suicidal thoughts, and possible increases in family violence. 
• New for Round 3: Providing childcare, educational support services for children, or other strategies to engage and supervise children with the goal of allowing parents to return to work while K-12 education is primarily or in part being provided through distance learning due to COVID-19. 

Funding priorities for the Nonprofit Grants Program include: 

• Provision of direct services such as food, shelter, rental assistance, childcare, and other critical needs to vulnerable populations and to those recently unemployed due to COVID-19.  
• Support for these organizations to address staffing, volunteer, fiscal and other resource deficiencies that have resulted from shelter-in-place and distancing requirements.  Examples might include one-time gaps in fundraising income or costs to expand staffing to meet increased demand. 
• Investments in these safety-net organizations that promote the resiliency and capacity of these organizations to meet the long-term needs of the community due to COVID-19.  Examples may include one-time costs for infrastructure needs including technology, vehicles, or items that improve the efficiency or reach of the program. 
• Demonstration of creative, collaborative or innovative approaches to addressing the current situation.  Examples may include unusual partnerships such as a hunger relief organization and local restaurant working together to provide meals, or a new model of service delivery that utilizes technology in a creative way to engage children safely so that parents can continue to work.

Other critical scoring criteria for applications will include impact of the project and number of people served; capacity of the project to reach vulnerable residents; and cost effectiveness of the grant.  

• Please note that only nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) status are eligible to apply for funds. 
• All applications must be complete and contain all supporting documents. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 
• Applications will stay “active” for 90 days from grant submission date and will be rolled over as new grant cycles occur within the active period. Applicants may be asked to renew their financial information if more than 30 days from passed since the original application was submitted. 
• New applications may be submitted after expiration of 90 days or a new grant proposal submitted in lieu of an active application from the same organization. 
• Applicants may apply to either the nonprofit safety-net fund or the Small Business fund but not both in any one cycle. 
  • Applying to the Relief Fund does not preclude applicants from applying to the County of Nevada’s new “Economic & Community Resiliency” grant program. 
• Applicants who have received awards in one cycle are still eligible to apply in subsequent cycles. 

The Nevada County Relief Fund does not discriminate in its practices in any way, including discrimination based on race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law.