Groceries. Rent. Medicine. Gas. Childcare. One moment many folks could pay the bills, and the next moment they simply could not.
This year’s economic shutdown proved what some have long feared: Many local families, whose labor underpins Park City’s economic success as a tourism haven, were one emergency away from being unable to meet their basic needs.
When COVID-19 shuttered the town in March, Park City Community Foundation activated its Community Response Fund and immediately began assessing needs in the community. Most hardworking service sector employees, the majority of whom are Latinx, had jobs without benefits and were let go without notice—a devastating blow.
Gathering information quickly was integral. Fortunately, the Community Foundation had trusted relationships with the Latinx community through its Solomon Fund, which since 2016 has fostered Latinx youth participation in recreation programs, including soccer, skiing and dance. Surveying Solomon Fund families about the pandemic’s economic effects produced extensive, reliable data on very short notice, enabling a robust response to the crisis.
Heidy Onofre, 19, lent a hand, utilizing her bilingual skills to be a liaison in her Park City apartment complex. “Once I mentioned I was working with Diego (Zegarra), they were all in,” she said of the experience. “They were trusting.”
In addition to assisting neighbors, Heidy and her family also received assistance during the shutdown. Heidy’s mother was holding multiple jobs landscaping, driving a snowplow, and cleaning gyms and offices, working 60-70 hours weekly by day and additional hours at night. Heidy also contributed to the family’s living expenses through 30 hours of work per week at a ski shop. When the shop closed and her mother’s cleaning jobs abruptly ended, Heidy feared her college savings would be needed to help pay the bills.
Assistance with rent and bills came from Christian Center of Park City which has been granted $425,000 from the Community Response Fund, and this stabilized the family’s budget, reduced stress, and kept Heidy’s college fund intact for her future.
Jewish Family Service of Utah is one of several other local nonprofits that kicked into high gear to provide COVID- 19 relief with the Community Response Fund. JFS has received $485,000 from the fund to help those in need, and Executive Director Ellen Silver called partnering with the Community Foundation “rewarding and seamless.”
“They’ve made it so easy to help. They trust that we know what we’re doing,” Silver said of the Community Foundation’s response. “This is about keeping a community whole. We want to make sure that we can get through this pandemic, that businesses can stay open, that people can keep roofs over their heads until jobs are back.”
Zegarra said that despite the pandemic’s toll, “What’s heartening is how many have stepped up to help, how many folks have been willing to engage in conversations about the systems in place that put so many people in precarious positions in the first place.”
The Community Response Fund has disbursed more than $1.3 million to nonprofits who have helped over 800 families since the March shutdown. About two million remains in the fund which will continue to deploy dollars for those most impacted and help stabilize the nonprofit community.
Though many service sector jobs have not returned yet, landlords still expect rent. Zegarra said that while landlords have offered payment plans, they have not forgiven or reduced rents, meaning many families are currently accumulating significant debt.
“These folks are getting into a hole,” he said. “I would like for people in positions of power and comfort and for nonprofit groups in general to start considering root causes of these problems. We’re great at dealing with emergencies; those are the symptoms of disease. I want to treat disease itself.”
Silver agreed. “We all benefit when people are cared for and ready to work,” she said. “These are all really important segments of our community that we need to sustain so that when things get better, they’re here for everybody.”