Hawai‘i County Coronavirus Relief Fund RFP Announced

Hawai‘i County will receive $80 million CARES Act funding, which it will try to distribute as quickly as possible.

To help manage financial recovery programs, the County will release a Request for Proposals (RFP) on Sunday, July 12, 2020, at www.hawaiicounty.gov/cares. Non-profits, financial institutions, or other management organizations with the ability to deliver direct services or sub-awards to communities, businesses, and individuals are invited to apply.

Applicants can be nonprofit or for-profit entities with the capacity to receive grant awards starting from $250,000 to more than $2 million. Funds must be distributed to the community no later than December 30, 2020. Contractors must comply with all federal and state CARES Act guidelines.

Individuals and individual businesses are not eligible to apply if seeking to address only their own needs. Assistance being sought for this purpose will be addressed through the selected nonprofits, financial institutions, or other management organizations awarded contracts through this RFP.

Programs addressed in the RFP include:

• Food Assistance – Grants to nonprofits to purchase local farm produce, distribute to restaurants for meal preparation and delivery of meals to vulnerable families and other food need allocations. $3,992,000
• Childcare – Grants to licensed childcare providers to support the expansion of operations and incentives for new childcare providers; supplies including sanitation, disinfecting supplies, foggers, UV lights, and temperature scanners. $2,500,000
• Community and Family Resilience – Grants to support new and existing social-related, health and wellness programs that build resilient communities through building capacity, supporting the creation and strengthening of relationships that build social capital and foster cooperation and trust. $4,000,000
• Connectivity Enhancement – Grants for micro-transmitters and tablets to support remote telework, businesses, and education. $1,000,000
• Business and Nonprofit Assistance – Grants to support financial obligations including but not limited to rent, leases, mortgage, vehicle leases, master supply agreements, and non-governmental utilities and reopening costs. $22,000,000
• Individual Grants to Prevent Housing Displacement – Grants to provide unduplicated monetary assistance for rent, leases, mortgages, and non-governmental utilities to households directly impacted by COVID-19. $10,000,000

For more details on these programs, visit www.hawaiicounty.gov/cares. Applications for the RFP are due by Tuesday, July 21 at 4:30 p.m. by electronic submission.

To answer potential applicant questions, the County is holding a webinar on Monday, July 13 from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. To sign up for the webinar or to submit questions in advance, visit www.hawaiicounty.gov/cares.