COVID-19 Ways to Help

(Updated 5/11/20) The COVID-19 pandemic remains an extraordinarily challenging situation, with New York City workers, as always, on the front lines of the crisis. The labor movement is rising in solidarity to meet those challenges. Many of you have already reached out to inquire about how to support workers as they continue to provide the essential services that New York City residents are relying on for their safety, health, and well-being.

 

Supplies:

Some of you may have access to urgently needed supplies through your shops or employers. The following supplies have been identified as urgently needed by the City of New York:

• Surgical grade N95s
• Surgical masks
• Isolation gowns
• Face shields
• Hand sanitizer
• Non-surgical grade N95s
• Latex gloves
• Sanitizing wipes
• Goggles
• Ventilators
• Tents
• Thermometers

Click here for Donate NYC’s website where you can donate these and other supplies.

NYC EDC is seeking businesses with the ability to source and/or make products to support the City’s COVID-19 response work.

Support can include: 

Sourcing or production of medical supplies and equipment (e.g., masks, gowns, face shields, ventilators, and other products as needed)
Production or distribution of food
Sharing connections to people willing and able to work on response efforts

Click here to complete a form for each category of support you can offer!

 

Relief Funds:

There are also opportunities to support workers whose livelihoods have already been impacted by the outbreak.

The NY Frontline Fund by Amalgamated Bank and the NYC Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

The American Federation of Musicians Local 802 Relief Fund 

SAG-AFTRA Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund

New York Car Wash Workers Support Fund

The New York Nail Salon Workers Relief Fund

Independent Drivers Guild (a Machinists Union project) fund to help unemployed Uber and Lyft drivers make emergency home meal deliveries to high-risk seniors during the crisis.

Worker’s Justice Project (WJP) is raising funds to support their members and Jornaleras during the coronavirus crisis. 14% of funds donated will go towards administrative costs (mostly fiscal sponsor fee) and the rest will go towards our members and Jornalerxs who are in financial need.

American Guild of Musical Artists Relief Fund

The Actors Fund

As the virus continues to impact the economy, we anticipate that more unions and worker organizations will be setting up relief funds, and we will add them to this page as they become available.

 

Volunteering:

NYC Service leads the Volunteer Coordination Taskforce (VCTF), a partnership with NYC Emergency Management, New York Cares and other partners to centralize and coordinate volunteer efforts during emergencies. The VCTF is working to assess a safe volunteer response to those most affected by COVID-19. If you are interested in learning about available opportunities to volunteer, complete the New York Cares COVID-19 relief efforts form to share your information and hear more about opportunities to serve as they arise.

Other volunteer resources:

NYC Community Emergency Response Teams (NYC CERT): New York City Community Emergency Response Team (NYC CERT) members are dedicated volunteers who undergo a training program that provides basic response skills needed for fire safety, light search and rescue, community disaster support, disaster medical operations, and traffic control.

NYC Community Preparedness program: NYC Emergency Management helps local organizations build capacity within their community to prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency.

New York City Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NYCVOAD): NYCVOAD is a coalition of non-profit, faith-based, and government organizations in NYC committed to working together in the areas of disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resiliency/mitigation.

American Red Cross of Greater New York volunteer resources: The Greater New York Region serves more than 13 million people in New York City; Long Island; Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester counties; and Greenwich, Conn.

New York Interfaith Services (NYDIS): NYDIS is a faith-based federation of over 60 diverse judicatories, disaster human services providers, and charitable organizations who work in partnership to provide disaster readiness, response, and recovery services to New York City.

Medical Reserve Corps: The New York City Medical Reserve Corps (NYC MRC) is a trained group of over 9,000 members ready to respond to health emergencies.

 

Share Your Space:

Registering community spaces is another way you can help support communities during this time. You also can direct others in your community to register their spaces as well. To register your space, visit the Share Your Space Survey online.

 

Donate Blood:

Due to coronavirus converns, many private blood drives have been cancelled and New York Blook Center is experiencing critically low blood and platelet appointments making it difficult to meet patient needs and hospital demand. To donate, call 800-933-2566 or go to www.nybc.org.

 

To share additional ways to help, email info@nycclc.org