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Covid-19 School Surveillance Testing Program - $212,150
MV Community Services - $200,000
YMCA of MV - $200,000
The Island Food Pantry & Island Grown Initiative - $50,000
Boys & Girls Club of MV - $100,000
MV Early Childcare Providers Emergency Fund - $50,000
A Martha’s Vineyard School Surveillance Testing Program was supported in partnership with MV Bank with $212,150 to identify and contain asymptomatic cases in schools and assure families that returning to school can be safely done. The proposed plan will use SalivaClear, a spit-sample PCR test produced by Mirimus Clinical Labs. Weekly, pooled testing of staff and students in all Island schools is planned to begin the first week of January and continue for 24 weeks until the end of the school year. Testing will be mandated for any staff or students who want to enter school buildings. Those who do not consent to testing will be offered a fully remote learning option. SalivaClear testing samples will be self-administered at home and delivered to a central location in each school every Tuesday morning. Samples will be pooled in groups of 24, with follow-up pair testing and then individual testing should a positive test be identified. The Superintendent will oversee the program administration, and school nurses will distribute, collect and track the testing kits.
School children are likely to be in the last category of recipients of a vaccine, so it is anticipated that the testing program will continue for the duration of the school year. The total project budget for 24 weeks of testing is $462,150. The All Island School Committee (AISC) approved a $150,000 contribution to the testing program, which was then approved by individual schools’ budgets in mid-November. The MV Bank Charitable Foundation committed $100,000 to the project and agreed to be the fiscal agent for the program.
MV Community Services was awarded $200,000 to support the organization’s response to a myriad of Island issues. The organization has transitioned all counseling and addiction services to be delivered through telehealth. They are supporting families served by their Headstart and early childcare programs - supplying essential personal items, groceries, formula and diapers to families in need. The organization is relocating victims of domestic violence, organizing a volunteer matching program and providing needed support for MV’s homeless population.
The Island Food Pantry was awarded $36,000 to support the projected 20-50% increased demand for food access. Working in partnership with Island Grown Initiative, who was awarded $14,000 to expand their operational capacity, the two organizations are racing to face the explosive increases in food insecurity on Martha’s Vineyard.
YMCA of MV, awarded a $200,000 Expansion Grant in January 2020, was notified that all restrictions on their grant would be lifted, allowing the funds to be used to close the projected $750,000 funding gap the organization projects they will face as a result of lost revenues, if closure continues until June 30 and transition programming online for children, teens and elders. The organization is providing engaging virtual online activities and connection through a host of exercise classes, outdoor activities, chat groups and virtual classes to promote community connection, health and wellness.
Boys & Girls Club of MV was awarded $100,000 to support the organization’s pandemic response, supply lost revenue and specifically enable the club to offer a free summer program to year round families in need of childcare.
As a result of the state mandated 15-week closure period, home-based and center-based childcare providers faced dire financial pressure to fund their operating budgets without any income from family fees. MVYouth seeded the MV Early Childcare Providers Emergency Fund with $50,000 to support 16 licensed early childcare programs on MV. The intention of the fund was to attract additional funding to adequately address the scale of the collective problem and support the administrative needs of all providers to harness public funding. Four MVYouth Founders, the Couch Family Foundation, the Ziff Family Foundation, MV Bank and Mary & Jerome Vascellaro contributed to the fund and a grant from the Commonwealth Children’s Fund was received to specifically support the home-based providers. Over $180,000 in awards from the Early Childcare Providers Emergency Fund funded gaps created by the closure period and helped to stabilize all programs until reopening is deemed safe and feasible.
