The Oregon Worker Relief Fund is opening applications for a second round of allocations after receiving an influx of funds from the city of Portland.
The OWRF was created in 2020 to fill holes in the public safety net for immigrants and refugees during the Covid-19 pandemic. These populations are left out of unemployment and other safety net programs and with the upheaval of the economy from the pandemic, a coalition of community groups stepped in to create this fund.
Since last year, the fund has raised more than $100 million through public and private organizations and it has allocated over $80 million in weekly distributions through its three programs. The three programs of the Oregon Worker Relief Coalition are payments for workers who lost income because of quarantine, payments for workers who lost income because of shutdowns and layoffs and who are not eligible for unemployment benefits, and payments to small business owners whose immigration status kept them from receiving federal aid.
The city of Portland has contributed $5.5 million to Oregon Worker Relief programs. Of that, $2 million is going to the Oregon Worker Relief Fund that sends payments to workers who lost income but are not eligible for unemployment. The remaining amount is going to new programs that are in the works.
The worker relief fund has between $14 million and $16 million available.
Organizers of the fund, which released a report earlier this year on the results of the coalitions work, are asking the state to allocate more resources to the effort.
“These payments are more necessary than ever as the Delta variant continues to destabilize Portland’s immigrant and BIPOC households already at a disadvantage due to historic inequities,” said Isa Peña, Interim Executive Director of Causa and Executive Committee member of Oregon Worker Relief, in a written statement. “The need is also far greater than what is available in funds. That’s why we’re hoping the State will be able to allocate a significant amount of American Rescue Plan Act dollars to Oregon Worker Relief at the next Emergency Board or Short Session. We need to allow Oregon to make an equitable recovery from the pandemic and investing in our community is an essential way to begin to undo historic inequities and build a more inclusive Oregon.”
Starting Oct. 4, people who have already received assistance can apply again for the worker relief program. Applicants are guided through the program by navigators who are part of a network of community and culturally specific groups across the state.
Organizers of the fund estimate that 110,000 Oregonians were left out of unemployment and other aid due to immigration status. The group notes that Latinx Oregonians make up 80% of the undocumented population facing these inequities. The Latinx community has been hit hard during the pandemic. The group makes up 20.6% of Covid-19 cases but 13.4% of the total population.
"Most Oregonians received a second federal stimulus check due to the length of the pandemic. Undocumented workers did not,” said Reyna Lopez, executive director of PCUN, a farmworker union and advocate for Latinx working families. “This is why a second payment from OWRF is the right thing to do. This means that those same Oregonians excluded from the second federal stimulus check can continue to pay for things like utility bills, groceries and medication. This pandemic continues to force us to change our expectations about when and how it will end — and we must be responsive to that."
