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Page 2 of 9 Applications were received from five non-profits; Bhutanese Community Organization of Minnesota, 35 Bridging, Keystone, Karen Organization of Minnesota, and Northeast Youth and Family Services. 36 37 Staff has received all information required for the applications including budget documents and IRS 990 38 forms and have them on file. Information for each request is summarized below and each non-profit’s 39 application is included in the attachments. 40 41 Bhutanese Community Organization of Minnesota (BCOM) Request: $10,000 42 43 Organization’s service to the Roseville community 44 In the U.S. there are now more than 90,000 Bhutanese with around 2500 in Minnesota. Most Bhutanese 45 live in St. Paul, Roseville and Minneapolis. About 40% of the Bhutanese community people live in 46 Roseville therefore about the same percentage of budget BCOM spends for providing the services to 47 them. 48 49 Impact of COVID on organization 50 COVID has increased the need for support within the Bhutanese community and at the same time 51 restricted the ability of BCOM to provide this direct support. Several of BCOM’s ongoing programs 52 are group activities and are not possible to safely conduct during COVID. These include English as a 53 Second Language (ESL) classes, Citizen Classes, Woman Health Education group meetings, etc. 54 Individual appointments are possible and are being conducted with hygiene, social distancing and 55 mask wearing protocols in place. These are now by appointment only and no walk-ins are permitted to 56 control congestion of clients. Prior to COIVD, 90% of individual direct services were delivered to 57 walk-ins as this system matches Bhutanese cultural norms. These necessary adjustments have caused 58 approximately 60% fewer clients served even though the community’s needs are now greater. The 59 Bhutanese community has many members who do not speak or read English, have low or no computer 60 literacy or the financial resources to procure in-home internet and technology. This makes 61 transitioning services to a remote provision model all but impossible and highlights how this BIPOC 62 community is experiencing the impact of COVID disproportionately to communities with more 63 economic, linguistic and educational privilege. 64 65 As a very small organization, the BCOM has realized that it is very difficult to secure enough funding to 66 develop programs and services to meet the needs of the community members. With this realization, 67 since it’s founding BCOM has placed a strong emphasis on partnering with other agencies to learn, 68 deliver and leverage services for Bhutanese community members. Each of BCOM's core programs 69 partner with other agencies that have a track record of success in administering programming. The 70 lack of operational fund makes BCOM hard to pay for the rent, utilities, insurance, and payroll taxes. 71 72 Use of ARPA grant funds 73 BCOM would like to request $10,000. BCOM is the only Bhutanese led nonprofit organization that 74 serves the Bhutanese refugee population resettled in Twin Cities area metro area since 2008. BCOM 75 provides services primarily through funding from partners contracts and. The contracts are small and 76 are budgeted primarily for staff time for direct services. BCOM has a need for funding overall 77 organizational management and activities outside the grants' parameters to sustain and build 78 Organization's capacity to keep serving the community. We are expecting the funds from Roseville city 79 to meet the general operation need of the agency for the current year at least partially and BCOM is 80 working on to apply with the Bremer foundation for the general operating fund. Therefore, a critical 81 next step for BCOM is to increase the dissemination of translated and interpreted Center for Disease 82 Control and Minnesota Department of Health COVID guidance and to provide sufficient support so 83