As the year ends, so does the Escambia CARES Family Assistance Grant program. The last of the $3,000 checks to qualified households have been issued to residents of Escambia County.
In total, the grant program sent 5,500 payments of $3,000 directly to county residents. In all, the county directed $16.5 million to its citizens through Escambia CARES Family Assistance Grant program. Dozens of county employees worked hard to review nearly 10,000 applications.
In addition to the Family CARES grant, the county also delivered $7,500 to 428 businesses as a part of the Escambia CARES Business Grant program. A total of $3.2 million was distributed to area businesses through this program.
The county also assisted households impacted by COVID-19 who were late on rent, mortgage and utility bills through the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) offered through Florida Housing Finance Corporation. The county made 803 payments directly to accounts in arrears totaling $1.3 million for 389 income eligible households through the Rent and Mortgage assistance program.
With the conclusion of these programs, staff will no longer be responding to phone calls or emails in regard to the grants. To check the status of any Escambia CARES grant payments, view the county's check registry online.
Along with the grants, in its continuing efforts to assist the community, Escambia County also allocated funding to the Escambia Serves program and rapid testing programs.
The Escambia County Family CARES Grant program is part of a larger federally funded stimulus package that was required to be spent by the Dec. 30, 2020 deadline. In total, there was a $57.3 million allocation for Escambia County.
