More than 950 struggling families and individuals in Montgomery County have received $1,030,150 from a $10 million county financial relief fund.
The checks have been distributed from the Emergency Assistance Relief Payment program.
Recipients must be ineligible for federal or state aid and earn incomes less than 50% of the federal poverty level, which is $6,380 for a single adult and $10,860 for a family of three.
During the first phase, 955 checks were given to families accessing services through the county’s Care for Kids program. Each payment was at least $1,000 and every additional child in a family added an extra $150, with a maximum grant of $1,450.
The majority — 94% — of the recipients are Latino, according to a county breakdown of the recipients.
African Americans account for 2% and white people account for 1.1% of the payments. About 0.6% of the recipients have been Asian or Pacific Islander.
The rest of the recipients — 2% — are of multiple races or their race is unknown.
The program’s second phase, which began on May 18, opened applications through nonprofit partners.
Applications have been accepted from seven nonprofit agencies helping county staff members process the applications, as well as 45 referral agencies, which are applying on behalf of residents, and the county’s 311 customer service center.
“We put the program on hold on Monday so that our staff can process all of the existing applications and determine the amount of remaining funding,” Mary Anderson, a spokeswoman for the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, told Bethesda Beat in an email Wednesday afternoon.
The county has received 757 applications — 668 of which have been approved for grants. Nearly 90 applications are on hold, denied or returned with a request for additional information.
The program drew the attention of nonprofit group Judicial Watch, which sued the county on behalf of residents Sharon Bauer and Richard Jurgena.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the county from distributing the relief funds to immigrants living in the country illegally. The program violates federal immigration law because the financial assistance was not approved by the state legislature, the nonprofit alleged.
County Executive Marc Elrich and Raymond Crowel, the county’s DHHS director, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The D.C. law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr — known as WilmerHale — is going to help defend the county, pro bono.
Bauer v. Elrich is pending in the U.S. District Court for Maryland. Both parties filed motions for summary judgement on May 26.
On Friday, Judge Peter J. Messitte denied Bauer and Jurgena’s request for a temporary retraining order that was requested on May 13. The residents also filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against Crowel and Elrich.
Messitte denied the temporary restraining order, provided that the county preserves and does not distribute at least 25% of the remaining EARP funds, pending further order of the court.
Briana Adhikusuma can be reached at briana.adhikusuma@moco360.media.