PALATINE (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Cook County is giving out more than $8 million in grants to groups that provide mental health, youth services and food assistance through its Building Healthy Communities program.
Among the 39 groups in suburban Cook getting a grant is Northwest Community Healthcare. The not-for-profit’s executive director of community services Karen Baker said they’ve seen 10 times more people since before the pandemic coming to the food pantry they help run.
“Faced with inflation, they’re having challenges of, ‘Am I going to pay my rent or put food on the table,’ so it’s maybe the working poor, you know, where historically they had never used the pantry,” Baker said.
Partners for Our Communities’ Executive Director Kathy Millin said the grant will help them expand the pantry, which also hands out clothing and other essentials to the immigrant and low-income families they serve.
Cook County Public Health Chief Operating Officer Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck helped announce the COVID response, recovery and resiliency grants at the Community Resource Center in Palatine.
The county has also launched a new vaccine ad campaign to get residents flu and COVID booster shots ahead of what is expected to be a surge this winter.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the time is now to “boost up,” with what she called the “triple threat” of COVID, seasonal flu, and RSV looming over county residents.
Organizations have until Dec. 7 to apply for the grants, which come from state and federal COVID relief funds.
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