The Open Society Foundations has announced a $1 million commitment in support of low-wage workers in Baltimore who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Open Society Institute-Baltimore will work with local partners to distribute direct cash assistance to un- and underemployed workers and will support grassroots leaders working to mitigate the impacts of the virus on low-income communities of color. Funding also will be distributed in support of local organizations working to provide emergency, financial, and job stabilization services; community education and advocacy efforts focused on removing structural barriers to employment for marginalized worker populations; and a citywide work initiative for young people of color and individuals with a criminal record.

According to OSF, long-standing structural and economic inequities and inadequate social safety nets put vulnerable populations at greater risk of falling into poverty. Numerous studies have found, for example, that African Americans are dying from COVID-related illnesses at much higher rates than other groups or ethnicities.

"The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the widespread poverty and high unemployment in many of Baltimore's most marginalized communities," said OSI-Baltimore director Danielle Torain. "We intend to quickly disperse these funds to those most directly impacted to soften the pandemic's economic impact and do so in ways that build the capacity of local partners and the city to advance a long and difficult recovery."

(Photo credit: CDC Foundation)