Community foundation grants help organizations respond to the pandemic

LITTLE ROCK — A total of 797 grants totaling more than $2.6 million from Arkansas Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Relief Fund have helped local organizations fight the pandemic.

“We learn more every day about how our COVID-19 grants are working to help Arkansans in need,” said Heather Larkin, president and CEO of the Community Foundation.

“We are now evaluating how to utilize the remainder of the dollars in the COVID-19 Relief Fund to address additional needs and gaps that have emerged since the pandemic began.”

A few examples of how grants from the Community Foundation COVID-19 Relief Fund are aiding pandemic response include: The Central Delta Community Action Agency in Pine Bluff works with many families who were struggling financially even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Lost wages and unemployment have made their circumstances even more tenuous. The agency is using a $25,000 COVID19 Phase 2 Adaptation Grant to help low-income families with immediate needs and give them a chance to reach financial stability.

A $25,000 COVID-19 Phase 2 Adaptation Grant is making it possible for Child Care Aware of Northwest Arkansas to help facilities that have been caring for the children of essential workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Grant funds will be used to purchase equipment and offer programs to help provide child care center staff with required professional development and training.

Southern Bancorp Community Partners is using a $25,000 COVID-19 Phase 2 Adaptation Grant to support Arkansans’ longterm financial health. It offers credit counseling for individuals who had to defer payments because of COVID-19-related lost wages or unemployment as they return to the workforce. The organization’s certified counselors work with people to focus on rebuilding credit, avoiding foreclosure and remodeling or even purchasing homes.

With a $1,000 Rapid Response Mini-grant, the Hispanic Women’s Organization of Arkansas developed tutorials to help the population it serves understand how to use telemedicine and to avoid becoming victims of scams. The organization prepared and distributed information about how clients could lower their risk of contracting COVID19 and how to get tested if they think they might have the novel coronavirus.

Main Street Russellville Inc. used a $1,000 Rapid Response Mini-grant to support essential workers while helping some of the city’s downtown businesses. The grant made it possible to purchase more than 850 meals from Russellville restaurants.

These meals were delivered to staff at the COVID Triage Center at Saint Mary’s Regional, the city’s fire and police departments and others.

Nationwide, U. S. community foundations have mobilized more than $1 billion to support on-theground efforts by nonprofits, according to a study by the Community Foundation Public Awareness Initiative. This figure includes funds managed by nearly 600 community foundations who have already granted more than $800 million of the funds mobilized directly to nonprofits.

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BATESVILLE — An Independence County man was released on a $25,000 bond Wednesday for his involvement in a car accident, resulting in the death of a Jonesboro resident.

Brandon Bishop, 23, of Sulphur Rock, was driving southbound in the 1600

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block of Coon Creek Lake when his vehicle slid off the road, an Arkansas State Police preliminary crash summary states. Bishop’s 1997 Dodge Ram crossed into oncoming traffic, continued along a ditch and struck an embankment.

The truck eventually stopped in a ditch.

Independence County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Bret Ward observed that Johnathan Easley, 24, of Jonesboro, was lying dead in the ditch. Bishop and Cambron Owens, 23, of Jonesboro, were lying on the roadside, according to the probable cause affidavit.

“Both subjects advised that Bishop was driving the vehicle and that Mr. Easley was riding in the back of the pickup bed and was ejected when they crashed,” it read. “Ward could detect a strong odor of intoxicants coming from each individual on the scene. Several unopened beer cans, as well as a cooler, (were) located not too far from Mr. Easley’s body.”

Bishop and Owens were injured and they were taken to White River Medical Center in Batesville for treatment, ASP reported. A blood draw was conducted at the hospital and sent to the Arkansas Crime Lab in Little Rock for analysis.

In an interview, Owens told investigators that the group was headed to Bishop’s residence after a day of swimming and drinking at the time of the crash, the affidavit states. He said that Bishop was driving too fast, hit a pothole and lost control of the pickup truck.

Results from the blood test showed that Bishop’s blood-alcohol level was 0.14%, nearly twice the legal limit, according to the affidavit. He also has been convicted of driving while intoxicated and was supposed to operate a vehicle with an ignition interlock device, which was not installed in the pickup he was driving.

Prosecutors filed formal criminal charges and an arrest warrant was issued Monday for suspicion of negligent homicide, driving while intoxicated, violation of ignition interlock device, driving on a suspended license, no proof of liability insurance and careless or prohibited driving.

Deputies arrested Bishop Wednesday afternoon and he was briefly listed online as a detainee.