Today, the San Antonio City Council voted to make $9.1 million available to San Antonians unjustly left out of the federal COVID-19 stimulus package. The money will go to people who desperately need help buying food, paying rent and other essentials.
The stimulus package passed by Congress was meant to help people who have been impacted by this unprecedented crisis that has exacerbated the precarious financial existence of many people in San Antonio, the nation’s largest poor city.
TOP received several calls from members who are struggling from losing their jobs and having to care for their kids who can’t go to school. And many of them were excluded from receiving the COVID-19 related federal assistance. People left out of the stimulus package included college students, poor people, undocumented people, citizens married to an undocumented person and others.
TOP moved quickly to organize community support for a local stimulus fund in meetings with city council members.
“We are grateful that by near unanimous vote, our city council showed that we are indeed one city,” said Jessica Azua, an organizer with the Texas Organizing Project. “We know the need in San Antonio is tremendous as evidenced by the long lines at the food bank. This is a good first step in helping our neighbors. Now, we expect the county to step up as well.”
Andrea Osorio, a TOP member who hasn’t been able to do her usual work as a house cleaner and was left out of the stimulus help, said: “I thank Council Member Roberto Trevino, Mayor Ron Nirenberg and the City Council for acknowledging that we are an essential part of this city, of this society. Thank you for giving us a hand to get through this rough patch.”
Teresa Williams, a TOP member whose 19-year-old college students, were left out said: “Thank you for showing that we are all in this together, that we care for our neighbors’ well being. I’m proud of our city, and I’m grateful for everyone who voted for this.”
TOP will now ask Bexar County to also help people left out of the federal stimulus package, and will make the same asks of Harris County, the City of Houston, Dallas County and the City of Dallas.
“Families are hurting,” Azua said. “We expect our local governments to stand up for those who were left out.”
###
Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. For more information, visit organizetexas.org.
This press release was sent out April 23, 2020.