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Corps member Emergency Relief Fund

At City Year, we understand that unexpected things in life happen. If you’re experiencing significant financial challenges because of an unforeseen personal hardship, emergency or disaster, you can apply for relief funds.

We’ve partnered with E4E Relief, a nonprofit organization that distributes grants to help employees in a time of need. E4E works with more than 300 companies across the globe, and it has helped hundreds of thousands of people in need.

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Here’s how it works

When an emergency occurs, such as unexpected illness, car trouble, theft, flood or fires, you often face bills and unexpected expenses to replace what you lost and cover basic expenses.

Step 1: Apply for assistance

The first step is to contact E4E for assistance and complete the simple application process. Every application is received and reviewed promptly, typically within one to two business days. This entire process is completely confidential, and you are not obligated to share your circumstances with City Year or anyone else.

Your case is assigned to an E4E specialist, who will work with you to understand what happened and help you access as much relief funds as possible.

Step 2: Support your claim

Grant specialists will work with you to classify the event and help identify all the hardship costs you are incurring.

Documentation to support your claim could include:

  • Paystubs or recent tax returns that reflect change in income
  • Past due bills
  • Eviction notices
  • Police or fire reports
  • Death certificate
  • Court documents
  • Hotel/lodging receipts (in cases of evacuation)
  • Insurance claims
  • Repair estimates
  • Invoices from funeral home

What types of expenses can be reimbursed?

Reimbursements could include, but are not limited to:

  • Food
  • Clothing
  • Transportation
  • Housing and home contents
  • Childcare expenses
  • Hotel/lodging
  • Evacuation expenses
  • Insurance deductibles
  • Medical expenses
  • Psychological counseling
  • Utilities
  • Funeral costs

Step 3: Receive funds

E4E will then transfer funds to your bank account through Zelle or mail a check to an address of your choosing. These funds are provided to you as tax-free, charitable gifts.

Relief funding

You are eligible to receive up to a total of $5,000 in relief funds over two years.

For a disaster-related event, you qualify for up to $1,500.

For a personal hardship event, you qualify for up to $2,000.

Who’s eligible for relief funds

There are three criteria to qualify for emergency relief funds.

  1. You must be a currently serving AmeriCorps member with City Year to apply. In some cases, confirmed AmeriCorps members who have accepted an offer but not yet started their service term may be eligible.
  2. Your reason for needing assistance must be a qualifying disaster or hardship event. These categories are determined by the IRS and evaluated by E4E.
  3. Financial assistance must be connected to the event and be documented and supported by receipts.

Connecting your need for assistance to an emergency beyond your control and collecting documentation of the real costs you are experiencing allows E4E to verify your situation, and E4E is therefore allowed, by the IRS, to provide you with as much financial relief as possible, tax-free.

Emergency and hardship events

Catastrophic disaster

Catastrophic disasters are large-scale events, like a hurricane or wildfire, that generally result in mass evacuation.

Personal disaster

Personal disasters are small-scale, isolated events such as a house fire, burst pipe or isolated tornado.

Personal financial hardship

Personal financial hardships are events such as illness, death in the family, domestic or physical abuse or another financially overwhelming and unexpected event.

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