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Community Resources for Families

General Information

SPECTRUM: 2 Months free internet

Spectrum will offer two free months of internet and WiFi services to new customers in households with a Pre-K to 12th grade student or college student who needs it for school. The discount will be applied as a credit for your first two months of internet service and the company will waive all installation and pre-payment fees.

For more information on the promotion, you can contact Spectrum at 1-(866) 874-2389.

Internet Access Resources

https://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/en/District/Newsrooms/Covid-19-Updates/04-20-20-Internet-Resources-for-Families.htm

GOOD MUST KNOWS

  • Evictions orders are on hold through May 1st

  • Effective March 19th all timed, meter, and night parking restrictions have been suspended

  • The April 15th deadline for utility disconnections has been extended. Regulators have ordered that all gas, electric, and water utilities not be disconnected for residential or commercial businesses.

  • Effective March 13, 2020 all federal student loans went to 0% interest until the Department of Education issues further guidance.  You can call your service provider, and ask to have your student loan payments forbearance for 60 days.

Food Resources

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

  • Locate pantries and other sites providing meals or call 211

  • MPS Lunch sites for families

  • The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee are providing three meals a day for kids under age 18. Follow the link for a map of participating locations. (414) 267-8100

  • Friedens Community Ministries has several food pantry locations in Milwaukee.

  • Shipt is offering 4 weeks free delivery for groceries (Target, Meijer, CVS)

  • Apply for FoodShare: Wisconsin families whose children receive free or reduced lunch, including all MESA families, are eligible for free food benefits during school closures and summer. Families currently receiving FoodShare benefits will have the funds automatically added to their account. If your family does not receive benefits or does not receive full benefits, you can still apply online at https://access.wi.gov/s/pebt. For information, visit the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

  • Milwaukee Public Schools is providing packaged breakfasts and lunches for students during the summer. Families can stop at any of the 20 locations to pick up meals, while still practicing social distancing. School sites are open Monday – Friday, 11 AM – 1 PM; food trucks have specific hours. All meals are provided by the Department of Nutrition Services. For more information visit https://mps.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/MPS-Shared/Documents1/Coronavirus/MealsFoodTrucks_Eng_04202020.pdf 

  • Wauwatosa School District has approval from the Department of Public Instruction to extend our meal program to serve non-District community members who may also benefit from this free service. Meals may be picked up between 11 am and 12:30 pm on Mondays at Whitman Middle School (11100 W. Center Street) and on Tuesdays at Longfellow Middle School (7600 W. North Avenue). If you’re in need of transportation to/from a meal pick-up location, please contact Food Services at (414) 773-2635 to make arrangements. Please click here to place your order.

Unemployment

Apply for unemployment here-https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/uiben/

Housing

Voting

REQUESTING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT BY MAIL

Due to Covid concerns, the Election Commission strongly recommends that anyone planning to vote in the November 3rd General Election request to have an absentee ballot mailed to them.

  • Find our more information here: https://city.milwaukee.gov/election/Voter-Info/VotingbyAbsenteeBallot

  • Request your absentee ballot online at myvote.wi.gov (voters will be required to upload a picture of their Photo ID if not already on file).

  • Or send an email to absenteeballot@milwaukee.gov (Photo ID still applies). Be sure to tell them your name, address, and for which election you want the ballot.

Ways To Keep Active

The American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation has compiled a list of COVID-19-safe outdoor and indoor activities to stay active, including over 350 virtual workouts, tips for social distancing with kids and online yoga classes.

Senior Citizen/Disability Resources

MILWAUKEE COUNTY:

  • The Milwaukee County Department on Aging is offering home delivery and some meal pick up options.

  • Milwaukee residents older than age 60 who meet certain income requirements can get a free box of healthy food from the Hunger Task Force. Call at 414-777-0483

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Mental Health Resources

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  • Optum Public Crisis Line offers a toll-free emotional support helpline available to anyone. Caring professionals will connect you to resources. It’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call: 866-342-6802.

  • Doctor on Demand: Medical care and mental health care available with insurance. It’s an app that can be downloaded to your phone.

  • MindStar: Are able to do telehealth sessions. 414-435-1115

  • Family Healing and Wellness Center  414-367-8793

  • Parent Helpline: 414-671-0566 – talk to a live person for any parenting support needed
    Mon. – Thurs. 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM, Fri. 8:30 AM-3:00 PM

  • IMPACT 2-1-1 responds after hours

  • Mental Health America and COVID-19 Resource List: https://mhanational.org/covid19

  • SupportGroups: www.online.supportgroups.com
    Website featuring 200+ online support groups.

  • For Like Minds: www.forlikeminds.com
    Online mental health support network that allows for individuals to connect with others who are living with or supporting someone with mental health conditions, substance use disorders, and stressful life events.

  • 18percent: www.18percent.org
    Offers a free, peer-to-peer online support community for those struggling with a wide range of mental health issues.

  • Psych Central: www.psychcentral.com
    Offers online mental health resources, quizzes, news, an “Ask the Therapist” function, and online support communities.

  • 7 Cups: www.7cups.com
    Free online text chat with a trained listener for emotional support and counseling. Also offers fee- for-service online therapy with a licensed mental health professional. Service/website also offered in Spanish.

  • Emotions Anonymous: www.emotionsanonymous.org
    An international fellowship of people who desire to have a better sense of emotional well-being. The EA is nonprofessional and can be a complement to therapy.

  • MHA’s Inspire Community: https://www.inspire.com/groups/mental-health-america/
    An online community where people can connect with others. MHA hosts a dedicated mental health community, but there are communities related to a variety of topics.

  • Lyf App: download app at https://www.lyfapp.com.au/
    Lyf is a social media app where users share highly personal aspects of themselves without the fear of judgment. It’s the one app where you can be yourself or write anonymously and people won’t degrade or bring you down.

  • Warmlines: http://www.warmline.org/
    A warmline is a peer-run listening line staffed by people in recovery themselves.

  • SAMHSA’s National Helpline: Call 1-800-662-4357
    SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders.

  • Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Disaster Distress Helpline:
    Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746

  • Disaster Distress Helpline: Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746.
    The Disaster Distress Helpline (DDH) provides crisis counseling and support for anyone in the U.S. experiencing distress or other behavioral health concerns related to any natural or human-caused disaster, including public health emergencies.

  • Crisis Text Line: text MHA to 741741
    You’ll be connected to a trained Crisis Counselor. Crisis Text Line provides free, text-based support 24/7

  • Online AA Meetings

Google For Education

INTRODUCING TEACH FROM HOME

To support the hundreds of millions of students and educators currently facing school closures, we’re introducing Teach from Home—a hub providing information, tips, training and tools to help remote teaching and learning.
Recent weeks have been especially challenging for teachers, students, and families as schools close and normal routines are disrupted. This transition is all the more daunting for educators who aren’t yet comfortable using technology, let alone our tools, so we want to make it easier to get started. To help with that, we’ve developed Teach from Home, a temporary hub of information and tools to help teachers during this crisis. You’ll find resources to enable remote instruction, student engagement, collaboration with peers, and more.

Check out the Google for Education blog

FOR TEACHERS

Here are the Google Classroom tutorials for teachers

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https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/first-day-trainings/welcome-to-classroom

https://www.educatorstechnology.com/2019/02/google-classroom-basics-for-teachers.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCNImsWUxZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDBO40_qmt4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOUEP29MX58

For More Grade level IT Resources Read more on our IT website www.mesait.org 

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