Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti Wednesday announced an initiative designed to provide assistance for people struggling in the restaurant industry.
Secure Emergency Relief for Vulnerable Employees, or SERVE, is providing a one-time $800 stipend to people who work in the front and back of "restaurants, food stands, mobile food units and push carts, and breweries, wineries and bars that serve food on the premises."
The mayor's site provided more details on the program:
SERVE ELIGIBILITY
1. Applicant must reside in the City of Los Angeles;
2. Applicant must be 18 years of age or older;
3. Applicant must have an annual income in 2019 of $58,450 or below, prior to the COVID-19 crisis. This income threshold is calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) using data from 2019. For more information on how HUD calculates this figure please click here; to access a table that specifies the Area Median Income for Los Angeles for 2019 please click here and search “Los Angeles”.
4. Applicant must have fallen into a deeper economic hardship during the crisis due to a job loss or a reduction in income of at least 50% at a food service establishment as a front or back of house employee. A food service establishment is a place where food is provided for individual portion service directly to the consumer and for this purpose, is limited to restaurants, food stands, mobile food units and push carts, and breweries, wineries and bars that serve food on the premises.
A link to apply will appear on the mayor's website on Monday, Dec. 7 at 9 a.m., or people can also apply by calling 311 on Monday, Dec. 7 at 9 a.m.
Only applicants who live in the city of LA are eligible and the relief will be provided to people picked at random; it is not first come, first serve.
For more details on the program, click here.
