On 1 July 2020, Lantuun Dohio USA, together with Arlington County, Virginia, coordinated and hosted the county's first public live session focused on the Mongolian-speaking community. Representatives from several departments spoke about the challenges brought by COVID-19 and the help available to residents.
The information came from Dr. Reuben Varghese, Director of Public Health; Brooke Hammond Pérez, Director of Economic Independence; Bryna Helfer, Assistant County Manager; and Diane Kresh of Hunger Free Arlington. Lantuun Dohio members Geser Bat-Erdene and Nominsuren Munkhuu translated it into Mongolian.
What the county covered
- Emergency financial help during the pandemic: rent, utilities, medical bills, transport, internet, childcare and housing subsidies
- Food assistance and food drives
- Free help applying for Medicaid and Medicare
- Help applying for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
- Job training and job search support
- COVID-19 testing locations, and how the virus spreads and how to prevent infection
- Questions from immigrants: certain emergency help (stimulus checks, unemployment insurance, short-term local benefits) is not counted as a public charge, but some federal assistance can be. Check the USCIS website or ask an immigration attorney.
- The 2020 Census
To learn more about these services, call 703-228-1300, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.
- USCIS: public charge
- Arlington County COVID-19 information
- Virginia unemployment insurance
- Legal Services of Northern Virginia, (703) 778-6800
We shared the live session from our Facebook page with Mongolian groups on Facebook, where it had reached 4,800 views by 7 February 2021.
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