Gainesville officials monitoring coronavirus

Mainstreet Daily News

Mar 12, 2020 11:15 am

Coronavirus

City of Gainesville officials are actively monitoring reports about COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) as the numbers of Americans infected with the virus continues to rise. At the time of publication, one case has been confirmed in Alachua County. City officials are coordinating with the Alachua County Health Department for local planning with guidance from state and federal health agencies. The city remains vigilant as we plan and prepare our employees and neighbors for any potential outbreak.

What can you do? Help us spread the word about prevention! It will help keep you, your family and your community safe. If you or someone you know meets the symptoms for exposure to COVID-19, contact the Alachua County Health Department at 352-225-4181 during regular business hours (or 352-334-7900 after hours), before traveling to any physician’s office, emergency department, hospital or urgent care center.

To stay up-to-date on local coronavirus updates, be sure to visit our website at www.cityofgainesville.org, follow us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Election Day is March 17; Early Voting continues through March 14

Gainesville elections will be held Tuesday, March 17th. Registered voters citywide will elect a commissioner at-large, registered voters in district two will elect a commissioner to represent its district and registered voters in district three will elect a commissioner to represent its district. Ballots also include the presidential preference primary. Early voting is available Friday, March 6th-Saturday, March 14th from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. There are six designated early voting sites across the county. For additional information on the city election, visit the City of Gainesville website.

Census 2020

Mini Grant Program for 2020 Census now available, March 23 deadline

During the 2010 Census, an estimated 40,000 people were not counted in the Alachua County area. This resulted in an estimated loss of nearly 400 million dollars over the past ten years. This year, we have an opportunity to make sure that we are getting the funding our community needs and deserves. We need your help! Through our Census Mini Grant Program, the City of Gainesville is offering five grants of up to $3,000 each to local community organizations to help us make sure that every person living in our area is counted.

Census data is used to determine:

How much political power our community has
Whether or not new businesses decide to make our community their home
How much federal funding our area receives for programs and services

Visit our 2020 Census Mini Grant Program Application webpage to apply or for more information.

Volunteer

Alternative resources to ServeGNV.org volunteer portal

ServeGNV.org will no longer be in service after April 1, 2020. Although we have many wonderful partner agencies and volunteers in our community, the ServeGNV.org volunteer portal is underutilized. In the City of Gainesville’s continued effort to ensure that we are using our taxpayer dollars to most effectively meet the needs of our neighbors, we have decided to close down the website.

As an alternative resource to ServeGNV.org, you may wish to utilize one of these highly recommended volunteer portals:

The City of Gainesville wants to thank each of our partner agencies and volunteers for the inspiring work that you do to make our community such a special place.

We are sorry for any inconveniences this may cause, and we would be happy to speak with you about any questions or concerns that you may have. Please feel free to reach out to Roberta Griffith at griffithre@cityofgaginesville.org or Amy Abuqawod at abuqawoda1@cityofgainesville.org.