The pandemic hasn't yet let up and neither is a Palm Desert-area collective action partnership looking out for the Coachella Valley's most vulnerable.

Lift to Rise's current focus, "We Will Lift: Regional Pledge for Housing and Opportunity," is on the second round of COVID-19 rental assistance through the United Lift partnership with Inland SoCal United Way and Riverside County. Lift to Rise's online rental assistance application portal has been improved, and plans are in the works for in-person application events throughout Riverside County.

Those events will happen later this spring, Lift to Rise Communications Manager Melissa Daniels told Desert Magazine.

"We are also currently sharing the We Will Lift: Regional Pledge for Housing and Opportunity, which signals a commitment to ensuring that every Coachella Valley family has safe and affordable housing as well as stable and satisfying employment with opportunities to thrive," Daniels said. "So far, signatories include the city councils of Cathedral City, Coachella, Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, and Palm Springs as well as the Riverside County Board of Supervisors."

The Riverside County Board in February approved the use of federal funds to provide more than $57 million in emergency rent. That money combined with other federal funds, community development block grants and money from other sources brings the "United Lift" totals to more than $90 million.

All the community stakeholders "are committed to advancing policy and investment strategies to radically improve housing stability and economic opportunity for all valley residents," Daniels said.

The Lift to Rise Action Plan includes the launch this spring of the Coachella Valley Housing Catalyst Fund to provide much longer-term change for Coachella Valley families "by investing significant support for the increased production of housing," Daniels said.

That fund also is supported by Riverside County, the Low Income Investment Fund, Rural Community Assistance Corporation and many nonprofit and private stakeholders.

The Coachella Valley Housing Catalyst Fund will jumpstart projects in the region’s affordable housing pipeline that otherwise would be taking much longer to get done, including initially kickstarting 2,000 housing units," Daniels said.

Daniels became Lift to Rise's communications manager in January.

The catalyst fund and other programs geared toward rental assistance are part of an ambitious timeline for United Lift and is far from the only things Lift to Rise has planned.

"We're also working on a new storytelling effort on social media especially with 'Stories of Home,' a portrait series shot by social justice photographer Noé Montes," Daniels said. "This series highlights residents and community leaders sharing their thoughts on why affordable housing is important and their hopes, goals and dreams for making stable housing a reality for all residents. Connecting and engaging with the community is at the heart of our work, and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with more residents as the year progresses."

It's all part of Lift to Rise's goal of affordable homes, particularly in high opportunity areas, over the next 10 years with the aim of reducing Coachella Valley's economic inequality and aiding those who are in severe poverty, need and inequality.

Desert Magazine last checked on Lift to Rise in October. The organization formed about three years ago for community-based organizations, including FIND Food Bank, United Way of the Desert, the Regional Access Project Foundation, and the Desert Healthcare District, as well as area politicians and other agenda setters. Lift to Rise provides those groups a nexus to combine efforts, particularly where their services overlap.

That effort has been all the more important in the past year as the pandemic has helped galvanize communities and organizations in the Coachella Valley to address the problems faced by its most vulnerable residents, problems that the pandemic has propelled to unprecedented heights.

"With our partners, we are aiming to reach every Riverside County resident who needs COVID-19-related rental assistance as well as kickstart affordable housing developments through the Housing Catalyst Fund," Daniels said. "Through 2021, we will continue to drive a shared regional policy and investment agenda, coordinating the efforts of 50+ regional stakeholders. In the fall, we’ll work with stakeholders to come up with a new two-year action plan launching January 2022."