Economic Support Program For Kuukpik Shareholders
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Guidelines & Instructions
Program Description
The Kuukpik CARES economic support program is a grant program for all Kuukpik shareholders. The purpose is to offset the economic injury and hardship that shareholders experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This program is NOT first-come, first-served. All qualified persons who submit a complete and valid application before the November, 30 2021 deadline will receive economic support funding for some amount of money, as explained below.
Kuukpik has been allocated $369,333.79 in CARES Act funds that can be used to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kuukpik has determined to use the entire amount for this Economic Support Program.
Economic support will be for an amount UP TO the amount of the applicant’s eligible expenses (as documented on the application, and described in more detail below). HOWEVER, Kuukpik anticipates that the total amount of qualifying funding requested by all qualified applicants will exceed $369,333.79. As a result, the amount of funding any individual receives may be less than the amount of the applicant’s eligible expenses. If the total demand exceeds $369,333.79, individual funding amounts will be subject to a cap. (We do not currently know the amount of the cap because we do not know how many people will apply and how much funding they will request.) All applications that request funding in excess of the cap will receive the cap amount.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for an Economic Support Grant, applicants must:
- Describe and certify that the COVID-19 pandemic caused economic loss or financial hardship, and
- Be a Kuukpik shareholder (Class A or Class B)
Application Process & Deadline
The application period will remain open until 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. Mailed applications must be postmarked by November 30, 2021. Application forms may be picked up at Kuukpik’s Nuiqsut office or downloaded from our website at www.kuukpik.com/cares
Kuukpik shareholders may submitted completed applications via e-mail to CARES@kuukpik.com, by mail to: Kuukpik CARES 582 E 36th Ave # 600, Anchorage, AK 99503, or hand delivered to Kuukpik’s Nuiqsut office. Mailed applications must be postmarked by November 30, 2021. All other applications must be received by Kuukpik no later than 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.
Please do not wait until the last day. If you turn your application in on the last day and it is incomplete, we may not have enough time for you to correct the application. This would mean you are ineligible to receive funds. The sooner you turn in your application, the better.
Application Instructions
PART 1 – APPLICANT INFORMATION
Please provide the name and date of birth of the shareholder applicant. If you are submitting an application for a minor, please still give the shareholder’s name and date of birth
Please provide a current address and contact (email & phone) information. This information is vital to ensure that we can verify your eligibility and contact you if we have questions. Without your complete and accurate information, your application may be delayed or denied. If you are completing the application for a minor, you should put your contact information here, not the minor’s contact information.
PART 2 – Minor shareholder Custodian Information
If the minor is a Kuukpik shareholder, the application must be completed and submitted by the Stock Custodian of record In Section 2 of the application, you must provide the name the Stock Custodian for the minor application.
If you do not know who the Stock Custodian of record is, please ask Kuukpik no later than November 19 to ensure that we can get back to you while leaving you sufficient time to complete the application.
PART 3 – COVID-19 HARDSHIP
Please provide a brief description of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected you economically. You do not need to state every way it has affected you. A brief summary of the most consequential aspects is sufficient. For example: “My children’s school closed. I could not work because I needed to care for them.” “I had to travel to Fairbanks to care for a relative who was sick with COVID.” “My work hours were cut.” “I had to pay for a hotel to quarantine.” You may still claim an expense in Section 4 even if it is not described in this section.
PART 4 – Eligible Funding Amount REQUESTED
To be eligible for an award, the applicant must state the COVID-19 pandemic’s financial effect between the dates of March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021. Financial effects or expenses eligible for reimbursement of funding include the following if caused by the pandemic:
- Loss of income such as loss of employment temporary layoff or furlough, reduction in hours or pay, inability to obtain a seasonal job, inability to work due to lack of child care, or other loss of relied upon financial support
- Housing experienced homelessness or had difficulty paying rent or a mortgage and at risk of eviction or foreclosure
- Increase costs of food, childcare and other essentials due to the public health emergency
- Quarantining Expense, such as the cost of food delivery, child care, separate housing, loss of income
- Utilities, if your costs increase as a result of the pandemic or if you are unable to pay and at risk of being denied essential utility service
- Medical Expense, including any COVID-19 expense or the increased cost of medical services or deferred medical services as a result of the pandemic
- Remote Work/Learning Expense includes costs for technological improvements, internet services and other expenses incurred to enable you to work, or your children to learn, from home
- Protective Equipment Expense includes the expense of buying masks, sanitizing products, other personal protective equipment and other items to reduce transmission of COVD-19
- Reduced Access to Services– If you, or your child, experienced reduced services such as medical services, senior citizen services (lunches, rides), school lunch program, and childcare
- Travel Expense includes the cost of travel that was necessitated by the pandemic (such as to care for a relative with COVID-19) or the increased costs of travel, including post-travel isolation/quarantine, that resulted from the pandemic
- Funeral Expense if the death resulted from the pandemic
- Other If you were affected by the pandemic, including public health mandates or restrictions, in any way not listed above
You do not need to enter an amount for each category. Please help us, however, by stating the total amount of eligible expense or loss if income you incurred. If you do not identify an amount requested, we cannot process your application.
We understand that children usually do not pay for their own expenses and that a family’s expenses are more accurately the expense of the family than of an individual in the family. Please see the section of these instructions titled Multiple Applications from One Family, below.
Use of Funds
Any funds you receive must be used for eligible COVID-19 expenses. Eligible expense may include expenses you already paid, expenses currently unpaid, or expenses to be incurred through December 31, 2021. Expenses incurred prior to March 1, 2020 are not eligible.
Funds must be used to pay for or reimburse the expenses stated on your application. You are required to keep payment records to show how funds are used.
Ineligible Expenditures
Funds may not be used for any of the following:
- Any expense considered ineligible under the CARES Act
- Political contributions
- Charitable contribution
- Gifts or events
- Pay down or pay off debt by more than required by the underlying debt instrument
- Any expense that has already been reimbursed by other CARES Act or other federal funding sources
PART 5 – CERTIFICATION & SIGNATURE
This section of the application requires the applicant to read and certify, under penalty of perjury, to the nine statements listed on the application. Please review this section carefully as it includes important information about audits, eligibility, and specific instruction on how grant funds will be distributed. Your signature, printed name and date of signature are required.
Additional Information
DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS
Kuukpik anticipates that grant funds will be distributed in late December 2021. Funds will be distributed to applicants the same way they receive dividends: By direct deposit if the shareholder has direct deposit set up. (If have not yet set up direct deposit for your dividends, now is a great time to do it! Direct deposit forms are available on Kuukpik’s website and at Kuukpik office in Nuiqsut.) If the shareholder does not have direct deposit, a check will be mailed the same as dividend checks.
ASRC, UIC, and Other COVID Relief applications
Applicants who have applied for and/or received funding from ASRC, municipal, state, or federal CARES Act programs are eligible to apply. However, expenses paid using any funds from such programs cannot be claimed on your ESP application. Applicants who have received funding from other sources must certify that Kuukpik CARES funds will be applied to expenses not previously covered by the receipt of other COVID relief funds.
MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS FROM ONE FAMILY
Kuukpik anticipates that many qualified persons will apply on their own behalf and separately apply for their children. Adult shareholders living in the same household may also apply. This is OK. However, each application needs to make clear that the expenses for which funds are sought are not the same expenses identified in the parent or guardian’s application. Similarly, if a person will be submitting an application for more than one child, the expenses identified in each application must be different expenses.
When we say different expense, we mean the different dollars spent. The same type of expense is OK. But you can’t ask to be paid twice for something you paid (or will pay for) once. For example, if you paid a total of $1,00 for you and your child to quarantine in a hotel, you cannot claim $1,000 for quarantining on your application and $1,000 on your child’s application. You can, however, claim $500 for quarantining on your application and $500 on your child’s application. This is explained more below.
We understand that children usually do not pay for their own expenses and that a family’s expenses are more accurately the expense of the family than an individual in the family. When a person will be submitting applications on behalf of multiple persons in the same family, we recommend dividing these types of shared family expenses equally among all the applications of the family members. This approach ensures your family receives the most amount of funding possible.
Example Applications from One Family
Say you are a shareholder with two minor children, both of whom are Kuukpik shareholders. As a result of COVID, you incurred $1,500 in additional childcare costs. You also incurred $1,800 in travel costs because, as a result of the pandemic, you needed to travel, with your children, to Anchorage for medical care.
Single Application from Parent (Usually not the best method!)
As the parent, you could submit 1 application for you only, seeking $3,300 for the above expenses, which you incurred on your behalf and on behalf of the children. However, with program funds limited, it is very unlikely that any single applicant will receive $3,300. If the funding cap is $1,000, this parent applying for $3,300 would receive $1,000 only because that is the maximum amount that would be paid to any single applicant.
Multiple Application from One Family (Probably better!)
With the facts above, the shareholder parent with two minor children who are also shareholders can submit three separate applications: one for you and one for each of the two shareholder children. On each of the three applications, you would claim $500 for additional childcare costs and $600 for travel costs. Thus, each of the three applications would request $1,100.
This second approach, though more paperwork for you, is also better for your family because the funding cap is applied to each application, not to each family. If legitimate family expenses are honestly and fairly divided across three applications and the funding cap is $1,000, each of the three qualifying applications from the family would be eligible to receive $1,000, or $3,000 in total for the three family members. If the parent puts all of the family expense on the parent’s application instead of dividing it among the other family member’s applications, the family will receive only $1,000.
Contact Us
Questions about the program, application process, or application status should be directed to CARES@kuukpik.com or at (907) 480-6220.
Submission of an incomplete or inaccurate application may result in being denied for program funding. Kuukpik reserves the right to amend the criteria or procedures of this program.
