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Date: 7/21/2022
SPRINGFIELD – As the city continues awarding American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the City Council’s Finance Committee analyzed the implementation of emergency relief funds during a July 7 meeting.
Background
ARPA funds received approval from the federal government in March 2021. The program was designed as community fund that would mitigate the lingering impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Springfield received $123.8 million from ARPA, and have dispensed some of the funds across different funding rounds.
So far, Springfield announced six rounds of ARPA funding. Mayor Domenic Sarno and his ARPA team awarded new businesses, existing business entities, like Big Y and SouLao’d Kitchen, and nonprofits alike. The mayor also jumpstarted different city programs, such as the economic-based Build Back Springfield Program, through ARPA funds.
In his round four ARPA announcement, Sarno explained that job creation and nonprofit support remained key goals of his ARPA Committee.
“As I have stated from the beginning, this is all about that good four-letter word, ‘jobs!’ It’s about saving jobs, creating new jobs and growing our small businesses which are vital and so important for the economic health of our city,” he said.
Sarno continued, “This COVID-19 pandemic has put a lot of stress on individuals and families, and it is our nonprofits that continue to step up and help. This grant funding that my administration is allocating will go a long way to enhancing the services these nonprofits provide for our community.”
Finance Committee
During the Finance Committee meeting, City Councilor At-Large and Chairperson of the Finance Committee Tracye Whitfield aired concerns with the ARPA process so far. She expressed that the funds are primarily rewarding self-sufficient organizations that have access to other relief funds.
“When you dig deep, it’s where the money is going to and the amounts that have been rewarded. It’s going to organizations that are already surviving and probably had access to a whole lot of other funding throughout the time of COVID[-19]…I am not seeing the folks that really need it the most, like our seniors, like some of the small businesses, that may not know how to get some of these other awards,” said Whitfield.
Whitfield said she receives calls from ARPA applicants on a routine basis inquiring about their application progress. She welcomed two local business owners, William Chapman of Chapman’s House of Pain and hair salons owner Eutrina Holley-Hodges, who have not received ARPA consideration despite their applications to speak on their experiences.
Holley-Hodges shared that the negative economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic led her to move her business into her home. Chapman also explained how his business’ focus on physical and mental health could not function in its normal capacity during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were greatly impacted by the [coronavirus] pandemic. Several times we were forced to close and still be responsible for overhead. This business was normally a lucrative business, but we began to slip through the cracks during the [coronavirus] pandemic,” said Chapman.
Both Chapman and Holley-Hodges said they were forced to use personal funds to keep their businesses alive. Neither business owner received a direct response on their application after having initial conversations with members of the ARPA Committee.
“It was kind of disheartening, kind of frustrating,” said Chapman.
Whitfield claimed the process so far has been “disturbing” due to people in need not receiving ARPA consideration.
“I am just not understanding the disconnect with folks who are disproportionally impacted and really need this money as opposed to folks that still are running,” said Whitfield. The councilor also claimed that senior citizens and households have not been the recipient of any ARPA award so far.
Director of Springfield’s ARPA team Melanie Acobe shared that she and her team are working diligently to address each ARPA application. She explained that ARPA team has two employees who review initial applications, with the employees addressing each application in the chronological order it was submitted by.
“Whenever an application is received, we do the intake on those…What we’re trying to do now, because we have over 1,000 applications and two staff members, we’re trying to divvy up the work in the order the applications were received” said Acobe. The application backlog expects to be addressed “within the next month or two,” according to Acobe.
Acobe said the ARPA team is “trying the best they can in the capacity they have” to address each application. The ARPA team plans to hire a third employee for initial application reviews, as well as expanding their technical assistance and outreach efforts.
“We are planning on doing outreach events. Right now, we are in the process of analyzing and reviewing household and senior applications. We haven’t reached out on those because we want to finalize that process first before doing outreach,” said Acobe.
Sarno’s Perspective
In a July 13 press release tied to the city’s sixth round of ARPA funding, Sarno articulated his perspective on the Finance Committee’s complaints. The mayor shared that the sixth ARPA round includes 60 households approved for a combined $84,000 in direct cash assistance for households located within the Qualified Census Tracts (QCT). Each household received $1,400, which is the maximum under ARPA guidelines.
The press release also revealed that 54 of the pending household applications, or 47 percent of the applications, are incomplete and need to submit proof and verification of Springfield residency.
“The city’s ARPA team will continue to review and follow up with all pending ARPA applications for households and will award additional household applications once all eligibility requirements have been submitted and approved,” said the press release.
Reflecting on the sixth ARPA round, Sarno discussed the QCT payments.
“I am eager to get these household ARPA applications approved and out ASAP, but we must be cognizant that all of the proper verification documentations are submitted. Per federal guidelines, there has to be a thorough review and formalized verification process of the direct cash assistance so that only Springfield residents and households truly in need are awarded, if not the monies would have to be paid back,” said Sarno in the press release.
Readers interested in learning more about the city’s ARPA efforts can visit https://www.springfield-ma.gov/finance/arpa.