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Date: 2/2/2022
SPRINGFIELD – With the city receiving a financial boost from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the City Council Finance Subcommittee and ARPA community seminars showcased developments in the ARPA distribution process.
Chief Administrative and Financial Officer TJ Plante opened the Jan. 20 meeting by providing background on the $123.8 million Springfield received from ARPA funds. He provided a spreadsheet highlighting the 36.7 million already spent from the ARPA pool by the city. The utilized funds continue to help premium merit pay bonuses for employees, property acquisitions for the city and an extensive $15 million toward Springfield’s developing Build Back Better plan, which is set to help economic development in downtown Springfield.
As the city’s government assesses ways to utilize the funds for economic repair, Plante shared that the city is hiring more employees to strengthen their ARPA review and outreach processes. He said a key goal of his office is to increase awareness about ARPA funds, including jump-starting an extensive marketing campaign to connect with residents over various media platforms.
Councilor At-Large Tracye Whitfield expressed her concerns that ARPA funds could only serve those who have continued to receive economic support if not handled correctly, stressing the importance of giving economically disadvantage parties a fair shot at aid funds.
“[My concerns are] the same old players will have access to these funds, to buy these buildings and to re-purpose them. The same folks that struggle will miss out on that opportunity,” said Whitfield. She hopes that consideration for underprivileged business owners will be a crucial component of the Build Back Better plan.
The Finance Subcommittee utilized the remainder of the meeting to discuss effective ways to connect with the community about ARPA opportunities.
ARPA RFP Community Seminar
City department leaders hosted two community seminar workshops to educate the public about requests for proposals (RFP) for ARPA funds to aid in pandemic recovery.
Department of Recovery and Business Continuity (DRBC) Director Thomas Moore and Department of Technical Assistance and Compliance (DTAC) Director Patrice “Chae” Swan utilized the sessions to answer an array of community-based questions about applying for ARPA funds.
Moore introduced the session by discussing his expertise in answering household, nonprofit and general ARPA questions while Swan served as the expert in small business ARPA requests. “We’re hopeful that we give a lot of information that people are able to use to their benefit when they are trying to seek the funds that have been provided to the city by the federal government,” said Moore.
The informal session touched upon several questions within the community about the ARPA process, including how to complete the application, what ARPA funds can be applicable towards and questions about the application timeline.
Readers can watch the seminar at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbAFjTcSl5w&t=380s.