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Date: 1/18/2023
SPRINGFIELD – City leaders continue to distribute $123.8 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to various businesses, nonprofits, and community centers across Springfield. For City Councilor At-Large Tracye Whitfield, the ARPA process continues to be marred by concerns centered around equity and transparency.
So far, Springfield has announced nine ARPA funding rounds that total approximately $91 million in funding. ARPA funds derive from 2021 federal legislation created to address issues worsened by the coronavirus pandemic. The city is currently on track to meet the ARPA guidelines of having all funds committed by 2024 and allocated by 2026.
Whitfield has paid attention to ARPA usage throughout the nine funding rounds. She discussed the topic regularly as the City Council’s Finance Subcommittee chair in 2022 and received frequent updates from the city’s ARPA distribution team. Whitfield and City Councilor At-Large Justin Hurst also hosted a September 2022 press conference to discuss shared concerns around the ARPA process.
Whitfield is now serving as the City Council representative for the recently-established ARPA Oversight Committee. Prior to the committee’s first meeting, Whitfield noted that the ARPA application database had been altered from what she originally worked with.
“When I got to the database, all of the applications were gone except for the ones we were reviewing … everything else was wiped out,” said Whitfield in an interview with Reminder Publishing.
Whitfield viewed the incident as an example of transparency issues within the ARPA process.
“I hope that all involved in these actions consider doing the right thing and ensure all the information on ARPA applications and the process in awarding funds be transparent. In addition, I hope you involved place all of these folders and documents formally in the ARPA folder back. This looks very bad on the city’s part,” said Whitfield via press release.
In discussing the ARPA funding awards so far, Whitfield highlighted her concerns with the process. One issue she noted is the inequity in funds awarded to each approved project.
“The mayor will tout how the majority of the awards went to minority applicants. That is true. However, the amount that is given to the small, minority business owners do not quite equal what’s given to white business owners,” said Whitfield.
Whitfield said Hurst calculated that white applicants awards were five times greater when compared to those of Black applicants.
“That’s unfair because the reason we got the $123.8 million of ARPA funds was because of the Black and brown community that was most impacted by COVID-19,” said Whitfield.
Whitfield shared that several applicants who submitted all requirements are still awaiting a response from ARPA officials. At the same time, she stressed that several projects that already received ARPA approval were pushed ahead despite receiving mixed scores during the application process.
“There were applicants that scored low, but the administration still gave them funding,” said Whitfield.
As the council’s representative on the ARPA Oversight Committee, Whitfield shared that she will focus on gaining further understanding of the city’s ARPA current process.
“My goal is to really understand how they are selecting how much each applicant is getting … I want to know how [city leaders] are accepting these organizations and how are you putting applications ahead of other applications,” said Whitfield.
Additionally, Whitfield said she aspires to learn more about why some applicants were denied and why the ARPA technical assistance efforts have waned.
“There are a lot of questions I have. I just want to be transparent and tell the truth to people who are really struggling,” said Whitfield.
Reminder Publishing reached out to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno for additional comments, but he did not respond by press time.