3-24-2022 Council ARPA Update — File 213397

AU S TIN FAIS ON AR P A D IR ECTOR ER ICA S ATIN -HER N A N D E Z AR P A S P ECIALI S T American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Progress Update

About ARPA $77.5M for COVID recovery projects Public health Combatting the negative economic impacts of the pandemic Serving the hardest-hit communities Premium pay for essential workers, prioritizing low-income workers, capped rate $13 per hour Revenue loss for municipal government Water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure Funds must be obligated by the end of calendar year 2024 and spend by the end of calendar year 2026 Funds cannot be reallocated to different projects after 2024, so projects using the 2026 deadline should have a fixed budget

ARPA Funding Process Applicants (City departments and community-based organizations) meet with the ARPA team to ensure their proposal meets the ARPA funding guidelines Applicants submit their proposal via online portal Proposal reviewed by ARPA team and consultants, with edits requested as necessary Proposal sent to the Mayor for final approval Applicant notified and work begins

Representative Sample of ARPA Projects to Date $10,078,200 committed to date Public Health Efforts  Emergency management staff  Rapid testing for hardest-hit communities  Hand sanitizer in parks  Contact tracing and workplace COVID safety measures  Language- and culturally-appropriate community outreach workers Youth Services  Summer youth programs  Childcare tuition assistance program ($6.1M) Basic Needs  Housing: rental assistance ($1M), legal services, and emergency hotel  Food: cab to food and medical program, Just Eats boxes for SHA  Universal Basic Income (in process) ($2M) ARPA Administration  ARPA office staff to manage application process  Translation, interpretation, and printing costs for community outreach

ARPA Community Engagement Timeline September 2021: Presentation to the City Council October 2021: First ARPA community forum October 2021 – March 2022: ARPA focus groups 40+ meetings with constituents and CBO staff January 2022 – March 2022: ARPA survey More than 800 responses March 2022: Presentation to the City Council and second ARPA community forum (March 29th)

A Few of Our Outreach Partners

ARPA Community Engagement Findings Top priorities Serving the hardest-hit communities Addressing the negative economic impacts of the pandemic Investing in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure Top themes Affordable housing and rental assistance Community center Mental health services Resource connectors and supporting service providers Financial stability, including good jobs and direct payments Safe streets and transportation

ARPA Survey Demographics

ARPA Survey Demographics What race and ethnicity do you identify with? What is your income?

ARPA Community Engagement Next Steps Moving forward, we will… …continue focus groups and meetings with CBO staff to keep gathering input from constituents ...form a Mayor's Advisory Committee to engage constituents in the project prioritization process …create a statement of community values to which all proposed projects should adhere …deliver our community engagement findings to the Mayor and her Advisory Committee to inform her decision of how to roughly budget the ARPA funds between allowable uses ...continue to publicize this information on the City's ARPA website (www.somervillema.gov/arpa) ….and continue to be available for questions and comments

Contact Information Austin Faison ARPA Director afaison@somervillema.gov Erica Satin-Hernandez ARPA Specialist eshernandez@somervillema.gov ARPA Website www.somervillema.gov/arpa