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LYNN – :Lynn residents got the opportunity to suggest possible uses for the money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) during a two-session Workshop held by the mayor’s office Saturday at the Briarcliff Lodge Adult Day Health Center.
The ARPA money is allocated for FY 2024-25, and is in response to the coronavirus public health emergency and its negative economic impacts.
“It gives us another look at where the city can make future investments based on need and demand for services,” said Nichol Figueiredo, CEO at Capital Strategic Solutions. “As far as reporting goes, we will need to provide this information to the federal government to demonstrate that the money was proportionally allocated.”
Figueiredo said that right now the city is in the submission process, meaning that the residents, agencies, and businesses are submitting their projects. The submittal process closes May 31, but there will be another opportunity to submit projects.
Concurrently, the city is making sure the projects meet the ARPA criteria. The next step — departmental review — lasts through early June.
The city will then do Project Selection Survey in mid-June, allowing the residents to give their feedback concerning how the projects should be prioritized.
The city will then do the project selection that will review the community’s’ feedback from the surveys that have been conducted through the ARPA process. This phase will last late June to early July.
“We will use the community’s feedback to drive the selection process of the projects and present a package to the City Council in July,” said Figueiredo.
Lynn is eligible to receive more than $75 million in direct ARPA funds, which will complement ARPA funds obtained from the state. It will then be obliged to obligate those funds until the end of 2024 and to spend them until the end of 2026.
The funds are intended to be used for households’ assistance, as well as for the small businesses and nonprofits, and to aid impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality. They cannot be used for depositing funds into any pension fund, debt and settlement payments, stabilization or matching funds for other federal grants.
As not all of those who came Saturday to discuss or submit their projects could estimate their costs, Jean Michael Fana, outreach director for the Mayor’s Office, said that the residents did not have to know the exact cost of the project, and the city was hiring consultants to help with that.
“We don’t expect everyone in the community to be financial experts,” said Fana.
One group — the Flax Pond Association — said its proposal was intended to make sure that the water in the pond was clean, that there was no more erosion, and to maintain the appearance of the pond edges.
“We are just looking to help around the area of the pond with erosion, the water quality, and take out some of the invasive plans, and kind of just make sure that green spaces and the parks around the area are maintained,” said organization president Megan Gonzalez.
Pathways Inc., which offers adult education funded by the U.S. Department of Education, including English classes and GED/HiSet classes, wanted to use ARPA funds to offer an insurance stipend for the part-time employees, according to business manager Juana Perez.
Quendia Martinez, career advisor at Pathways, said it also had a very long list of students waiting for their English classes and citizenship classes, and they wanted to offer more classes and to have a computer lab.
“We also want to create a fund for helping the students with their needs, like how to pay their rent, or other expenses,” Martinez said.
LEO Inc., the region’s community action agency that helps low-income individuals and families access resources to improve their stability and upward mobility, suggested a renovation of office space at 156 Broad St. to a 15-classroom preschool for low-income children in Lynn. Lisa McFadden, LEO’s director of development, said the project would cost approximately $15 millions.
“At the moment it’s a mixed-use administrative headquarters, and this project will consolidate classrooms from three buildings and add two additional preschool classrooms, which will open up 38 additional slots for 3-5-year-old children,” said McFadden.
ARPA was signed into law March 11, 2021, and it is intended for the creation of the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (CLFRF) to provide support to state, local, and tribal governments in response to the pandemic. Projects can be submitted on paper, and the forms are available at the Mayor’s Office. They can also be submitted online at https://lynnarpa.com.
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