Northampton awards over 50 projects funds from ARPA for community recovery

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) – A total of 61 projects in Northampton are being awarded American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for community-led initiatives.

An advisory committee of community experts and city councilors helped process 98 project submissions and approved 61 that will receive a portion of the $4 million grant to alleviate economic hardships or negative health impacts caused by COVID-19.

The largest grant money of $450,000 each is allocated to three projects, Clinical and Support Options (CSO) to support shelter services, the Community Action Pioneer Valley – Resilience Hub, and Northampton Survival Center to maintain expanded services due to the impacts of COVID-19.

The second largest sum of $200,000 will benefit the Early Childhood Center located in Florence which supports families and young children in Northampton.

LIST: ARPA Community Recovery Projects

I am deeply grateful to the dedicated and skilled community members who advised me at every stage of this process. I thank them for their expertise, and for taking the time to host eight community listening sessions to be able to craft a fair and inclusive process, for providing opportunities to further explain that process, and ultimately for carefully reading all of the submissions to help me make my final decisions. I am truly proud of these grant awards for community recovery and confident that the mix of projects selected will serve Northampton well using these one-time resources,” shared Mayor Sciarra.

Mayor Sciarra continued, “I am happy to announce the awards that will fund these important projects, and I look forward to seeing these funds put to work helping our community continue to recover over the next three years. Thank you to everyone who applied and who demonstrated their dedication to Northampton. It was truly a pleasure to read all of the creative and inspiring ideas that applicants had for these funds.”

 

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