Cedar Rapids announces how it will spend American Rescue Plan funding

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Mayor Brad Hart announced in a press conference Thursday how the city will spend the remaining American Rescue Plan funding. The funding was provided to cities and counties to assist in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have identified four areas or four ‘buckets’ of needs,” said Mayor Hart. In deciding these categories the city worked with the county and surveyed the cities service providers.

The 4 categories the city will be focusing on with the money are social services and housing, workforce development, westside flood prevention, and loss of revenue for the city.

The city will be working closely with Linn county to co-fund projects where the funding allows.

The social services and housing category will focus on the damage done in the August 2020 derecho, food insecurities, and building a permanent westside library location.

“Projects considered should require only one-time funding to avoid creating ongoing funding cost, without identifying an ongoing funding source,” said Mayor Hart.

The Ladd Library will seek a permanent location where they are able to expand their services.

Hart says they will only cover about 1/5th of the cities revenue loss with the federal funding and take a loss don’t the rest.

The city will be announcing exact allocations for the money in late July or early August at a city council meeting.

Copyright 2021 KCRG. All rights reserved.