Nearly a year since allocating millions of federal dollars in COVID relief money, the Boulder County Commissioners heard an update on the investments in the community.
Boulder County was awarded $63.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act monies, which must be fully obligated by the end of 2024 and expended by 2026. On Monday, commissioners heard an update on how these dollars are being used for an equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Boulder County is reporting on 49 projects, which include work with 424 businesses or nonprofits and creating or preserving 441 affordable housing units. According to Leslie Irwin, ARPA Administrator for the county, at least 15,000 individuals or households in Boulder County have benefited from the money so far — though she estimates the actual impact is much higher.
In early 2021, commissioners allocated $5.2 million to 21 different “initial needs” projects, of which four have been completed. Staff highlighted the over $500,000 spent on the Digital Divide Project, which helped get people over 400 devices to connect online during the height of the pandemic.
In May 2022, commissioners heard recommendations from the ARPA Working Groups on how to use an additional $46.5 million in ARPA funds addressing economic challenges, housing affordability and mental health and social resilience. Of the 28 projects funded, two are complete, 15 are underway and the remaining are still in program design.
The county allocated up to $18.7 million to address economic challenges, $16.8 million for housing affordability and $11 million for mental health and social resilience. This money has gone toward a variety of projects from direct cash assistance, nonprofit grants, small business back taxes, Habitat for Humanity, manufactured home park acquisitions, mental health navigation hubs, school-based mental health services and much more.
Of the ARPA funds in various places, about $780,000 remains to be allocated. Irwin said while the county doesn’t have the funds to “open the floodgates” as with the second phase of the project, the final allocation of dollars will be coming to the commissioners in the near future for decision making.
Irwin noted that there are two projects floating out there for possible funding, one focused on behavioral health and one on emergency mental health assistance.
She added that this summer, all projects will be analyzed to see their status and ensure that work is moving forward. She also said that certain programs are looking at additional funding sources to continue their work once the ARPA dollars run out.
For more information on how the money is being spent and for updates, the public is encouraged to go to boco.org/arpa.
