{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Vying for the ARPA funds","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"April 27, 2022 — In August of last year, Mendocino County received about eight and a half million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, which the President signed into law to help local governments recover from the economic toll of the pandemic. The county will receive the other half of its s$16.8 million award this summer.\r\nThe funding can be used to cover a broad array of costs, from paying essential workers to providing government services to investing in infrastructure. The guidelines urge local governments “to engage their constituents and communities in developing plans to use these payments,” much as the PG&E settlement funds were distributed last year.\r\nBut thus far, the public has not had the opportunity to contribute to the decision-making process about how to allocate the ARPA funds. $4.8 million has already been allocated for infrastructure, public health and direct assistance. During the fiscal review last week, the Board of Supervisors heard suggestions to use the remaining funds to provide county services and hire new staff to pre-covid levels.\r\nBut Juan Orozco, a Ukiah city councilman and co-chair of UVA, Vecinos en Accion, an advocacy group for the Latino community, thinks the money should be used for much more basic needs. “With not having a job, with not having income, you lose housing,” he pointed out. “If you’re renting, of course, and even if you’re buying a home and you don't have any income, how are you going to pay your mortgage? People don’t even have food.”\r\nSarah Marshall, the UVA coordinator, agrees. There’s some organizational heft behind this position. “The ARPA funds are supposed to go to support communities that have been most impacted by covid,” she declared. “So UVA hasn’t received any ARPA funds yet, but we did just receive funding from the Latino Community Foundation that is meant to be spent to advocate for the transparent distribution of ARPA funds in our community.” Marshall added that more than 100 grassroots...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}