$15 Million Pandemic Relief Spending Plan Approved | City of Santa Fe

$15 Million Pandemic Relief Spending Plan Approved

28 Apr, 2022

Governing Body Approves City’s Plans

for Spending $15 Million of Federal

Pandemic Relief Funds

Last night Santa Fe’s Governing Body unanimously approved the Budget Adjustment Resolution for the City’s plan to spend $15,049,631 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds by the end of 2024. ARPA provides relief funds to state, local, and tribal governments that have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The City’s plan is to guide resources to families, job seekers, and businesses in Santa Fe, in order to address the social and economic challenges that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

To expend these funds in an equitable, just, and community-driven fashion, the City commissioned a community engagement effort to gain a clear understanding of the needs of Santa Fe residents. Respondents were asked to indicate the categories of City services that they felt should receive the most attention as the City determined the allocation of ARPA funding over the course of the next three years. Children and Youth Support Services, Economic Health, and Community Health and Safety were the three areas that respondents felt needed the most funding allocation.

Mayor Alan Webber says: “We propose to use our $15 million in ARPA funds to address the critical social and economic needs of our community. This will help Santa Fe’s small businesses get back on their feet and thrive. We’ll offer job training and employment opportunities for our young people. We’ll invest in real solutions to end homelessness in Santa Fe. We’ll continue to link education, jobs and a guaranteed stipend to help families break the cycle of poverty. We’ll work with our dedicated non-profits to continue to deliver critical services to those who need help. We’re going to use the $15 million to do the most good for the most people in Santa Fe.”

SOCIAL SERVICES SPENDING

The City’s plan allocates almost half of the City’s ARPA funds — $6.9 million, or 45.9% — to address community health and safety, including expanding guaranteed income programs, support for community mental health, piloting a community cash assistance program, providing solutions for unsheltered homelessness, continuing operations of the Midtown Emergency Homeless Shelter, providing additional support for affordable housing, assistance for vulnerable populations in Santa Fe, COVID-safe retrofits for City facilities, and continued purchases of personal protective equipment to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Following are some of the plan's Key Initiatives:

Guaranteed Income Expansion/Community Cash Assistance Pilot

  • Funding Amount: $1,500,000
  • Proposal Description: Continue with a partial second year of funding for current Mayors for a Guaranteed Income students at SFCC (additional resources will come from other funding); add a mix of one-time cash assistance payments and ongoing (short-term) cash assistance to eligible community members utilizing the CONNECT network of navigators.

Solutions for Unsheltered Homelessness

  • Funding Amount: $1,000,000
  • Proposal Description: Contract services for encampment clean-up; contract services for nonprofit service providers to house unsheltered people and provide services at campsites; contract services for portable toilets.

Affordable Housing Support

  • Funding Amount: $2,000,000
  • Proposal Description: Funds will be used to offset purchase costs and predevelopment costs for purchase/conversion of the Lamplighter Inn (2405 Cerrillos Rd.) into permanent affordable rental housing, with 25% of units set aside for "special needs" renters.

Behavioral Health and Community Violence Intervention Services

  • Funding Amount: $1,000,000
  • Proposal Description: Detect, track, and intervene in community violence. Build resiliency in communities through collaborative efforts with the Santa Fe Police Department in training, education, advocacy and peer navigation services; building capacity and training with Santa Fe Fire Department's Alternative Response Unit. Investment in peer navigation services.

SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT AND JOB TRAINING

The City’s plan allocates $4.3 million, or 28.6%, to Economic Health, including support for small businesses, job training programs, and direct support to non-profits.

Small Business Support

  • Funding Amount: $2,500,000
  • Proposal Description: Free re-start and jump-start support for small businesses (webinars, one-on-ones, small business loans, etc.). provided through the small business advisory ecosystem.

Job Training

  • Funding Amount: $1,200,000
  • Proposal Description: Working with the Santa Fe Community College on the Bright Future Job Training Program will create and support jobs training and economic mobility in the broadband, clean energy, construction, trades, and computer coding industries for our unemployed and pivot-career workers.
  • Working with local non-profit partners on the Build Back Better Business & Workforce Project will deliver entrepreneur and small business training.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH SUPPORT

The City’s plan allocates $1.15, or 7.6%, to Children and Youth Support services including expanding childcare capacity and the creation of a college and career youth work corps.

PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE

The City will allocate $1.7 million, or 11.3%, to fund public infrastructure investments including, public Wi-Fi and parks and trails improvements.

Parks and Trails Improvements

  • Funding Amount: $1,300,000

Proposal Description: The capital investment projects include City-wide COVID health and safety measures in the City’s parks and trails. Funds will be used to renovate one baseball field at Ragle Park to improve play and conserve water. Funds will also be used to repair trails and park equipment.

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