Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services tasked with distribution of the rest of the $25 million in ARPA funds

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services has been tasked with creating a plan to distribute the rest of the $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

Officials say $12.5 million dollars have already been allocated to address homelessness, mental health rapid access, community violence, and workforce development.

Ashton Day, the senior planner for the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services, said “There have been so many things that COVID has affected in our community and that's what this funding is for. It's to address those things that the covid 19 pandemic either caused or brought light to.” 

The PHHS Planning staff has a proposed timeline and the goal is to have the community involved with deciding where the remaining funds will be dispersed to.

“I think getting that information out there is important to educate the community," said Day.

The PHHS is in the beginning stages of creating a voting system to allow members of the community to vote for where they would like to see the money go to, and the voting is expected to start in June. All of the money needs to be distributed by the end of 2023 and spent by 2026. 

The ARPA has specific eligible uses that the money is allowed to be used for which include public health, economic impacts, premium pay, investments in infrastructure, and governmental services suffering from revenue loss.