NEW HAVEN, Conn.: On Wednesday, Mayor Justin Elicker joined City leaders and other stakeholders to outline a sweeping investment program using $53 million in local funding from the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The Phase 3 allocation is the largest proposed expenditure of the City's ARP funds to date. It will support programs identified as priorities through a robust public engagement process that included five community forums, 20 stakeholder focus groups, and from more than 50 ideas submitted through the City's civic space online portal.
In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed the landmark American Rescue Plan, a key component of which allocated $350 billion in funding to state and local governments impacted by the pandemic. New Haven's share of the funding was approximately $115 million. The City has already allocated about $38 million of ARP funding through Summer Reset, Department of Community Resilience, and public safety initiatives.
"This historical investment into our community’s future is a really big deal. I am proud that the allocation of these funds in New Haven has not been a top-down process," Mayor Elicker said. "Through deliberation and collaboration with the community, we have crafted a plan that identifies and prioritizes the needs of those hardest hit by the pandemic. This third round of funding goes beyond recovery by supporting programs that will help promote prosperity and sustain both residents and the local economy for years to come."
Phase 3 funding will be directed toward initiatives in five broad categories identified during the public input process: Youth Engagement & Early Childhood; Affordable Housing; Wealth Creation & Economy; Vocational & Technical; and Climate Emergency. The $10 million set aside for Youth Engagement & Early Childhood initiatives, for example, will pay for youth employment, programming for youth and families through the City Department of Youth & Recreation, education-to-career pipelines for childcare workforce development, expanding the hours and capacity of existing childcare providers, and the development of programs and services at new and existing youth centers.
The plan allocates another $10 million for a City affordable housing initiative; I'm Home. The money will be used to promote wealth creation through homeownership by providing down payment and closing cost assistance and funding for the acquisition and development of single and two-family dwellings. The funding will also pay for technology upgrades and program management for residential property inspection, the Fair Rent Commission, supportive housing development.
Another $10 million chunk of the money will be used to support wealth creation through economic development. The City's Small Business Fund, Economic Resilience Fund and Financial Services Center are all listed as priority areas for investment. The funding provides direct grant support to small businesses and organizations supporting small businesses, with particular emphasis on Black and Latinx business owners. Another priority for investment relates to cultural equity and implementation of a recently completed Cultural Equity Plan. The application process will focus on strategies to address the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small business owners, with outreach to ensure eligible businesses are encouraged to apply and that barriers to applying are reduced.
Gwen Busch-Williams, director of the New Haven Youth and Recreation Department, said the pandemic exposed long-standing inequities in our social and economic systems that have hit communities of color and low-income earners the hardest.
"High-quality early childhood education and youth programs build resilience," she said. "This spending plan attempts to address those disparities in ways that provide both immediate relief and promote future economic and social stability for New Haven residents of all ages."
"I'm glad to see funding for affordable housing and homeownership included in this plan," said Ed Randall, a resident of the Thompson-Winchester program. "Programs like these helped me become a homeowner. I want to thank LCI for recognizing the need to expand those opportunities even further."
The remaining initiatives receiving funding are Climate Emergency, $5 million; Public Health & Infrastructure, $6 million; and the New Haven Land Bank, $4 million. Climate Emergency funding will be directed to the City's Carbon-Free Future Program and support energy efficiency measures for low to moderate-income homeowners of single, two, and three-family dwellings, non-carbon-based heating, cooling, and insulation systems, demand-responsive, and smart metering systems, LED lighting, other programs with demonstrated carbon and cost-savings as another mechanism to support those impacted by the pandemic. Funding will also be set aside to train and support small contractors and promote municipal carbon-reduction and cost savings initiatives.
Following today’s announcement, the Phase 3 plan will be submitted to the Board of Alders and a public hearing will be scheduled in the near future.
More details about the plan can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h2ujm.
