Resource Available to Community Partners Interested in Tracking Funding for Use in Decision-Making
The John R. Oishei Foundation along with the Mobile Safety-Net Team (MSNT) have been working collaboratively to better understand the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act – $1.9 trillion stimulus plan with $350 billion allocated for state and local relief implemented in response to the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.
The stimulus plan was passed in March 2021. This report serves as a strategic tool for tracking and reporting on ARP/stimulus. It identifies the specific funding streams by government body (local, state, and federal levels) and key issue areas for use by nonprofits, funders, and others with an interest in the distribution and potential impact of funding.
According to Curtis Robbins, Director of Strategy, Research & Evaluation at the Foundation, “Understanding how stimulus money will flow into our community is critical to help us strengthen our collective decision-making, align resources appropriately and complement areas of investment. While there has been much information and reporting on the ARP, there did not seem to be a central resource to understand the main components and how it will impact the nonprofit sector, so we decided to compile it ourselves and make it available to our community partners.”
Beyond its value in providing an accurate summary of ARP funding provisions and respective programs, the report can serve as a useful information-sharing tool as more dollars begin to make their way into our community. The report was designed to be easy to navigate, reside on a universal platform (Google Docs) and facilitate shared learning by way of our community partners providing new information through a data collection form.
In addition to this information, a supplementary section has also been created to capture stimulus funding and relief outside of ARPA, examples include the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program
In the coming weeks and months, our intent is to share the report as widely as possible throughout WNY. Organizations interested in a presentation on the report can contact Curtis Robbins at CRobbins@Oishei.org.