Summary
Pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), Saline County will be allocated $10,532,376 from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund. This proposal is for ARPA funds which includes $250,000 in initial funding for community-based projects that address the following:
Community Public Safety - The American Rescue Plan offers an unprecedented opportunity to invest in more effective and less costly approaches to public health and safety. Specifically, states and local communities can leverage American Rescue Plan resources to spur long-term, system-wide improvements—including strategies to reduce justice involvement, connect people to community-based services, and put people on a pathway to success.
Community Mental Health – The pandemic exacerbated an already untenable mental health crisis, which continues to worsen by the week. To ensure that people have adequate and complete service coverage and supports, members of the public and private sectors, including policymakers, must make major systemic and policy changes. In March 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) which included much-needed federal investments and opportunities to advance mental health policies and resources at the state and local level.
Community Criminal Justice – The Covid-19 pandemic has had a drastic effect on the criminal justice system in our community. From docket backlogs to safety procedures needed to keep those incarcerated safe, the challenges have been endless. The American Rescue Plan Act allows for resources to assist our Criminal Justice system with the drastic effects of Covid-19 and to provide much needed financial support for the agencies that makeup this system.
Accordingly, Saline County is recommending allocating these funds for a grant program to address each of 3 areas that have been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The available funding will be used to assist with project planning, development, and implementation with a priority for projects that address geographic areas of the greatest need and serve those most at-risk.
Funding
The available funding (listed below) should be used to assist with project planning, development and/or implementation with a priority for projects that address geographic areas of greatest need and serve those most at-risk. These projects should at minimum address one of the main areas indicated above.
A total of $250,000 will be allocated to this grant program, with a maximum grant size of $100,000 or less per project; and are intended to fund planning, development and implementation of projects that will address the following:
Eligible Applicants
Applications may be submitted by county agencies, public and private institutions of higher education, independent school districts, non-profit corporations (including hospitals and faith-based organizations), and law enforcement agencies.
Eligible Project Examples:
The following are types of projects eligible under this program:
Community Public Safety:
Saline Co recognizes that the pandemic has also affected Community public safety. The eligible uses in this category should Increase public safety and prevent and respond to violent crime and build a holistic, evidence-based approach to combatting violence, especially gun violence, through strategies ranging from subsidized employment and behavioral health programming to Community Violence Intervention programs and community policing. These proposed eligible projects include but are not limited to:
Community Mental Health:
Saline Co recognizes that the pandemic has broadly impacted citizens behavioral health and recipients can provide these services to the public to respond. These proposed eligible projects include but are not limited to:
Community Criminal Justice:
Saline Co recognizes that the pandemic has also affected Community criminal justice efforts. The purpose of this funding category is to solicit applications for projects that promote public safety, reduce crime, and improve the criminal justice system. Eligible programs would be defined as activities pertaining to crime prevention, control, or reduction, or the enforcement of the criminal law, including, but not limited to, police efforts to prevent, control, or reduce crime or to apprehend criminals, including juveniles, activities of courts having criminal jurisdiction, and related agencies (including but not limited to prosecutorial and defender services, juvenile delinquency agencies and pretrial service or release agencies), activities of corrections, probation, or parole authorities and related agencies assisting in the rehabilitation, supervision, and care of criminal offenders, and programs relating to the prevention, control, or reduction of narcotic addiction and juvenile delinquency.
Funding may be used to provide additional personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, training, technical assistance, and information systems for criminal justice purposes, including for any one or more of the following: