Mayor Sarno Announces $3.4 million in 14th Round of ARPA Awards - $9.9 million for Direct Assistance to Households -

$140,000 is being awarded to new businesses, $220,000 is being awarded to small businesses, $795,315 is being awarded to nonprofits, $50,000 is being awarded as part of the Build Back Springfield program, and $2,257,586 is being awarded as part of the Neighborhood Economic Recovery Fund (NERF). 

Mayor Sarno states, “From when my administration made our first round of ARPA awards nearly two years ago in December 2021, I am pleased to announce this fourteenth round of ARPA funding awards to continue to support and provide relief and assistance for our residents/households, small and new businesses, nonprofits and the numerous neighborhood economic recovery projects throughout our city.  This investment is all about that good four-letter word, JOBS!” 

“I am proud that my administration continues to commit our local allocation of federal ARPA funding to new and small businesses, nonprofits, and just as important to our neighborhoods through numerous enhancement projects citywide.  I am also proud that my administration has been able to award 98% of business applications to disproportionately impacted businesses, and 84% have been awarded to minority owned businesses.  This 14^th round of ARPA awards will not only provide much-needed relief and assistance but will also help these establishments survive and thrive which will in-turn help enhance and boost our local economy and provide much-needed services to our community that has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Small businesses are the economic backbone of our neighborhoods and my administration remains committed to supporting their efforts and their full economic recovery.” 

CDO Tim Sheehan stated, “As the City comes close to the end of its ARPA funding awards, I find it meaningful that Springfield, unlike many other cities, has reinvested this funding in ways that sought to build back those businesses, nonprofits and communities that were disproportionately impacted by COVID.  To date the City has invested almost $20 million, in 206 Springfield businesses, of which 98% were disproportionately impacted.  The City further invested almost $21 million in 86 nonprofits which are essential to keeping both our economy and community strong.  $13 million was invested in improving the City’s housing stock and $7.5 million in the adaptive reuse of historically significant properties that have been vacant or underutilized in our neighborhood commercial districts.  As many of these projects advance, I am confident that Springfield has invested its funding wisely and has helped so many in the City, to more effectively recover from the devastating impacts of this global pandemic.”   

Those new and small businesses, and nonprofits awarded are:

Note: New business funding was capped at $40,000 and businesses receiving the maximum award had to have be open. 

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In addition, Mayor Sarno is committing over $2.2 million from the Neighborhood Economic Recovery Fund (NERF) into six neighborhood projects.  These projects came to light from Mayor Sarno’s citywide listening tour session, meeting with over 40 neighborhood councils and other organizations.  The six neighborhood projects include:

In February 2022, Mayor Sarno, then Chief Financial and Administrative Officer (CAFO) TJ Plante and Chief Development Officer (CDO) Tim Sheehan announced $12 million investment into the Neighborhood Economic Recovery and Relief (NRF) fund.  The program helps to ensure and enhance local neighborhood councils, businesses and institutions, which are at the core of neighborhood life, have the resources to not simply recover from the impacts of the pandemic but to work together with the city towards ensuring our neighborhood centers and the surrounding area include sufficient amenities for residents and the business community to flourish with a focus on disproportionately impacted communities, equity and inclusion.

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Additionally, Mayor Sarno is committing $50,000 from the Build Back Springfield program to Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park to support the repairs and stabilization of the exterior of the building.  The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted STCC Technology Park as a major tenant broke their leases and transitioned to a remote work model during the pandemic.  Existing interior space remains vacant and cannot be repurposed without the needed exterior repairs and historic preservation improvements.

In November 2021, Mayor Sarno, then-CAFO TJ Plante and CDO Tim Sheehan announced the Build Back Springfield program that invested $15 million with a focus on recognizing the economic, environmental and cultural value of preserving older and locally significant landmark buildings and structures.  The city seeks to encourage adaptive reuse plans to revitalize buildings that complements the neighborhood while providing for new economic growth and employment opportunities.

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Mayor Sarno also provided an update on Direct Assistance for Springfield households.  Public Partnership, LLC (PPL) continues to act as the third party thoroughly reviewing the eligibility and awarding process of pending ARPA Direct Household Assistance applications.  To date, over 7,100 applications have now been reviewed and approved with over $9.9 million being directly awarded to Springfield residents/households.  Pending applications continue to be reviewed for eligibility. 

“I am proud to say that PPL, which is acting as our third party to review all pending direct assistance for households, is thoroughly reviewing all of the over 19,000 applications that have been submitted to guard against potential fraud.  To date, our review process has flagged over 1,000 duplicate requests.  They continue to help expedite the reviewing process,” said Mayor Sarno.  “Again, I want to thank everyone for their continued patience and understanding as we continue to review all pending applications carefully to guard against any potential fraud and non-eligible applications that would take funding away from our Springfield residents, businesses and nonprofits.”

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To date, the city has committed nearly all of the original $123.8 million of local ARPA funding through a comprehensive and all-encompassing process that started with Mayor Sarno and city officials meeting with over 40 neighborhood councils and other organizations as part of a citywide listening tour session to hear directly from our residents, business community and nonprofits on how best to utilized Springfield’s allocation of ARPA funding to enhance projects, programs and initiatives across the city for the betterment of our residents and businesses, especially those adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  These seven categories included:  Nonprofit Assistance, New Business Assistance, Small Business Assistance, Senior Citizen Assistance, Neighborhood/Household Assistance, Capital Projects/Public Space Improvements, and Job Creation/Economic Development. 

Mayor Sarno added, “As we approach the end of 2023, we celebrate two years of providing much-needed relief and assistance for our residents, businesses, nonprofits, and neighborhoods.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to note that the City of Springfield remains on target to meet all of the federal requirements to have all ARPA funding committed by 2024 and allocated by 2026.  I am proud of my administration’s efforts in getting this funding out into our community through a wide variety of all-encompassing and comprehensive programs and initiatives.  As we come to the end of our ARPA funding, we will now look to advance our city projects which will be for the benefit of all in our city.”