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The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was signed into law on March 11, 2021 by Former President Biden to improve the economic wellbeing of Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research on ARPA from Community Solutions discussed lessons learned from one-time investments, and the importance of planning to incorporate feedback from communities. Further analysis of advancements in equity will be provided to assess the scope of funding decisions and their impact.
The Framework: ARPA Equity
In 2021, PolicyLink published 10 recommendations to advance racial equity through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The ten recommendations were:
- Name racial equity as a goal
- Engage historically underserved communities
- Connect unemployed and low wage workers with good jobs
- Stabilize and grow POC and immigrant-owned businesses
- Expand public services providing care
- Invest in frontline, disinvested covid-impacted communities
- Prevent displacement and increase community property ownership of housing and land
- Strengthen infrastructure civically to support marginalized communities
- Prioritize quality, cross-sector equity investments
- Track data to ensure accountability
The ARPA Tracker: Useful for following the money
On September 18, 2023, the Ohio Poverty Law Center (OPLC) and Advocates for Ohio’s Future launched an ARPA tracker, which tracked expenditures on the state and local level. The tracker is an effective resource for advocates, organizations, and researchers seeking to have knowledge on budget appropriations in August 2023. All ARPA funds were appropriated by the end of 2024, with the deadline for spending December 31, 2026. This work was needed to provide a consistent source of information on projects and their expenditures throughout the state. Ohio lacked any other consolidated source of information in how funds were disbursed, and the tracker was an effective way for advocates and other providers to follow issues. While Ohio did not fully accomplish PolicyLink’s equity recommendation to track data ensuring accountability (item #10), Advocates for Ohio’s Future and Ohio Poverty Law Center (OPLC) worked to bridge this gap.
All ARPA funds were appropriated by the end of 2024, with the deadline for spending December 31, 2026.
The Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Coalition: Engaging communities
The Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Coalition (GCARP Coalition) was a project of the Center for Community Solutions in partnership with other Northeast Ohio nonprofit organizations focused on connecting stakeholders to decisionmakers responsible for appropriating ARPA dollars. The goal of the GCARP Coalition was to influence the use of ARPA so that it was invested in economic uplift. Public meetings were held, bringing together community members, elected officials, and other stakeholders to ensure that ARPA was invested in a significant way to reduce health disparities and advance wellbeing of vulnerable populations. The work led by Community Solutions sought to address items #2, #8, and #9 on PolicyLink’s ARPA equity recommendations, because Ohio did not have any other formal process to engage communities.
Cleveland projects
The City of Cleveland received an initial allocation of $511.7 million. Notable city appropriations include broadband ($20 million), workforce development ($50 million), and the Department of Public Safety ($26.2 million). A major chunk of ARPA expenditure was dedicated to revenue loss recovery transfer to the General Fund ($108 million) after the pandemic induced economic downturn. This money was able to free up other dollars to support Cleveland’s cash reserves. Below is a table of Cleveland projects with expenditures higher than $10 million:
The city of Cleveland has appropriated all remaining ARPA dollars. Based on the expenditures, the city of Cleveland accomplished the goals of PolicyLink by investing in infrastructure through initiatives such as broadband access (item #5), housing (item #7), and addressing lead poisoning (item #2). These expenditures were necessary to support services delivered to Cleveland residents and helped advance the necessary gaps that were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While ARPA opened the door for investment in projects that were much needed, some of these investments were used on projects within the City of Cleveland that did not necessarily advance racial justice or equity. It instead bolstered infrastructure, freeing up other dollars the city had available to support these projects. Examples of this include supporting the city-wide infrastructure improvement fund or projects that are invested in city hall roof replacement.
Cuyahoga County projects
Cuyahoga County made several expenditures across health and human services, workforce development, and neighborhood revitalization. Cuyahoga County has spent a substantial amount of ARPA dollars, with 2 percent remaining (or just over $4 million). Below is a breakdown of investments across the categories, and the type of project that received expenditures.
Out of these investments, only two were dedicated to health and human services (Greater Cleveland Foodbank and Centers for Family and Children). Other investments were focused on housing (Emerald Development and Economic Network) and workforce development (Manufacturing Sector Partnership). The largest expenditure under this category was the Justice Center Capital Projects Fund ($53.6 million), which was outside of the alignment for PolicyLink’s recommendations for ARPA equity and does not sufficiently address the needs of residents.
The impact of ARPA will continue to be discussed as historic legislation investing one-time dollars in communities.
ARPA Retrospective: Equity is a mixed bag
The American Rescue Plan Act was meant to address health and infrastructure challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of ARPA will continue to be discussed as historic legislation investing one-time dollars in communities. The COVID-19 pandemic was not the first, nor will it be the last historic challenge. Using lessons learned and equity considerations from ARPA can help policymakers be more prepared to face any unforeseen challenges, but they must go into any future investments with this framework at the forefront.
