The Franklin County Commissioners have launched a new webpage where residents can track how the county uses funds from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to help our community recover from the pandemic. The site,
Recovery.FranklinCountyOhio.gov provides information about the ARP, what it means for Franklin County, a graph of expenditures so far, and links to information about the individual expenditures. The commissioners have already allocated more than $26 million for recovery.
“Our community will be feeling the effects of the pandemic for years to come,” said Board of Commissioners President, Kevin L. Boyce. “We got lots of input from our residents about how we can best use this money to help them and their families, and this webpage represents an unprecedented level of transparency in how we’re going to use this funding so that they can see in real-time what we’re doing to help them recover.”
The American Rescue Plan was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden to help Americans who are suffering from the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes significant federal resources to support a strong public health response and vaccination strategy, provide direct assistance to families, and deliver resources to local governments to use in their own communities. Franklin County will be receiving $256 million over the next two years. Other parts of the ARP provided resources for schools, healthcare providers, public health agencies, and small businesses, which all also strengthen a community’s collective response and recovery.
“The American Rescue Plan is important legislation and provides significant resources to help our residents recover, so we’re really glad to be able to get those out into the community and working for Franklin County families right away,” said Commissioner John O’Grady. “The new site provides important information and resources, as well as a window into our funding priorities.”
The commissioners held a
public hearing and solicited written testimony from the community to learn about the challenges residents have faced over the past 18 months and how they think this funding can best be used to aid in recovery. Video of that hearing and text of the written testimony can be found on the commissioners’ new webpage along with federally mandated reports on ARP spending and a link for residents to continue to submit ideas for recovery funding.
“Too many Franklin County families were already struggling before theCOVID-19 pandemic, and the pandemic only intensified these difficulties,” said Commissioner Erica C. Crawley. “The funding through the American Rescue Plan is a lifeline to our county—both to our families, our government and our community partners. It will funnel desperately needed resources to help our community recover and deal with the impacts of the ongoing pandemic. We will ensure the funding helps the most marginalized members of our community, who were harmed most by the pandemic.”
An update to the commissioners’ American Rescue Plan webpage is already planned, and will connect residents in need directly to the resources that the commissioners have funded with ARP dollars. Additional information is available on the site itself at
Recovery.FranklinCountyOhio.gov.