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ARPA Project Selection Survey Overview

ARPA Project Selection Survey

Overview

On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This $1.9 trillion measure provides direct financial relief to Americans, assistance to businesses, and aid to states, counties, and municipalities to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In total, the City of Lynn will receive approximately $75 million in ARPA funds over the course of the next two years. All of the funding must be committed by December 31, 2024 and fully expended by December 31, 2026. To date, the City of Lynn has dedicated $13.5 million to improving the air quality in its municipal-owned buildings by replacing and upgrading the HVAC systems throughout public buildings in the community. $500,000 has been directed to purchase rapid COVID antigen test kits and $3 million was allocated to the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation of Lynn (EDIC) for small business relief grants. The remaining $58 million will be dedicated toward initiatives and priorities which will be developed through robust community engagement. In order to receive input from as many of the City’s diverse population as possible, $800,000 was allocated for city-wide translators.  

City Goals for Distributing ARPA Funds

Seek extensive input and feedback from the community to help structure the City’s use of ARPA funding.
Design a transparent, accessible, and equitable project proposal process for allocating funds.
Prioritize projects, people, businesses, and organizations with a focus on those most impacted by COVID-19.
Leverage other state and federal resources to maximize Lynn’s ARPA funding.
Cover the City’s costs to administer ARPA funds.

Recap of Project Selection Process

Since the onset of the community engagement process for ARPA spending and project selection, the City has been working to gather input through traditional grassroots means and a multi-faceted online approach. Outreach efforts included connecting with community stakeholders, canvassing neighborhoods, distributing press releases, email blasts, social media posts, and setting up in-person and virtual community meetings in each Ward. 
 
In early February, a community survey was developed and distributed to help the City of Lynn develop a transparent, strategic, and equitable plan for federal ARPA funding. The survey was designed for the purpose of understanding the impact of the pandemic on city residents and to gather a sense of community stakeholders’ priorities for COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. During the month of May, the public was invited to attend several workshops for an opportunity to collaborate with staff to help submit their project suggestions and proposals.

Timeline

  • April 25, 2022: Launch of the phase I ARPA Project proposal and suggestions. Announcement (PDF)
  • April 26, 2022: Presentation of the Lynn ARPA survey results to the City Council. Survey Results (PDF)
  • May 2022: Phase I project submittal workshops. Project Submittal Workshop Announcement (PDF)
  • May 31, 2022: Closure of phase I project submittal requests
  • June 15, 2022: Launch of project selection survey.
  • June 21, 2022: Overview of the Project Selection | City Hall.
  • June 25, 2022: Closure of the Project Selection Survey
  • July 12, 2022: Phase I presentation to the City Council and vote 
  • Late Summer/Early Fall: Project implementation

Outreach activities for the first quarter: 

  • Targeted Outreach to 509 Community Organization Contacts 
  • 1,500+ Email Communications 
  • 200+ Telephone Calls 
  • 14 Community Forums  
  • 1,650+ Survey Responses 
    • The survey was available online from February 8, 2022 through March 31, 2022 and reached roughly 1,653 respondents.

Outreach Takeaways

Feedback from the City’s community outreach highlighted particular needs to address parks and green space, the cost of housing, improvements to roadways and sidewalks, and litter. The City’s recommendations are in line with those priorities, taking into account priorities from the City’s ARPA Scoring Matrix such as the implementation timeline and project sustainability (i.e., the reality that the finding is a one-time revenue source). 

ARPA Project Selection Community Meeting

We hope you will be able to join us for an overview of the project selection process on June 28, 2022 at 6:00PM in the
Lynn Auditorium located at 3 City Hall Square Lynn, MA 01901.

Not Available to attend in person?

The meeting will be recorded and streamed LIVE on LynnTV.org and the City’s Facebook Page.

We would like to hear from you. Please send us a message by filling out the form below and we will get back with you shortly.

3 City Hall Square
Lynn, Massachusetts 01901

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Mon. Wed. & Thurs. 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
Tuesday 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM
Friday 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

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