Covered by Documenter Tucker Handley (notes)
ARPA funding community
Cuyahoga County Council’s Community Development Committee moved forward legislation approving American Rescue Plan Act funding for three community organizations—Future Ink Graphics, Ohio Voice and the Delta Alpha Lambda Foundation.
Future Ink Graphics, in partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, would receive $20,000 to support both the Creative Residency Program for artists with disabilities and professional development training for emerging designers.
Ohio Voice is in line for $10,000 and the Delta Alpha Lambda Foundation for $20,000, both for repairs to their facilities. Pastor Evan Regis Bunch said that Ohio Voice is acting as the fiscal sponsor for Fifth Christian Disciples of Christ. The church will use the funding to make repairs to its kitchen so that they can continue to provide meals for kids participating in its social action programs.
Lateef Saffore, chair of the Delta Lambda Foundation, said they will use the funding to repair the food pantry distribution site on East 116th Street.
The next step in the approval process is for the full County Council to hear the legislation.
Taking care of seniors
Council Member Michael Gallagher said that the county needs to do more to provide for aging seniors. He said, “There’s no reason whatsoever that a senior should go, in the latter years of their life, to worry about anything, and mostly in Cuyahoga County they worry about everything.”
His comments followed the county’s Director of Housing and Community Development Sarah Parks Jackson’s introduction of a resolution that would authorize $6.35 million in federal HOME and emergency rental assistance loans to organizations constructing and rehabilitating affordable housing units in Cleveland, Lakewood and Cleveland Heights.
Some of the funding, including $1 million for the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging and $450,000 for the Commonwealth Development Corp. of America, are for senior apartments.
The committee approved the legislation, and it will go to the full council for its next reading.
Left wondering
Documenter Tucker Handley asked, “Why do grant applications for $10,000 to $20,000 have detailed PowerPoint presentations, while $10 million disbursements are approved with little to no comment?”
