The City of Sacramento in April received $89.6 million from the federal government’s CARES Act to help the city address the public-health emergency caused by COVID-19.
To provide transparency about the allocation of these funds, the City has created a new, comprehensive webpage that clearly outlines CARES Act initiatives and spending, said Assistant City Manager Michael Jasso.
“The information on this webpage will ensure that the public is up to date with the City’s process for spending the $89 million as we work to help our residents, businesses and those most vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic,” Jasso said.
So far, the City Council has made commitments for roughly $28 million in CARES Act funds. Another $61.5 million remains to be spent on categories that include small business assistance, workforce training, youth enrichment, family services, homeless services and rapid rehousing and the arts, creative economy and tourism.
The City has begun funding several projects, including the Coronavirus Job Protection Helpline, Small Business Recovery Program, which will provide forgivable loans and technical assistance, Al Fresco dining grants and permits to help restaurants move dining outside and Great Plates Delivered, which provides three meals a day to seniors.
The new webpage outlines the City Council’s priorities, community survey results, guidelines and eligibility for funding, process, approved spending to date and a tentative City Council schedule for upcoming project approvals.
The City Council on June 30 will be reviewing CARES Act funding requests and projects, which include:
- The framework for the Creative Economy Recovery program, which would disperse $5 million in grants to individual artists, arts organizations, arts education programs and cultural organizations that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- A request for $5 million for technical assistance for small businesses impacted by COVID -19. As well as an augmentation to the loan amount – increasing the amount from the $10 million previously approved to $15 million.
Stay up to date with they City’s Coronavirus CARES spending here. The deadline for expending these funds is December 30, 2020.