SOUDERTON — The local impact of federal COVID recovery funds was celebrated Tuesday afternoon at the Montgomery County Recognition Luncheon.
Hosted at the Generations of Indian Valley senior center, the luncheon was held to recognize the work of Montgomery County American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant recipients.
Passed back in March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act is a $1.9 trillion federal economic stimulus bill aimed at helping states, counties and municipalities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. After receiving $161.4 million in funding, the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners established the Recovery Office to allocate the funds in a “responsible, effective and equitable manner.”
In August 2022, the Recovery Office approved a four-year recovery plan with grant funding for more than 100 projects, including aid to small businesses, infrastructure improvements, youth mental health programs, strengthened community services and more. To date, the office has allocated $83 million in funding, with the deadline to allocate the remaining funds in 2026.
At Tuesday’s luncheon, dozens of grant recipients turned out to receive recognition for their work and network with other community partners. A handful of recipients spoke about the impact of the grants on their organizations.
Pamela Martin of Expressive Path, a nonprofit that provides art and music workshops for disadvantaged teens in Norristown, used her grant to develop a Friday night social group that provides the teens with a safe space to do creative art projects with likeminded peers and local creators.
“We are excited to continue to grow this program,” said Martin. “This group of students from all walks of life and personal challenges who may have never talked in their school have become a family. They all look after each other, and they love seeing each other every Friday night.”
Tamra Williams of the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services spent her agency’s grant on school-based behavioral health programs in every Montgomery County school district, noting the detrimental effects on youth mental health during the pandemic. She highlighted one program implemented by the Pottsgrove School District, which provides individual, group and family therapy, crisis services and professional development to mend relationships between students and staff.
“This program has been shown to significantly reduce out of school placements due to behavioral health needs,” she said. “And, importantly, the cost savings generated by these services makes the program a sustainable practice.”
Williams announced that the grant will additionally fund a new emergency behavioral health center.
“There will be more to come in the next year, but we are excited to be able to expand options for people when they have an emergency,” she said.
Nelly Jimenez of ACLAMO, a Norristown-based social services non-profit serving needs of Latinos and others, invested her grant in a new community center, featuring an elevator to facilitate access to the senior center, building-wide Wi-Fi and smartboards for every classroom.
“We used the money very well,” she said. “We have worked with all our partners to make sure we can do the best with the money we have to make a space that we can all be proud of.”
Montgomery County Commissioners Ken Lawrence and Jamila Winder also spoke at the luncheon, hailing the “innovative” and “transformative” nature of the ARPA-funded projects.
“Each organization represented here today represents progress and innovation,” said Winder. “Your initiatives have not only met the immediate needs of our residents but have laid down the foundation for a brighter and more inclusive future for our county.”
Lawrence noted that the Recovery Office received more than 400 project submissions and made an effort to prioritize underserved communities.
“When schools closed, most of our school districts pivoted very quickly to online learning, but three of our school districts had to figure out how to feed their children, because over half of their students receive over two meals a day at school,” he said. “Part of what we’ve tried to do is build up all of our communities.”
Tom Bonner, director of the Recovery Office, closed by previewing some of the recovery plan’s upcoming projects, including large-scale affordable housing construction, innovative child care and emergency medical care solutions, new data-sharing infrastructure and more.
“The results of those efforts will inform future investments far beyond the reach of us and provide opportunities for better serving our communities,” he said. “I am grateful for your work with us, for pushing all of us to think of new ideas.”
