Cleveland — Tonight, Mayor Justin M. Bibb will introduce to the Cleveland City Council over $40 million in proposed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) investments focused on education, jobs, democracy, and the modernization of city services.
“The pandemic has been hard on all of us, especially our kids and our families. My administration remains focused on helping provide the necessary supports that students, educators, and parents need as we continue to come out of the pandemic,” said Mayor Bibb. “These critical initiatives will help accelerate progress on literacy, mental health, and engagement.”
“These ARPA funds are once-in-a-lifetime investments in Cleveland’s future,” Bibb added. “That’s why we’re focusing on the building blocks of a stronger tomorrow: our kids, our workers, and our civic fabric. It’s this kind of catalytic investment in the things that matter most that will ensure Cleveland thrives for generations to come.”
This docket of ARPA proposals includes:
Education for Everyone ($16.68M)
- Coordinated Supports to Catch Students Up: These initiatives serve to develop and scale innovative education practices that work, further engage families in their student’s learning, and ensure all early learners have support for reading.
- Education Pathways to Good Jobs: Education is a critical pathway toward family-sustaining wages for all Clevelanders. This initiative aims to re-engage residents whose educational pathway was disrupted during COVID and to establish more robust career pathway planning for Cleveland students in grades 6-12.
- Integrated Health Initiative: Integrate health services into CMSD schools to provide students with physical and mental services on-site and remotely, build trust in healthcare, increase health literacy, and destigmatize mental health.
Inclusive Economic Recovery ($13.5M)
- Built Environment Workforce Development: Grow the workforce pipeline in high-demand good jobs in “built environment” sectors (construction, transit, green infrastructure, broadband, lead and brownfield remediation), with specific metrics to bring more Black, Latinx, and women workers into the skilled trades and other occupations that build the community around us.
- Site Acquisition and Development: Acquire, remediate, and prepare commercial sites for business development and growth along Opportunity Corridor, ultimately attracting more jobs to the City.
Modernizing City Hall ($4M)
- 311 Digital Government Software: To better provide essential City services, this initiative will modernize 311 operations with a digital resident engagement platform and revamped call intake capabilities.
Violence Prevention and Public Safety ($0.85M)
- Violence Prevention Strategic Plan: Engage the community in developing a long-term violence prevention strategic plan.
Civic Participation Fund ($5.5M)
- Participatory Budgeting: Enables residents to propose and vote for projects in their neighborhoods by piloting a participatory budgeting process, a new investment in Cleveland’s civic infrastructure which lets the community decide how to spend part of a public budget.
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