“I am incredibly grateful for the hard work of the ARPA Commission to bring us to the point where we’re ready to solicit projects,” said Mayor Sciarra. “I have been committed from day one to a community-driven process to distribute a significant portion of Northampton’s ARPA funds, and I am proud that we have set these funds aside for our community. I look forward to reviewing the proposals and helping to enable worthwhile recovery projects.”
Following on the recommendations of last fall’s ARPA survey conducted by former Mayor Narkewicz, shortly after taking office, Mayor Sciarra set aside $4,000,000 of the funds received by the City of Northampton to be distributed to community-led initiatives. Next, the Mayor empaneled a group of 12 city residents and stakeholders, including 2 city councilors, representing many of the priority categories highlighted in the survey. This group has been helping to develop the Community Recovery Projects process, create a request for proposals, coordinate proposal submission, and ultimately will help review and recommend projects for funding.
ARPA Commission member Elena Huisman shared, “After conducting eight community meetings to help inform the process of writing the proposal and to better understand the needs of the community, we spent the summer working on what we hope is a simple and straightforward proposal-seeking process. We plan to hold additional public meetings to help explain the process and answer questions from potential applicants.”
This funding opportunity is open to individuals, groups, non-profits, small businesses, and organizations which are based in Northampton and/or whose proposed project will serve the
Northampton community. These are one-time funds which must be used to respond to a negative health or economic impact of COVID-19. Funding is intended for projects which are designed to aid the community in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, including supporting recovery, reconnecting community, and building resilience. There are two separate applications for funding: a small projects application for projects up to $10,000 and a large projects application for projects requesting more than $10,000 in ARPA funding. More information can be found on the City’s ARPA page.
The city will host three information sessions to provide an opportunity for applicants to ask questions. The dates and times for the information sessions will be posted on the City’s ARPA page at www.northamptonma.gov/ARPA. Questions and answers from the information sessions will also be posted on the City’s ARPA page after each meeting. Once the application is closed, the ARPA Commission will review all applications according to the ARPA Scoring Guidelines found here. The Commission will then send recommendations for funding to the Mayor. Awards will be announced in December of 2022. Funds will be distributed in early 2023.
Please go to www.northamptonma.gov/ARPA to find the application materials and other information about Northampton’s ARPA funding.
