The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill signed into law March 2021 with the goal of supporting the economic and public health recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This one-time allocation will enable Arapahoe County to assist in these efforts in multiple areas across our communities.

These funds present an opportunity to assist our post-pandemic economic recovery in multiple areas and for a wide variety of community stakeholders, including small businesses and nonprofits, as well as industries that were disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Arapahoe County will distribute its $127.5 million allotment over the next several years to qualified recipients and will also use a portion of the funds to partially replace the pandemic-related financial impacts the County has experienced. All ARPA funds should be incurred by Dec. 31, 2024 and expended or completed by Dec. 31, 2026. (Individual communities within the County have also received their own federal allotments.)

To help inform the County’s funding approach, the Board of County Commissioners updated its Response and Recovery plan goals and objectives. The Board also held 14 stakeholder outreach meetings in recent months to understand community needs and solicit funding proposals. Initial funding allocations focus on the people—particularly vulnerable populations—and economic sectors that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. 

The initial rollout of the County’s high-level plans for the ARPA funds will help jumpstart our agency and community partners’ individual projects and programs. In many cases, the funds the Board has allocated, or will allocate, to these initiatives will cover only some of their costs, so these partners can now leverage our commitment to help raise additional funds as needed. 

ARPA Fund Allocations to Date – Updated Aug. 23, 2022

1. Vulnerable Populations: $5,982,000
   1. GOALS Early Childhood Education Center: $1,200,000
   2. Family Resource Pavilion Expansion: $1,000,000
   3. Food Assistance: $1,400,000
   4. Eastern Food Box Program: $100,000
   5. Temporary Caseworkers: $657,000
   6. Village Exchange Vaccine Incentive Program: $1,000,000
   7. Village Exchange Center Low Wage Worker Fund: $250,000
   8. Pretrial Fee Support: $375,000
2. Business Support: $12,806,500
   1. Commercial Rent Rescue: $4,500,000
   2. SBDC Small Business Support: $2,500,000
   3. Retrain Arapahoe: $5,000,000
   4. Business Services Staff Time: $800,000
   5. AwardForce Software Renewal: $6,500
3. Homelessness/Housing: ≈ $23,060,000
   1. Homelessness Program Administrator: $260,000
   2. Eviction Assistance Pilot Program: $1,500,000
   3. Affordable Housing Grant Program: $10,000,000
   4. Permanent Supportive Housing—Justice Involved^∆: $3,000,000
   5. Ready to Work—West Side: $1,000,000
   6. Tri-Cities Navigation Center : $300,000
   7. Aurora Shelter/Safe Housing Options^∆: $5,000,000
   8. State Ridge View Campus^∆: $2,000,000
4. Mental Health: $6,072,060
   1. All Health Colorado Spirit Program: $488,060
   2. Aurora Mental Health Potomac Safety Net Campus: $5,000,000
   3. Aurora Mental Health Suicide Prevention: $104,000
   4. Expansion of Pretrial Mental Health Programs: $480,000
5. County Operations: $12,873,000
   1. Detention Center Food/Laundry Service: $2,000,000
   2. Temporary HR Staffing: $568,000
   3. Temporary FD Staffing: $340,000
   4. DA Temporary Staffing: $1,358,000
   5. COVID-19 Communications: $1,600,000
   6. Facility Improvements: $850,000
   7. Facility Space Study: $200,000
   8. Facility Cleaning: $500,000
   9. Leaves/Other Needs: $700,000
   10. Postmortem Imaging Equipment: $475,000
   11. Fiber Master Plan: $400,000*
   12. Employee Premium Pay: $3,600,000
   13. Employee Gas Stipend: $282,000*
6. Education: $11,000,000
   1. Arapahoe Community College Health Innovation Center: $3,500,000
   2. Community College of Aurora Center for STEM, Power Mechanics & Sustainable Energy: $3,500,000
   3. K-12 Grant Program: $4,000,000
7. Physical Health: $1,590,000
   1. STRIDE West Dental Clinic: $1,590,000
8. COVID-19 Response: $700,000
   
   
9. Water/Sewer Infrastructure: $3,421,884
   1. Countywide Water Availability Study: $300,000
   2. Byers Water & Sanitation District Improvements Project: $257,000
   3. Coordinated Water and Wastewater Projects: $1,500,000
   4. Inverness Drive Stormwater Improvements: $300,000
   5. Eastern County Stormwater Projects: $1,064,884
10. Public Health Department Transition: $613,000
    1. Harm Reduction Bridge Funding: $613,000*

* Funded with ARPA Revenue Loss funds

Note: a ∆ indicates that this funding proposal requires more information to be submitted before formal approval is granted.

Board of County Commissioner Study Sessions

View a list of all scheduled study sessions related to ARPA.