Lake County's ARPA Story
Lake County has officially allocated all of $135.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds it received from the federal government. The projects funded demonstrate the Lake County Board's commitment to address immediate pandemic response needs and pursuing long-term equity-informed initiatives to support our residents and local businesses.
This two-and-a-half-year process took swift decision-making and thoughtful planning on how we can best support projects and programs that solve problems our community is facing and make Lake County more resilient to future challenges.
Here's our ARPA story.
Arrival of ARPA Funds
 On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. This Act allocated State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to all states, counties and municipalities across the United States. At the time, Lake County knew it would receive ARPA funding, but it didn't know how much, when it would arrive, or what rules and regulations the County would need to abide by.
Within a few weeks, Lake County along with governments across the country gained the necessary knowledge of how ARPA funds could be used. The US Treasury released guidance on how we needed to use the funds and were informed that Lake County would be receiving $135.2 million. Quickly working to turn questions into answers, staff compared this time to solving a 100-piece puzzle as quickly as possible.
"Pieces to the puzzle started falling into place and now we had the enormous task of determining the best way to allocate this once-in-a lifetime funding to make the biggest impact possible for Lake County residents," said Matt Meyers, Assistant County Administrator.
Figuring Out the "Best Way"
 The Lake County Board was now responsible for allocating the $135.2 million in funding. They had the tough task of balancing the immediate needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and looking towards maximizing strategic investments that would benefit residents for years to come by funding improved outcomes rather than short-term fixes. With this in mind the Board did the following:
- Allocated funding to address immediate, ongoing COVID-19 response needs. There still remained a strong need for food and shelter programs. In June 2021, the Board quickly authorized $1 million to continue food distribution and housing programs.
- Created the Lake County Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery and Investments to assess and prioritize potential projects and programs for the future.
- Approved a contract for consulting support in the administration of ARPA funding. The US Treasury guidance has various complexities. We wanted to ensure we had a second set of eyes on the allocation of funds to make certain Lake County followed the necessary procedures and processes.
To support the new Special Committee, Lake County established task forces comprised of staff across five categories that aligned with the US Treasury guidance. Each task force reviewed their focus areas and developed plans for initiatives that would address community needs. The five Task Forces covered the following focus areas:
- Public Health
- Community and Household Assistance
- Economic and Business Investment
- Infrastructure and Facility Investment
- County Services Investment
"Once we laid the groundwork, Lake County was in a great position to meticulously vet all ARPA funding decisions," said Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart. "Over the next few years, the Board discussed ARPA more than any other topic. We wanted to take the time to get this right as we would only have one opportunity."
Addressing Immediate Response Needs
 Throughout 2021 and 2022, the Lake County Board continued to allocate ARPA funds to programs to address immediate COVID-19 response needs. Personal protective equipment (PPE) was in high demand. Using ARPA funds, Lake County built a stockpile of PPE and other supplies to distribute to long term care facilities, hospitals, police and fire departments, mass vaccination clinics, and many more entities. By mid-2021, more than 4.1 million PPE and supply items had been distributed to Lake County entities.
Lake County was also active in supporting food and housing programs. One program that became very popular was the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (FERA). The FERA Program provided low-income renters that experienced a financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic with up to 12 months of assistance for both rent and utilities, including internet. As of June 30, 2023, FERA aided with rent and utilities on behalf of over 4,700 Lake County households.
“Throughout the pandemic and the ongoing recovery, we were hearing from families and our community partners about the need to keep families stably housed in uncertain times," said Brenda O'Connell, Community Development Administrator. "This money provided stability to Lake County residents that allowed them focus on their health, education and employment.”
Investing in the Future
 The Lake County Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery and Investments met for the first time on Oct. 15, 2021, and has met regularly ever since. Their primary focus of addressing immediate response needs shifted over time to forward-thinking initiatives that will benefit Lake County residents in the years to come. Millions of dollars have been dedicated to upgrading Lake County Public Works infrastructure, building back our economy by expanding access to jobs and talent, and Lake County's new Regional Operations and Communications (ROC) Facility. We also invested in various technologies to help Lake County adapt to a remote work-capable environment. For example, County employees can now receive telephone calls on their computers and meet virtually, allowing many employees to work from anywhere with internet access and reducing the need for physical phones across the organization.
The COVID-19 pandemic was winding down in the summer of 2022 and Lake County had committed about $71 million in ARPA funding thus far. In July and August 2022, the Special Committee sought input from Lake County residents on how to prioritize the remaining funds, asking our communities for their needs. Lake County held three community events and posted an online survey for residents to submit their thoughts. The public engagement results are available to view online. These results helped inform the Special Committee and Lake County Board of the types of programs and initiatives to consider when allocating the remaining funds.
"Community engagement was an important step in helping us wrap our heads around projects that can help better position our county in the decades to come," said Paul Frank," Chair of the Lake County Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery and Investments. "We thank everyone that talked with us, attended our meetings, met with staff at our community events and completed the online survey."
Allocating the Remaining $15.6 Million
 By July 2023, Lake County was in the homestretch. About $16 million in ARPA funding remained to be allocated which had been set aside for a process that started in late 2022.
Last year, the County opened an application period to accept program and service ideas from nonprofit organizations and local units of government to aid in the ongoing response and recovery. Interested organizations had to go through an application process where they explained how their project(s) would be eligible for ARPA funding.
Lake County's ARPA consultant, Bronner Group, LLC, scored each of the submitted projects based on several factors including the community input we had received earlier in 2022. On Aug. 8, 2023, the Lake County Board allocated $15.6 million towards 20 community-support projects that focus on negative economic impacts, public health and new capital projects. An example of one of these projects will complete the unfinished interior of the Waukegan Business Center building to help expand current mental health service offerings at the Josselyn Center.
The ARPA Story Continues
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