 February 6, 2024
Lake County Officials Attend White House Communities in Action Forum
Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart attended an event at the White House to discuss the positive impacts of President Biden's Investing in America Agenda for communities in Illinois and Indiana.
The “Communities in Action” forum, held on Thursday, Feb. 1, gathered leaders who shared their success stories about community revitalization, economic recovery, sustainable energy initiatives, and increased access to health services. It was hosted by the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Office of Public Engagement and attended by Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President of the United States Tom Perez, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg along with Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox, Deputy Directors of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
At the event, Chair Hart was able to showcase some of the work that Lake County is doing with the $135.2 million the county received in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. She discussed the Lake County Gun Violence Prevention Initiative (GVPI) which is one of the many ARPA funded programs the county has invested in. This critical program puts teams of violence interrupters called Peacemakers in the targeted communities of Waukegan, Zion, and North Chicago. Since the Lake County Peacemakers began their work in 2022, 31 community members have been referred to social service agencies, 93 percent of all mediations have been successful, and they have had a presence at 49 community events, with these efforts being focused on reducing and preventing gun violence.
She also shared how the state-appropriation of $30 million in ARPA funding was used by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission (SMC) and local partners to alleviate flooding in hard hit communities across Lake County. These 12 projects protected over 2,400 properties and 23 primary and 84 secondary roadways from flooding in Lake County.
“We have been able to expand behavioral health services, mitigate flooding, improve public safety, increase job training resources, improve transportation, upgrade voting services, and much more, as a result of these once-in-a-lifetime investments," said Sandy Hart, Lake County Board Chair.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Agenda: Delivering for Illinois is providing investments for rebuilding Illinois’s infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and other transportation projects, supporting small businesses that struggled during and after the pandemic through loans and investments, and lowering costs on healthcare premiums, prescription drugs, high-speed internet, and home energy for Illinois families to name just a few. More information on Delivering for Illinois can be found here.
To learn more about Lake County’s ARPA investments, visit lakecountyil.gov/arpa.
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