Priorities & Ideas Survey Results
As noted above, residents were asked to rank the importance of our five funding groups – community health, quality of life, infrastructure, economic innovations and workforce development, and improving government operations. (See below for the definition of each funding group.) We received 3,837 responses with community health emerging as the top priority for all respondents.
Additionally, we asked for general ideas on how the ARPA funds should be spent. In total, 1,545 ideas were submitted. A wide range of topics from affordable housing to community policing to renewable energy were submitted but most of the ideas aligned with our quality of life funding group.
All of the ranking results and ideas are available in a Community Engagement Dashboard on https://kentcountyarpa.com/. The dashboard includes the community’s ranking of priorities, response rates, and emerging themes from community ideas; a detailed analysis of respondent’s funding group ranking; and an archive of submitted ideas.
Funding Proposals
Community organizations and County departments were invited to submit funding proposals for programs or projects. We received 319 community proposals and 14 internal County department proposals were added to the list. The cost of all projects totaled more than $2 billion which far exceeds the $127.6 million allocation that Kent County received from the federal government.
Our external consultant (Guidehouse) alongside our internal review committee are reviewing each proposal to ensure it meets federal eligibility requirements, can be completed within the required timeframe, and is sustainable beyond the ARPA funding support. Our internal review team is comprised of the following individuals:
- Dr. Nirali Bora, Medical Director, Kent County Health Department
- Teresa Branson, Chief Inclusion Officer, Kent County Administration
- Chad Coffman, Program Manager, Kent County Community Action
- Dan DeLooff, Parks Superintendent, Kent County Parks Department
- Jeff Dood, Fiscal Services Director, Kent County Fiscal Services
- Sandra Ghoston-Jones, Management Analyst, Kent County Administration
- Alex Andrews, Director of Business Intelligence and Workforce Innovation, TalentFirst*
County staff is reaching out to some organizations that submitted proposals, to request additional information to support the proposal evaluation process. To date, 57 proposal submitters have sent additional information and another round of inquiries is being sent today.
A digital catalog of all the submitted proposals will be available on https://kentcountyarpa.com/ the week of September 12.
*Workforce development is not a core county service. Therefore, we requested assistance from TalentFirst in evaluating these proposals. Alex did not review nor comment on any proposals submitted by TalentFirst.
Board of Commissioners Decision-Making Process
Due to the number of funding requests we received and the fact that we are requesting additional information on several proposals, we are refining the Board of Commissioners decision-making process and timeline. We want the process to be transparent, fair, and streamlined to ensure our community is aware of the transformational investments being made with these dollars. With that said, the Board of Commissioners are reviewing proposals and will allocate funding by the end of this year. We appreciate your patience and understanding and our website will soon be updated with the Board’s process.
Stay Connected
Please visit KentCountyARPA.com to sign-up for future updates, review survey results, receive information on the decision-making process, and review the County’s performance reports.
Background – Five Priority Funding Groups
The Board of Commissioners developed five key areas for its ARPA investment:
- Community Health
- Investing in new and existing mental and physical health programs for the community such as mental health crisis support and removing lead from homes.
- Quality of Life
- Long-term quality of life improvements for our community such as parks and riverfront enhancements, and family and visitor entertainment attractions.
- Infrastructure
- Investments in the infrastructure of Kent County and its future such as broadband internet, stormwater flooding mitigation (drains), and county-wide mobility.
- Economic Innovations and Workforce Development
- Investments in the future of Kent County’s economy to provide a thriving, innovative and sustainable business climate and skilled workforce that addresses industry demands in the long-term, such as workforce training and food licensing fee waivers.
- Improving Government Operations
- Investing in Kent County government operations, such as facility improvement and new technology, to address the growing needs of the community and to improve customer service.
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