Town Hall Resources for Local Leaders
On Monday, ULCT's Town Hall for Local Leaders addressed important information for community leaders about
- key trends during the pandemic recovery,
- the COVID impact on communities of color and what we should be aware of to help curb the spread,
- Updates on the CARES Act implementation and potential Congressional action on a 4th stimulus,
- and a new statewide campaign encouraging people to work, learn, and play in our cities and towns.
Our presenters have kindly passed along the materials they used in the Town Hall, as well as supplemental resources that can help you learn how to implement this information in your community. Click on the links to see the presentation files.
1. Juliette Tennert, Chief Economist, Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute addressed Economic impact and projections for cities. Juliette also referenced the Volcker seminar and upcoming Utah Leads Together 5.0 plan in her remarks, which you can view by clicking on the webinar below. Also, here is a relevant article about COVID-19's impact on retail businesses nationwide: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/25/business/july-bankruptcies-coronavirus/index.html
2. Nubia Pena, Director of the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs; Byron Russell, Co-Chair, Utah Multicultural Affairs Commission; and Ze Min Xiao, Director, Mayor's Office for New Americans (Salt Lake County) of COVID-19 on communities of color provided information about the growing disparities among our underserved communities. Here’s a link to the Racial Equity and Inclusion Fund grant program, referenced by Nubia, that opens this week: https://multicultural.utah.gov/racial-equity-fund/ and here is a link to the Multicultural Needs Report
3. Wayne Bradshaw, ULCT, provided an overview of the Congressional 4th stimulus and CARES Act. His summary update is as follows:
Yesterday Senate Republicans made public the HEALS Act, the Senate Majorities and Administrations version of a 4th stimulus package to help combat the public health and economic impacts of COVID19. The bill will provide greater flexibility in how states can use their monies from the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), including backfilling lost revenue. The bill says that CARES Act funds can be used to cover a revenue shortfall if the state government has distributed 25 percent of the money downstream – for example, from a state to a city. Additionally, a government may only use 25 percent of allocated money to back fill lost revenue. The legislation would also extend the use of the CARES funds past December 30,2020 to 90 days past the end of a government 2021 fiscal year.
To read the full summary please click HERE.
The Republican legislation is simply a negotiating bill. It is not the final product. As of right now, you should still use your CARES funds based on current law and Treasury guidance. However, if your city or town has not contacted your delegation member about your community needs in the 4th stimulus or changes to CARES distribution or uses, you should immediately do so. Included below are the delegation state and district directors, NLC's cities' are essential campaign and League communications.
Rob Bishop: Peter.Jenks@mail.house.gov
Chris Stewart: Gary.Webster@mail.house.gov
John Curtis: Lorie.Fowlke@mail.house.gov
Ben McAdams: Tiffany.Clason@mail.house.gov
Mike Lee: Robert_Axson@lee.senate.gov
Mitt Romney: Adam_Gardiner@romney.senate.gov
Cities are Essential: HERE
League Communication: HERE
4. Tony Young, Media Relations Manager, Governor’s Office of Economic Development previewed the new "In Utah" campaign. There are also several new grant opportunities available through this GOED program, including one that could help small business in your community. For more information about these grants and how to qualify, visit https://business.utah.gov/coronavirus/. The inutah.org website is also connected to this grant information page.
5.0 Soon to be Released
Governor Gary Herbert is expected to release the latest update to the Utah Leads Together plan this week.
5.0 will provide two master goals—one around public health (case counts) and one around economic health (unemployment rates)—with five supporting objectives. The supporting objectives will focus on rapid response and containment at super-spreading sites, ICU utilization, case counts, consumer confidence in the economy, and public education participation. The goals and objectives will be measurable with key benchmarks in the months ahead.
Governor Herbert released 4.9 guidelines late yesterday which offers guidance for 24-hour restaurants.
|
|
