On Tuesday, July 13, 2022, the Lynn City Council voted unanimously to approve the allocation of $35.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds provided by the federal government to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, July 13, 2022, the Lynn City Council voted unanimously to approve the allocation of $35.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds provided by the federal government to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This historic allocation is the first phase of funding to be disbursed to address the needs highlighted by community members through an extensive city-wide engagement process.

In early 2022, the City invested approximately $17.8 M in ARPA funds to address the immediate needs of the community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including improvements to air-quality throughout all city-owned buildings, purchase of rapid COVID antigen test kits, small business relief grants, and city-wide translation services. Phase I of the City’s ARPA investment was driven by the feedback from the City’s community outreach which highlighted particular needs to address parks and green space, the cost of housing, improvements to roadways and sidewalks, and litter; all of which have been included in this first round of funding.

“It has been an honor to work with Mayor Jared C. Nicholson, his administration, the Lynn City Council, as well as the many community members that are working together to build a healthier community for all. Our team has been entranced with Lynn’s eclectic cultural nature, and we have fallen in love with Lynn.” said Nichol Figueiredo, CEO, Capital Strategic Solutions.

The City of Lynn’s goals for distributing ARPA funds included a transparent and equitable process that was community driven, with a focused impact that prioritized projects, people, businesses, and organizations that were most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic; as well as leveraging other resources to maximize the funding and ensuring that all costs were covered by ARPA.

Together with the City’s administration, we reached out to 509 community organization contacts enlisting their assistance in sharing information with the community members in which they served. In the initial outreach stage, we attended both virtual and in-person community meetings with Community Together, Inc., Beauty & Ink Studios, JRI, the Lynn Education District, the Latino Support Network, the Massachusetts Senior Action Council, the Lynn School Committee, Ward 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 Meetings, a City-Town Hall Meeting and City Council meetings. We distributed more than 2,446 emails conveying information about ARPA and the necessity for community members to be involved and drive the investment of this once in a lifetime funding opportunity. We are proud of the 1,650+ community members who took their time to provide feedback that prioritized areas in which investment was needed throughout the city.

In the project selection portion of the outreach, together with the City’s administration we hosted 6, 3-hour project workshops and 24 individual ARPA project assistance sessions, which resulted in 86 project submittals by City Departments, Non-profits, and outside agencies, as well as 32 community suggestions. We distributed 35,400 direct mail ARPA Project Survey Selection postcards to residents throughout the city to obtain feedback about the projects that were selected to move forward in the process.

Through this close collaboration with Mayor Jared C. Nicholson, the Lynn City Council, as well as the city’s community partners, citizens and businesses, the City of Lynn has taken the first step in providing sustainable, equitable solutions for the health of their community.

About

Capital Strategic Solutions (CSS) is a Massachusetts-based woman-owned business comprised of former municipal employees. We deliver creative and cost-effective services that maximize success while minimizing risk for our clients. Our team specializes in community engagement, grant writing & management, impact mitigation & crisis communication, project management and oversight, solutions for data management, website design services, tactical social media outreach, and virtual and in-person event planning. Our team works diligently with our clients to define clear project goals while resolving complex challenges.

To learn more about our services, and the expertise of our team please email us at info@Capital-Strategic-Solutions.com or call us at 508-690-0046 to schedule a meeting.