City Council allocates $28 million in federal stimulus funding with focus on small business, youth, vulnerable residents
The Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday to use an initial $28 million in federal stimulus funds to throw a lifeline to small businesses, provide enrichment and learning opportunities for youth and address other impacts of the Covid-19 shutdown.
An additional $60 million in funding from the federal CARES Act will be allocated by the Council in the coming months based on recommendations from the City Manager’s Office. The money must be spent by Dec. 30 and can’t be used to plug budget holes.
Most of the allocations made Tuesday are subject to additional development and programming by staff, and will have to come back to the Council.. About $5 million reflects money already spent to respond to the Covid-19 emergency, including a $1 million, zero-interest loan fund for small business.
The City Council Tuesday also endorsed the basic framework for CARES Act spending laid out by Mayor Darrell Steinberg earlier this month. It includes $20 million for small business recovery and assistance, $20 million for youth and workforce training, $20 million for affordable housing and homelessness, including rehousing the more than 500 people who have been temporarily placed in motels, and $20 million to bolster the creative economy. Most of the money approved Tuesday will count toward those totals.
Council members voted after a lengthy meeting on the streaming service Zoom that included impassioned pleas from organizations and advocates describing how the community is hurting.
“Tonight’s vote represents tangible hope for many in Sacramento who are struggling to survive,” Mayor Steinberg said. “And it is only the start. More help is on the way.”
The biggest ticket item approved Tuesday was the set-aside of $10 million in direct financial assistance to small businesses, with a substantial amount for grants and a potential loan program with technical assistance. Details of that program will be worked out by city staff in the coming weeks and will come back to Council for final approval.
Council members also voted to spend $5 million in stimulus funds to bolster the city’s battered creative economy.
Another $1 million will go to the city’s new Farm to Fork Al Fresco dining program, which allows and encourages restaurants to expand outdoor dining options, including on temporarily closed streets, to accommodate the maximum number of tables while allowing people to physically distance.
Council members also voted to dedicate $2 million for a five to six week summer educational program with the city’s school districts to help students most affected by school closures. Another $1.5 million will go to provide free internet service to needy families throughout the city, an expenditure aimed at helping schoolchildren who have not been able to easily access online instruction.
In addition, the Council approved $250,000 to create a summer job corps program that will provide paid summer work-based learning to up to 400 high schoolers. They will be able to earn a stipend of up to $500 working on existing Covid-19 related projects, including food distribution, peer counseling, working on the summer learning program and promoting participation in the Census.
The Council allocated $2 million to address the effects of unsheltered homelessness, including $1 million toward a detox facility to treat people with methamphetamine and opioid addictions.
