Articles Tagged: American Rescue Plan

Iowa City awards 3 tourism grants

$20M in federal pandemic funds will help build 91 homes

The wage enhancement program funded by pandemic relief dollars is intended to boost wages without raising the cost for Johnson County families.

A slice of federal COVID-19 stimulus funds will go toward Cedar Rapids’ efforts to speed up westside flood control and to turn the former Colonial Center into affordable housing.

Johnson County’s direct assistance program funded by pandemic relief dollars was the first of its kind in the state. After successfully advocating for these payments for immigrant workers, Escucha Mi Voz members share how these checks helped them and what comes next.

A $6 million ARPA contribution from the city of Cedar Rapids gets the library closer to its goal of raising $25 million to build a permanent facility off 20th Avenue and Wiley Boulevard SW.

Cedar Rapids Public Library gets the largest allocation at $4 million. That money will go toward construction of a new west side library.

This is the second time the supervisors have delayed the allocation decisions. The supervisors were supposed to decide last Wednesday, but originally pushed the allocation choices to Monday.

Iowa’s small towns, many of which are declining in population, struggle to fund necessary infrastructure projects. Some, like Ely in Linn County, are looking to alternative funding options.

Supervisors want to give staff more time to review their individually proposed funding budgets.

The city awarded 20 businesses grants, totaling more than $290,000, earlier this month.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors will make its final allocation of $13 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding in October.

A White House spokesperson on Friday criticized Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for taking credit for state projects funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, which she’d opposed in 2021.

Foundation 2 is pursuing a more than $3 million renovation of the historic Witwer Building in downtown Cedar Rapids, largely supported by local and state American Rescue Plan funds, to serve as its new headquarters. The move will consolidate five existing Foundation 2 buildings into one hub for training and services.

The city council approved $293,000 in grants to 20 businesses during its meeting Thursday night. It is the first allocation of the grants, which are being funded with federal COVID relief money.