CLEVELAND, Ohio – A social-justice organization that focuses on the impacts of racism has drafted a plan for how Cleveland could spend $541 million in federal stimulus and coronavirus aid.
The plan, dubbed the African American Rescue Plan, is the work of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition and focuses on ways to tackle issues that keep black Clevelanders from thriving – issues that have been illuminated by the pandemic.
“African Americans have long complained about the issues that were going on, but no one was listening,” Yvonka Hall, executive director of the coalition, told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “For us, this plan was a way to get them to hear those voices.”
The group submitted the plan to Mayor Frank Jackson and to Cleveland City Council. “Hopefully they’ll look at it and use it to help do their jobs better,” Hall said.
The plan addresses areas where disparities exist, including access to technology, education, health care, food, employment and wages and housing.
And it offers suggestions, collected with input from the public, for correcting those issues. Doing so would lift the entire community and improve the health and well-being of to the city, Hall said.
Among them:
- Increase access to internet and WiFi to help eliminate the digital divide.
- Ensure that neighborhoods are adequately equipped by bringing in viable businesses such as banks, grocery stores, fresh produce markets and gas stations.
- Reintroduce trade programs that teach job skills.
- Provide medical and dental care to children through the schools.
- Provide year-round employment programs for youth and young adults.
- Provide tutoring for children before school starts in the fall to assist those who have fallen behind.
- Increase funding for rapid rehousing, affordable housing and lead safe housing.
“One of the things we do know is all policy ties back to health,” Hall said. Changes to the system would “allow people to have improved health status.”
Cleveland has not settled on a plan for spending money it will get under the federal American Rescue Plan Act. But the sum is enormous. The first half of the total is expected to arrive in May – more than $270 million. That amounts to more than 40% of the city’s general fund budget for the year.
The remainder would arrive in 2022. Any money not spent by the end of 2024 would be lost.
Jackson, at a recent telephone town hall, said the city must first address three criteria:
- What costs are reimbursable under the federal guidelines?
- How is the city recovering from the pandemic? That evaluation would target money to spark economic activity.
- What can be done to address long-term economic growth? That could address wealth inequality and disparities and racism.
The mayor also noted that the federal aid would help stabilize Cleveland’s budget. Lost jobs and lost business from the coronavirus pandemic translated into lost revenue for the city in 2020. Federal coronavirus relief filled gaps in 2020, but Jackson was expecting to have to tap reserves carried into 2021 to balance the budget this year.
But nothing is settled yet.
Cleveland City Council hashed out their own ideas for the money at a meeting last week.
Council members said during that brainstorming session that the money must be spent cautiously to guarantee a lasting impact on all the city.
Their ideas and the broad outlines Jackson laid out are similar to the approach the coalition took.
Hall said the city should be ready to move quickly once the money arrives and should allow for public input.
“They need to move at the speed of COVID,” Hall said. “As swiftly as possible, as soon as that money comes in, they need to sit down with the community.”
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