American Rescue Plan Act

State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) Program

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) program, a part of the American Rescue Plan, delivers $350 billion to state, local, and Tribal governments across the country to support their response to and recovery from the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The SLFRF program provides governments across the country with the resources needed to:

• Fight the pandemic and support families and businesses struggling with its public health and economic impacts
• Maintain vital public services, even amid declines in revenue resulting from the crisis
• Build a strong, resilient, and equitable recovery by making investments that support long-term growth and opportunity

SLFRF funds may be used to:

• Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services up to the amount of revenue lost due to the pandemic
• Respond to the far-reaching public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic, by supporting the health of communities, and helping households, small businesses, impacted industries, nonprofits, and the public sector recover from economic impacts
• Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors
• Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, to support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand affordable access to broadband internet

The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds provide substantial flexibility for each jurisdiction to meet local needs within these four separate eligible use categories.

Strategic Investment Plan (SIP)

(Available soon) In 2022, the City of Richmond engaged a team, led by HR&A Advisors, to develop recommendations for how the city should allocate ARPA funds. 

The following document outlines how the City can use its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to support COVID-19 recovery and address community needs. This work began with a Community Needs Assessment, where HR&A and Contigo Partners (“the Consulting Team”) led a community engagement process to help the City of Richmond (“the City”) understand how COVID-19 has impacted Richmond businesses and residents. The Consulting Team used a range of activities to connect with representative and diverse populations, focusing on the engagement of diverse residents, businesses, community-serving organizations, and other key stakeholder groups to gather broad meaningful input to inform the City’s COVID-19 recovery efforts and investments. The engagement efforts focused on reaching community members that may not typically attend public meetings but were most impacted by the economic and health impacts of the pandemic. This process identified community needs and priorities. Input from the Community Needs Assessment, paired with a socio-demographic and market analysis, informed how the City should allocate ARPA funds.