With no new coronavirus aid, Fresno plans how it will spend $10.2 million in CARES Act funds
Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, UPDATE: The Fresno City Council voted during a special meeting to partially approve the allocation of CARES Act funds. The council agreed to continue the spending discussion on Thursday during a regularly-scheduled meeting. Monday’s online special meeting was hurried by the looming threat of rolling blackouts.
Original story: With no new coronavirus relief package coming from Congress any time soon, Fresno leaders outlined Friday how the city plans to spend $10.2 million from a previous package to help residents in the coming weeks.
The proposal, expected to be voted on Monday during a special City Council meeting, would fund efforts to get residents food, medical assistance and relief for small businesses.
The city is joining Fresno County’s efforts for reach populations who are vulnerable to COVID-19. City Council President Miguel Arias said the funding is intended to ensure residents, especially essential workers, can manage the pandemic.
The federal government late in the spring issued funds to cities and counties in order to cover costs from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, residents have relied on food distributions and millions of residents across the country have sought unemployment benefits due to shuttered businesses.
Cities and counties were hoping a new package would add to the relief, but as of now they are stretching the funds from earlier in the year.
Food, medical, business relief
The City of Fresno’s $10.2 million proposal includes a meal and distribution operation that would cost $4.4 million. The plan would focus meal access at at least 47 Fresno Unified school sites. Distribution partners include Neighborhood Industries, The Fresno Center and Every Neighborhood Partnership, among others.
The focus on school sites is intended to keep residents from having to travel far in order to receive food assistance. All members of a family would be eligible for food. Councilmember Esmeralda Soria said the food would be culturally appropriate for the different demographics in the city seeking assistance.
Councilmember Luis Chavez said that a plan to spend $3.8 million in testing, tracing and quarantine efforts would target “those essential workers that unfortunately can’t Zoom into work.”
He also said a portion of the funds would help address medical aid to residents who are uninsured. The city would partner with Bautista Medical Group for the medical access.
The medical efforts would also complement Fresno County’s earlier announcement this week that it would reach vulnerable populations for education and assistance in partnership with Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission (EOC). That is part of an $8 million county-city program that also includes Building Health Communities as a leading community-based organization. Of the $3.8 million of medical spending, the city would contribute $2.7 million to the county’s outreach effort.
It is aimed at COVID-19 prevention among Black and immigrant residents.
Arias said that the city also plans to continue small-business relief, like a program it previously conducted. The latest amount the city plans to hand out to small businesses would total $2 million.
Data will be crucial
Chavez said in order for the proposed funding to work, the county will need to ensure the data it provides agencies is up-to-date and accurate.
He said the agencies would need to have access to information about case clusters, facility outbreaks and ZIP code-specific data in order to know where to reach residents challenged by the coronavirus.
The City of Fresno represents just over half of the county’s population, so the spending is considered crucial for a large number of people. The city was awarded $92 million; the county received $90 million.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
