Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to enter into a grant agreement (as a beneficiary) with Young Women’s Christian Association (known as YWCA Columbus), in an amount up to $957,337.00 using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, to provide operational support to mitigate financial hardships, to implement COVID-19 prevention and mitigation tactics, to provide premium pay for essential workers, and to pay for expenses starting March 3, 2021.
Ordinance 1201-2021 authorized the City of Columbus to accept and appropriate approximately $187,030,138.00 of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds as signed into law by the President of the United States on March 11, 2021.
YWCA of Columbus provides emergency shelter and wrap around services to homeless individuals. At the shelter, staff have worked directly, in person, with people experiencing a housing crisis throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They have risked the health and well-being of themselves and their families to keep our neighbors experiencing homelessness safe. As an essential worker in the city’s critical infrastructure to address the housing crisis, front line staff are eligible for premium pay under the ARPA guidelines.
Funding for operational support to implement COVID-19 prevention and mitigation tactics include support for additional cleaning services, improvements to the HVAC system, remodeling of some spaces to improve infection control measures, and hiring additional temporary staff to cover staffing needs while permanent staff are unavailable due to COVID-19. Funding will support retaining employees because of a decline in revenue due the public health emergency.
It is expected that the guidance from the U.S. Department of Treasury will be modified while this grant is in effect and it is requested that the Director of Development be given the authority to modify the terms and conditions of the grant without seeking additional Council appr...
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