At its April 21 meeting, the Gainesville City Commission awarded $6,981,322 in American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funds to support 36 area nonprofit organizations and the many programs, activities and services that benefit the Gainesville community.
The commission voted to accept the funding recommendations of an evaluation team comprised of city staff and members of the Community Foundation of North Central Florida’s board of directors who pared down the list of 46 initial applicants requesting more than $19 million.
“I thank the evaluation team who thoroughly reviewed the U.S. Department of Treasury guidelines to verify that the distributions would be allowable expenditures under the act, and who analyzed the applications through the city’s equity toolkit,” said Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe. “These grants will enable our local nonprofits to continue to serve the members of our community who need it most.”
The organizations and their awards are:
- Alachua Conservation Trust - $20,000
- Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry - $750,000
- Alachua County Health Promotion and Wellness Coalition - $115,028
- Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs, Inc., d/b/a ACORN Clinic - $64,598
- Alachua Habitat for Humanity - $196,513
- Bread of the Mighty Food Bank - $477,534
- Cade Museum for Creativity & Invention - $10,000
- Catholic Charities Gainesville - $409,270
- CDS, Family & Behavioral Health Services - $138,154
- Created Gainesville - $20,000
- Episcopal Children's Services - $443,521
- Family Promise of Gainesville, Florida, Inc. - $268,520
- First Love Yourself, Inc. - $10,000
- FL Institute for Workforce Innovation, d/b/a Project YouthBuild - $422,522
- Food4Kids Backpack Program of North Florida, Inc. - $20,000
- Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association, d/b/a Aces In Motion - $20,000
- Gainesville Community Counseling Center - $284,698
- Gainesville Housing Development and Management Corporation - $20,000
- Gainesville Opportunity Center - $97,637
- Girls on the Run of Alachua County - $20,000
- Girls Place, Inc. - $209,995
- Kids Count in Alachua County - $113,904
- Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, Inc. - $151,773
- Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church, Inc. - $10,000
- NAMI Gainesville, Inc. - $20,000
- Neighborhood Housing & Development Corporation - $750,000
- North Central Florida YMCA, Inc. - $300,000
- Pace Center for Girls, Inc. Alachua - $300,000
- Peaceful Paths - $491,000
- Rebuilding Together North Central Florida - $20,000
- River Phoenix Center for Peacebuilding - $98,400
- Rural Women's Health Project - $240,165
- Star Center Theatre - $10,000
- University of Florida Mobile Outreach Clinic - $300,000
- Upper Room - $20,000
- Working Food - $138,090
“This investment into our nonprofit community will impact countless lives for years to come,” said Barzella Papa, president and CEO of the Foundation. “Our nonprofits provided critical care for our community during one of our greatest times of need. We are thankful to the City of Gainesville for making this possible.”
In order to qualify, applicants must have incurred a necessary expenditure due to the COVID-19 pandemic or been directly impacted by a loss or reduction of income as a result of the pandemic. Additional general eligibility requirements for applicants included being a public, tax-exempt organization incorporated prior to Jan. 1, 2020; located in Alachua County; and a verified organization in the foundation’s Philanthropy Hub.
“The city’s level of scrutiny and rigor in examining the applications is, far and away, more involved than any other government entity that we’ve worked with,” said Chris Polischuck of Government Services Group, LLC, the city’s general ARPA consultant that helped develop the criteria.
At its General Policy Committee meeting April 28, the commission expects to hear a program update from the city staff, and to further discuss future training opportunities for area nonprofit organizations.