The Metro Nashville Council released a survey on Monday for the city’s residents to note their preferred recipients of federal coronavirus relief funds that will be dispersed throughout the year.
The survey responses, which will be collected throughout January, will be considered by the committee with the authority to appropriate the funds.
“You can now take the ARP survey to tell us what your priorities are for our funds. Our committee will take this data into consideration when making recommendations,” explained Councilwoman Sandra Sepulveda.
Survey will be up through the end of the month.
— Councilwoman Sandra Sepulveda (@SandraForNash) January 3, 2022
Specifically, the money awarded to the city stems from the American Rescue Plan, which allowed the U.S. Treasury Department to launch the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) to give resources to Nashville.
Because of federal guidelines, the funds can be used in limited ways, according to city officials:
1) Protect our community from the pandemic through investment in direct emergency pandemic response and increase safety for visitors and employees to our public facilities.
2) Provide immediate relief for needs not served by other funding, with a focus on disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on vulnerable communities, small businesses, and the workforce.
3) Address fundamental equity disparities that are aligned with the federal and state funding eligibility, specifically services to disproportionately impacted communities, including infrastructure.
Each respondent must provide their ZIP code to authenticate they reside in Davidson County. Furthermore, the individual must answer approximately two dozen questions, detailing their preferences.
The questions allow the resident to rank examples of the types of investments, based on level of importance. The scale runs from 1 to 5, with 1 being very important and 5 being not important at all.
The examples range from funds for vaccination and testing assessment centers to affordable housing and rental assistance.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Sandra Sepulveda” by Councilwoman Sandra Sepulveda District 30.
