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Mayor Sarno and City ARPA Team to Hold Community Outreach and Assistance Seminars for ARPA RPF Applications

Springfield, MA – Mayor Domenic J. Sarno announced today that as part of his administration’s continued commitment to providing equal access and opportunity for the people of Springfield to obtain American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Request for Proposal (RFP) grant funds, the City of Springfield is excited to announce that it will be conducting a series of Community Outreach and Assistance Seminars and Workshops to provide information about the open enrollment RFP program, and its application process.

Mayor Sarno’s dedicated ARPA team, consisting of Director of Recovery and Business Continuity Attorney Tom Moore, Director of Technical Assistance and Compliance Patrice ‘Chae’ Swan and Senior Budget Analyst Vanessa Lima will hold a series of community outreach and assistance seminars/workshops to offer technical assistance and answer any questions for residents and businesses with their ARPA RFP applications for households, seniors, nonprofits, and small business.

Two community outreach and assistance seminars/workshops have been scheduled with additional dates and locations to be announced at a later date.  The events are free and open to the public.

Rebecca Johnson School

55 Catharine Street

Springfield, MA

Wednesday, December 15, 2021

6:00 – 8:00 pm

Brightwood-Lincoln Elementary School

255 Plainfield Street

Springfield, MA

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

6:00 – 8:00 pm

These community outreach and assistance seminars/workshops continue Mayor Sarno’s commitment to providing direct neighborhood input and technical assistance throughout the City of Springfield’s ARPA RPF application process.  Previously, Mayor Sarno and the city’s ARPA team met with nearly 30 neighborhood councils and other agencies, organizations, nonprofits and business groups to hear their ideas on how they would like to see the city’s allocation of ARPA funding utilized to benefit and enhance their respective neighborhoods and business sector to create jobs and stimulate our local economy.

Mayor Sarno states, “My administration is committed to providing as much technical assistance and information as possible so that our residents and business community can take full advantage of our city’s allocation of ARPA funding through these RFP’s.  Continuing on my previous public and community outreach initiatives where my dedicated ARPA team and I met with nearly 30 neighborhood councils and other organizations, we will now move to hold these public community outreach and assistance seminars/workshops and provide technical assistance and answer any questions on our ARPA RFP application process.  As before, all are welcome and invited to attend these public seminars/workshops.  Additionally, I again want to thank those City Councilors and state elected officials who took the time to attend and participate with my administrations citywide listening sessions – they are again welcomed to attend and participate.  They were very productive and informative and we are now looking forward to building off this momentum and connecting people and businesses with the technical assistance they need with their ARPA RPF applications.”

Attorney Moore stated, “We are looking forward to the upcoming ARPA Community Assistance Seminars, and to assisting as many impacted people as possible with becoming part of the City’s RFP process. At the direction of Mayor Sarno, we will continue to work to provide program information and assistance directly to the residents, businesses, and nonprofits of Springfield, and the free educational seminars will be another avenue for directly informing the public and helping to open doors for the disproportionately impacted populations in our City to access these grant funds.  In addition to attending the seminars, I also encourage people to check the City’s webpage for informational updates about ARPA, revisions to the RFP documents, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that provides additional information about the City’s grant program and its application process.”

For more information on the City of Springfield’s ARPA RFP applications and FAQs, please visit the Department of Recovery and Business Continuity webpage at:  www.springfield-ma.gov/finance/arpa