FAYETTEVILLE – The city had more than $500,000 left over from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. A resident advisory organization will talk about possible tactics for spending the cash this week.
The City Council voted Tuesday to ask the Community Development and Assistance Programs Advisory Council for a proposal that would send $557,298 in unspent cash to two fitness service providers in the city.
The proposal would split the money between the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the network clinic. The UAMS would get $483,430 for a cellular wellness unit to serve the city, while the network clinic would get $73,868 to purchase COVID-19-related equipment and materials. in the facilities of the clinic in the city.
The city earned $992,482 in cash from coronavirus assistance through the federal Community Development Block Grant program. It spent $435,184. Most of the cash, $237,536, was used for rental assistance and utilities for citizens who simply can’t afford for reasons similar to the pandemic.
More than $85,000 donated to 7 Hills Homeless Center to identify an authorized camp for homeless residents. The camp opened from August 2020 to October 2021 on city-owned land west of Curtis Avenue. Another $62,000 was committed to efforts to fight hunger with Seeds That Feed and St. James.
The most recent program the city introduced with cash is a loan assistance program for homeowners who can’t afford for reasons similar to covid-19. The city’s Community Resources Division eventually won two programs totaling just over $19,000.
The completion of the loan program was posted on the town’s online page and social media pages, published in the newspaper and shared with the network’s progression advisory committee and spousal agencies, said Yolanda Fields, the town’s network’s resource director. The state also introduced a loan assistance program, which would possibly have contributed to the few programs the city received, he said.
The city earned $556,197 of the total in its latest disbursement circular under the CARES Act and will have to spend 80% through the end of the year, or return the money. Fields said it has become transparent that the city has not achieved that purpose with the loan assistance program, so it looked for an alternative.
Fields represents the city at the Regional Continuum of Care, a regional member organization that addresses issues such as homelessness, lack of confidence in food and fitness, and has known the need for physical care for seniors, other people with disabilities, and homeless residents. She contacted UAMS, the network clinic and WelcomeHealth, which serve all of those populations. In the past, WelcomeHealth had won $17,200 in federal funds.
The $483,430 proposed for UAMS would go to a cellular wellness unit to serve the city. It is awaiting the acquisition of the cellular unit pending the City Council’s resolution on the use of the money, said Leslie Taylor, vice chancellor of communications and marketing.
The cellular unit would only serve the city, he said. It would cover a variety of medical wishes for other people who are having difficulty getting to a doctor’s appointment on their own, adding covid-19 vaccines. UAMS has other cellular equipment that can serve Fayetteville, but also serves other cities in Northwest Arkansas, Taylor said.
The $73,868 proposed for the network clinic would go to the devices and materials for administering COVID-19 tests and vaccines at the clinic sites at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Owl Creek School and the clinic’s cellular unit serving the city. move on to air filtration sets for Fayetteville clinics.
Clinics are still receiving patients who want to be treated for COVID-19, said Judd Semingson, chief executive officer. Covid cases and hospitalizations are where they were earlier this year, but the disease continues to wreak havoc, he said.
“We’re still seeing ebbs and flows of positive cases,” Semingson said. “We still see other people getting lust and getting pretty sick. “