Little Rock gets nearly $2M in federal aid to support virus response

FILE — Little Rock City Hall is shown in this 2019 file photo.
FILE — Little Rock City Hall is shown in this 2019 file photo.

Little Rock has received nearly $2 million in federal aid to assist with the city’s covid-19 response, officials announced Wednesday.

The grants the city has been awarded include $786,845 for the emergency management division from the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program, which can be spent on overtime; equipment, including law enforcement and medical personal protective equipment; hiring; supplies, such as gloves, masks and sanitizer; training; travel expenses; and addressing medical needs of inmates.

The Housing and Neighborhood Programs Department received $960,265 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Funding for the CARES Act comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

$879,049 of that funding will go to the city’s Community Development Block Grant program and $81,216 will go to the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.

Projects allowed for the CDBG program include but are not limited to:

• Rehabilitating a community facility to establish an infectious disease treatment clinic.

• Acquiring, and quickly rehabilitating, if necessary, a motel or hotel building to expand capacity of hospitals to accommodate isolation of patients during recovery.

• Providing grants or loans to support new businesses or business expansion to create jobs and manufacture medical supplies for responding to infectious diseases.

• Carrying out job training to expand the pool of health care workers and technicians that are available to treat disease within a community.

• Providing testing, diagnosis or other services at a fixed or mobile location.

• Delivering “meals on wheels” to quarantined individuals or individuals that need to maintain social distancing due to medical vulnerabilities.

• Providing equipment, supplies and materials necessary to carry out a public service.

HOPWA funding may be used to help eligible households access essential services and supplies such as:

• Food, water, medications, medical care and information.

• Educating assisted households on ways to reduce the risk of getting sick or spreading infectious diseases such as covid-19 to others.

• Transportation services, including costs for privately-owned vehicle transportation when needed, to access medical care, supplies, and food, or to commute to places of employment.

• Nutrition services in the form of food banks, groceries and meal deliveries.

• Providing lodging at hotels, motels or other locations to quarantine.

• Providing short-term rent, mortgage and utility assistance payments to prevent homelessness of a tenant or mortgage of a dwelling for a period of up to 24 months.

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