Olympia allocates $1.1 million in federal funds to aid local COVID-19 response
The Olympia City Council allocated more than $1.1 million of Community Development Block Grant funds on Tuesday to a dozen causes related to the novel coronavirus pandemic and efforts to reboot the local economy.
Olympia received $237,383 in supplemental CDBG funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill passed in March. The city also carried $580,000 of 2019 CDBG dollars into this year, and will gain access to $350,000 of its regular 2020 allocation on Sept. 1.
City staff divided the COVID-related allocations into three categories.
Programs that support economic development will receive a total of $350,000 to go with the $550,000 the city committed in March to support economic recovery from the pandemic.
Shelter, housing and human services programs will get $310,000. This includes $110,000 to finance the homeless response coordinator position previously supported by Evergreen Christian Community. The Downtown Ambassador program gained $100,000, as did efforts to support hygiene at the homeless mitigation site.
The Thurston County Food Bank will receive $120,000 and Senior Services of South Sound will get $100,000 to account for much of the $300,000 appropriated for emergency food assistance.
“We know there will be a couple of different allocations coming down from HUD, but we’re not sure of the numbers yet,” City Manager Jay Burney said. “Right now, things like making sure food is available for our community is important, so we’re making sure to allocate those funds. As we look at future allocations, there may be more opportunities to use some of those dollars for more recovery efforts on the economic or nonprofit side of things.”
Because of the rapid evolution of the pandemic and the impacts felt on a local level, $300,000 of the money set aside for economic development was left unassigned.
City of Olympia Economic Development Director Mike Reid said Enterprise for Equity and the Thurston Asset Building Coalition are likely to receive some of those flexible dollars. At least 70 percent of CDBG funds must be used on activities that benefit persons with low and moderate incomes.
The Thurston Economic Development Council will receive the remaining $50,000 to fund scholarships for the ScaleUp Training Series administered by the EDC. The classes help local businesses build resilience and sustainable growth.
Robert Coit, executive director of the food bank, said the nonprofit has gone back to handing out pre-boxed food kits like it did prior to 2006, instead of allowing patrons to browse like they would in a grocery store.
Coit requested money from the city to help offset the cost of buying more food to keep up with demand and for additional staff support when there aren’t enough volunteers available.
“With a pre-built box, the primary products are shelf-stable rather than fresh or frozen,” Coit said. “We’re buying canned meat instead of frozen, so our inventory for those products hasn’t been great. Because of increased demand, we’ve not only had to replace some of those products, we’ve almost run out during some weeks. We’re very grateful for the added financial help from the city.”
Support for childcare providers is another area in which the city is likely to expend current and future dollars made available for COVID-19 response.
Olympia has yet to spend the $1.6 million it received from stimulus money made available through the state Department of Commerce. That funding is meant primarily as reimbursement for COVID-19-related expenses on items already in the city’s 2020 budget as of March 27.
Burney said he is waiting for additional guidance from state officials on how that money can be used before developing a plan to bring to the city council.
“We are going to need to fill in where there are gaps,” Reid said. “If there are additional CDBG funds, which we think there’s a good chance there could be, we could look at that. The challenge is that by the time another round of funds comes to us, there could be new needs that emerge or existing needs that have grown.
“There will be needs and are needs with reopening the economy that will have funding gaps. It is a target of mine and the Thurston Regional Economic Recovery Task Force to identify funds for assistance in the area of how we help businesses reopen safely and effectively.”
Organizations receiving CDBG funds from Olympia
Emergency Food Assistance
- Thurston County Food Bank — $120,000
- Senior Services for South Sound — $100,000
- Community Kitchen (Catholic Community Services) — $40,000
- Union Gospel Mission Kitchen — $40,000
Economic Development
- Business Support Programs — $300,000
- Thurston Economic Development Council — $50,000
Shelter, Housing and Human Services
- Homeless response coordinator position — $110,000
- Mitigation site hygiene — $100,000
- Downtown Ambassadors program — $100,000
Other
- CDBG program management — $90,000
- Section 108 loan repayment — $56,000