South Oregon News

The American Rescue Plan Act funding, known as Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds consists of $350 billion distributed to state, local territorial and tribal governments nationwide.  State, local and tribal governments across America have been under an unprecedented strain in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. While the need for services has increased, state and local revenues have plummeted as a result of the economic fallout from the crisis.  The American Rescue Plan Act provides dollars to state, local, and Tribal governments to enable them to continue to support the public health response and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable economic recovery. In addition to helping these governments address the revenue losses experienced as a result of the crisis, it is intended to help cover costs incurred due to responding to the public health emergency and to provide support for a recovery – including through assistance to households, small businesses and nonprofits, aid to impacted industries, and support for essential workers. 

Klamath County received 13.2 million dollars in ARPA funding, see the Klamath County website for a full list of projects.  Klamath County Commissioners formed the American Rescue Plan Grant Fund Allocation Committee to assess proposals on how best to use the funding to support our local community.  The committee met on Wednesday and Thursday, January 18 and 19th and listened to 44 10-minute presentations by eligible Klamath County applicants.  The committee then assembled on Thursday afternoon, January 19, 2023 to discuss funding for the applicants and made the following recommendations:

• Woodsy Kitchen                                            $105,000
• Walker Range Back-up Power                     $  41,700
• SMART Make a Reader                                 $  50,000
• Skyline Brewing Co                                        $  45,000
• Klamath Trails Alliance                                  $240,000
• Klamath Sportsman’s Park                            $ 63,000
• Klamath KID Center                                        $150,000
• Klamath Grown                                               $110,000
• Klamath Fire District #1                                 $145,000
• Klamath Film                                                    $  15,000
• Klamath Advocacy Center                             $100,000
• Klamath Falls Little League                            $  80,000
• Crescent Gilchrist CAT                                    $  34,815
• Chiloquin Fire & Rescue                                $250,000
• Basin Fertilizer                                                 $258,311 

The full list of ARPA expenditures can be found on the Klamath County Website: www.klamathcounty.org.   

During the first grant process the following organizations received ARPA grant funding:

• CASA for Children of Klamath County
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
• Citizens for Safe Schools
• D& G Holding Northwest LLC
• Ed Staub and Sons Petroleum
• Friends of the Children Klamath Basin
• Healthy Klamath (multiple projects)
• J&P Wholesale
• Klamath Basin Senior Citizen’s Center
• Klamath Community College (multiple projects)
• Klamath County Economic Development Association
• Klamath Community Youth Sports Complex – Steen Sports Park
• Lobo Truss LLC
• Klamath Film
• Klamath Fire District #1
• Klamath Works
• Lost River Booster Club
• Oregon Tech Foundation
• REACH, Inc.
• Red Cross
• Rocky Point Fire & EMS
• Ross Ragland Theater
• South Central Oregon Economic Development District     
• Teen CERT at Henley High School
• Transformations Wellness Center
• Basin United
• Klamath Freedom Foundation

You can watch the entire committee process on Klamath County’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCatjnN9cmNBw4F6PZvIMZiA/live

Original source can be found here