ARPA Working Group members had their first virtual meeting on February 28. Community members, nonprofit leaders, policy experts, and county leadership worked together for approximately six weeks to bring ideas and make recommendations to the Boulder County Board of Commissioners to effectively invest federal American Recovery Plan Act funds.

The ARPA Working Groups focused on the areas of Economic Challenges, Housing Affordability, and Mental Health/Social Resilience to recommend to the Boulder County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) initiatives that would mitigate the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on impacted communities for the present and future of Boulder County. In addition, Western Boulder County had local representation in each working group to ensure rural and mountain communities would have access to funds through programs and partnerships developed through the process.

Each of the Working Groups built a robust set of recommendations based on insights and ideas collected from residents of Boulder County during the initial engagement process via engagement events, surveys, and community participation. The mountain community showed up by filling out surveys and sharing ideas in person at the Farmers Market and Human Services Fair. The results can be found on the Boulder County ARPA page.

Working Groups followed a checklist to ensure that the members’ programs and ideas based on their expertise and the people they work with met the criteria set by the Boulder County Board of Commissioners.

The checklist included:

• Transformational for the most impacted by the pandemic will benefit the most

• Strikes a balance between longterm, transformational change and short-term relief for those in crisis

• Can be deployed easily to help the people in need quickly

• Will be sustainable when ARPA funding runs out

• Focuses on equity and addressing geographical, racial, economic, and health disparities

• Leverages already-completed plans/research

• Groundbreaking, something the County government would not have done on its own.

Working Group ideas were developed to include assistance for county residents affected by the pandemic in the short term. Long-term projects were vetted to ensure housing, economic development, and mental health/social resiliency programs included equitable access to new and existing programs. Priority populations include specific groups that have been the most impacted by the COVID pandemic – mountain communities, LGBTQ+, IDD, Latinx, physically disabled, low income, homeless, etc.

Participants of the Working Groups were chosen through an application process and included advocates and community leaders reflecting communities that are typically underrepresented in public processes. Working Group meetings are recorded and posted for comment on the Boulder County ARPA website. The final presentation of ideas to the BOCC is scheduled for May 3, 2022.

Human Services Events for the Peak to Peak area include

Covid Testing on Mondays from 4-7 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center.

Covid Vaccine Clinics on Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. at the Nederland Community Center

Appointments are not required for testing and vaccine clinics but can be made at www.p2phhs.org/covid-19-resources.

Monthly Human Services Fair, Food Pantry, and Clothing Closet, April 28, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Everyone is welcome.