You Can Tell Worcester How To Spend Federal Stimulus Money

WORCESTER, MA — Most of us got $1,400 stimulus checks this spring. But Worcester's stimulus check was much bigger, about $110 million.

Worcester city officials are now in the process of figuring out how to spend that money, which came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) bill passed in March. Worcester will get its stimulus payments in two portions — about $55 million came in June, the rest will come in late spring 2022.

City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. has already outlined plans for $100 million of the ARPA funds, including about $15 million for water and sewer system improvements, $12.5 million for housing and $10.5 million for parks.

But Augustus is setting aside $10 million for "community-driven projects that improve neighborhood vitality and quality of life." Three forums on Aug. 23, Sept. 9 and Sept. 16 will gather feedback from residents for that pot of money.

However, residents can also attend the meetings to speak out about the rest of the spending plan. Many city residents and community leaders want the entire $110 million open to a public process. In particular, some want the city to spend at least 20 percent of the $110 million — about $22 million — on housing initiatives.

The NAACP of Worcester recently called on officials to invest the money in the city's low-income communities, and backed calls for 20 percent of ARPA to go toward housing.

"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a change in Worcester’s Black, brown and low-income communities," an Aug. 7 NAACP news release said. "We would like to ask that monies received from COVID relief funds be allocated to support youth jobs and programs, increased support for Black-owned businesses, internet connectivity for Worcester’s low-income communities, home ownership and increase funds to Black nonprofits."

Here's the city's full proposal for use of the ARPA funds: