County starts issuing CARES Act funds

Lyle Foster: Public health funding is a county priority.

The Greene County Commission began chipping away at the $34.4 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds this month when it announced the first round of awarded grants.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department came out ahead in the Aug. 13 announcement with nearly all of the initial $4.1 million in awards. The Health Department was approved for $4 million to reimburse front-line COVID-19 expenses.

The remainder was dispersed among Community Partnership of the Ozarks Inc., Vision Rehabilitation Center of the Ozarks, Be A Jewel Inc. and Ozarks Area Community Action Corp., according to a news release.

Lyle Foster, the county’s grants administrator, said the Greene County Commission will issue funds every week until the $34.4 million sum is disbursed among organizations in five categories: health care, taxpayer-supported entities, educational entities, small businesses, and nonprofits and community organizations. The county received over 400 applications by the Aug. 10 deadline.

Funds may be used to cover COVID-19-related expenses of public hospitals, clinics, testing and emergency medical response, as well as communication of public health orders, acquisition and distribution of personal protective equipment, disinfection of public areas, the issuance of paid sick leave to public employees and payroll expenses for public employees who responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to federal guidance.

“You’ll see money going out each week. Counties are not used to being in this position,” said Foster. “This is something Greene County had to build a capacity for. We’re trying to get as much awarded and as quickly as we can.”

Greene County officials recently launched a CARES Act funding transparency portal on its website, which outlines what funds have been disbursed. Foster said the awarded organizations must use the funding by Dec. 30; unused funds will be returned to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Funding needs
The Health Department’s award will cover incurred costs of contact tracing services and an additional 37 contracted positions added as part of the COVID-19 response, said Health Department spokesperson Kathryn Wall.

The Health Department last month was approved by Springfield City Council to use $2.2 million of unused funds to add the new positions, as well as $2.75 million from the Public Health Fund for contact tracing services. The CARES Act funding will be used to reimburse most of those costs, said Wall.

The Greene County Commission also approved $75,000 for the Community Partnership of the Ozarks for its expenses related to housing homeless people in local motels during the pandemic. President and CEO Janet Dankert said over 300 people with at-risk conditions have been assisted through the program since shelter-in-place orders were enacted in April. CPO has another application submitted to the county for $440,000 to fund the program through the end of December, she said.

“During COVID, it’s the best thing we can do for people with at-risk health conditions,” Dankert said. “We’re constantly seeking other funding sources, but we would have to release folks if we don’t get substantial funding from the county.”

Wendy Jackson, executive director of Vision Rehabilitation Center of the Ozarks, said the nonprofit’s $7,400 in CARES Act funding will allow the group to resume providing eye exams and glasses for 37 people. She said VRCO had to cancel a typical $40,000 fundraiser earlier this year because of COVID-19, and that has impacted its services offered this year. Jackson said she is searching for additional funding options.

“We are so excited to be able to continue this program because we’ve had to put it on hold. People are losing jobs because of COVID-19, and things like glasses and eye exams fall to the wayside,” she said.

The remainder of the funding was awarded to Be A Jewel and Ozarks Area Community Action Corp., which is using the money for COVID-19 supplies such as personal protective equipment, according to a news release.

Be A Jewel President Cheryl Clay said the roughly $7,300 will go toward grandparents who foster their grandchildren to help cover day care assistance and various emergency needs. She said Be A Jewel helps between 10 to 20 families a year.

Remaining funding
Foster said five subcommittees assigned to the funding categories will disburse the remaining $30.3 million in the coming months.

“Essentially, the applications are being considered with those in a similar genre,” said Foster. “Those subcommittees will continue to meet until they disburse all of the funds for their categories.”

By press time, the county had not awarded any of the $6.5 million set aside each for small businesses and tax-supported entities or the $4.6 million for educational entities, according to the Greene County transparency portal. Half of the health care funding had been awarded, and the county had only made a small dent in nonprofit funding by press time.

Foster said the five categories are not set to receive equal funding because support for health care entities is of top priority.

Foster said the county was on track to announce additional health care funding during the week of Aug. 17, though the announcement was not made by press time.

Web Editor Geoff Pickle contributed.