Shelter, food, art funded through Northampton’s $4M ARPA grant

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Staff Writer

Published: 02-23-2023 3:12 PM

NORTHAMPTON — Ventilation systems, pickleball courts and manhole covers honoring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are just some of the projects awarded grants by the city of Northampton, using $4 million the city received in American Rescue Act Plan funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There were 98 project submissions to get the grants, and the total requested amount of funds was just over $20 million. In all, 61 projects received funding from the designated $4 million.

The city organized successful grant applicants into eight different categories: Housing and Shelter Services, Food Insecurity, Nonprofit Support, Support for the Arts, Small Business Support, Early Education/Child Care, Reconnecting Community, and Health Care. Alongside these categories, grantees were also given smaller subcategories, such as reducing the spread of COVID-19 or LGBTQ+ rights.

Arts-related grants made up the biggest share, more than a third of the grants awarded by the city, but they amounted to only $404,600, around 10% of the ARPA funds.

Some notable projects included in the arts grants are $80,000 to Forbes Library for the construction of an outdoor performance stage, $53,000 to The Academy of Music for additional programming, and $20,000 toward custom manhole covers featuring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The homage to the famous franchise featuring pizza-eating, crime-fighting anthromorphic turtles comes from the fact that the series was first published as a comic book in Northampton. Kevin Eastman, one of the series’ co-creators, called Northampton his home for many years, including when the series was first published.

The category that received the most money was Housing and Shelter Services. Though only four awards were given out in this category, the amount received surpassed $1 million, the only category to do so. Clinical and Support Options, a mental health clinic, received $450,000 for integrative shelter services, and Community Action Pioneer Valley received the same amount to support operations for the planned Community Resilience Hub in the city.

Food insecurity received the second highest amount, together with housing making up about half of the total monetary amount awarded. Five awards were classified as being related to food insecurity.

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The Northampton Survival Center, an area food pantry, received $450,000, the only organization outside of housing to receive that amount. Manna Community Kitchen, Grow Food Northampton and Abundance Farm also received grants under this category.

Grants for reconnecting community mostly went toward public recreation and outdoor activities, such as a $30,000 grant for pickleball courts and $20,000 for the Northampton Cycling Club to study a pump track. An exception was Northampton Open Media, which received $71,070 for the purchase of mobile technology with the stated purpose of serving underrepresented groups in the city.

Most of the grants in the small businesses category were given out to the Downtown Northampton Association, which received a total of $300,000 worth of grants. Grants to the association went toward projects such as providing assistance to small businesses and improving ventilation to prevent potential transmission of diseases like COVID-19.

Two awards were given out in the category of health care: $100,000 to Transhealth, an organization providing gender-affirming care, and $10,000 to Cancer Connection to expand remote services.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

 

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