Governor Kay Ivey has awarded $1.03 million to help Jefferson County and its municipalities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the coming weeks, additional grants for other areas of Alabama will be announced.
The award is part of more than $40 million allocated to Alabama under a special Community Development Block Grant Fund program funded from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The grant funds are required to be expended on projects relating to the recovery from or preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus or any future infectious diseases.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the entire nation, but Alabamians are very resilient, and I have no doubt that our communities will bounce back even stronger,” Ivey said. “I am pleased to award these funds that will help our communities get back on their feet.”
Jefferson County will use funds to extend rental and utility assistance for people whose livelihoods were disrupted by the pandemic. The county will also use funds to expand existing food programs that target the elderly, disabled, unemployed and other low and moderate-income families.
The funds were made available to the state by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and can be used to support COVID-19 testing and vaccinations; rental, mortgage and utility assistance; assistance to food banks and pantries; job creation and business assistance and related projects to provide pandemic relief.
Alabama counties receiving the CDBG-COVID funds were required to make application with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. At least two-thirds of the municipalities within each county had to agree to funding plans submitted by the counties.
“Alabama counties and municipalities have worked together in a short time to create plans that help residents get past this pandemic and focus on our state’s future,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell. “ADECA joins Governor Ivey in looking forward to working with these partnerships.”
ADECA administers an array of programs supporting law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, water resource management and recreation development.
