Governor Kay Ivey on Wednesday awarded $2 million in federal COVID-19 aid to assist the city of Huntsville and Colbert County in the fight against the deadly pandemic.
Ivey is to announce additional grants to other Alabama cities and counties as applications are processed, her office said in a press release. The grants, made possible from the more than $40 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act money awarded to Alabama, must be spent on COVID-19 recovery efforts, or on projects to prevent the spread of any future infectious disease.
Huntsville is to use the $1.5 million grant to help people without housing, who are at greater risk from COVID-19, according to the release. Colbert County plans to use the $500,000 grant to start a mobile health clinic to treat low- and moderate-income people throughout the county.
“Alabamians, especially the frontline workers, are to be commended for weathering the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ivey said in a statement. “These funds will further assist the many people who were negatively impacted and are trying to rebound.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds the grants, which are administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Cities and counties must apply to the department to use the funds for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, rental, mortgage and utility assistance, aid to food banks, job creation and business assistance.
“These funds are being distributed at local levels because people in those locales are the most capable of evaluating their needs,” said ADECA director Kenneth Boswell in a statement. “ADECA joins Governor Ivey in helping our communities and Alabamians recover from this ordeal.”
