Cook County will receive just over $1 billion dollars in funding through ARPA.
With the help of the Civic Consulting Alliance, we are hard at work planning how we will invest American Rescue Plan Act funding. As you can imagine, a great deal of work goes into a $1 billion spending plan and we want to do it right: in an open, honest and transparent manner.
We are working on a tiered and robust community engagement process at the moment to solicit input and feedback from a broad and diverse group of residents and stakeholders across Cook County. The first step of this process is this website.
This funding will support existing County policy priorities, and we will center decision-making on the core values of equity, engagement, and excellence. These efforts will build on the strong foundation of existing County and regional efforts including our Policy Roadmap, Equity Fund and We Rise Together.
We have our work cut out for us—but I am confident that we will be putting forward a thoughtful and comprehensive plan with some important and transformative ideas.
The American Rescue Plan Act funding provides a unique and important opportunity for state and local governments to quickly advance COVID recovery efforts in alignment with our Policy Roadmap. The County will use ARPA funds prudently with an eye toward long-term financial stability of the County and of the region.
This profoundly important funding will play an essential role in maintaining critical public health and public safety services, while also addressing the many crucial recovery priorities of Cook County.
Funding provided under ARPA is substantial, and potentially transformative, but it will be important to use these funds sensibly. We must weigh the long-term benefits to our county and how they will impact our recovery efforts in a sustainable manner.
We look at ARPA as funding intended for all of our residents—not just for Cook County government. This means we will be looking to spend funds in an equitable manner with the largest benefit to the most people over the longest amount of time. And we are able to do this because of the big, structural changes and savings we’ve made over the past decade.
We are proud of our budgetary work that has placed Cook County in such a financially stable position. Because of this responsible fiscal stewardship, we will be able to not only fill gaps left by the pandemic, but also invest and infuse new funding into our communities with ARPA funds.
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Toni Preckwinkle
President, Cook County Board of Commissioners