How the City of Santa Ana will spend $150M to recover from COVID-19

SANTA ANA, Calif. – City Manager Kristine Ridge on Tuesday presented the Santa Ana City Council with a proposal for a $150 million pandemic recovery initiative called Revive Santa Ana, which will be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Funding for the program includes $128.4 million from the federal legislation, known as ARPA, and additional expected federal housing allocations of $21.5 million.

“This ambitious and comprehensive initiative is designed to provide a range of economic, financial, educational and health support to residents and businesses, while also allowing the City to reimagine the services, infrastructure and programming it provides,” City Manager Kristine Ridge said. “Through this effort, we will not only help our community recover from the pandemic today, but also create a safer, healthier and more equitable future.”

The proposal, presented during a City Council budget workshop on Tuesday, follows the announcement last week by the federal government of updated funding allocations and new guidelines on how that money may be used.

In preparing the Revive Santa Ana proposal, the City has been actively seeking public feedback over the past month at community meetings, during a virtual town hall last week, and through an online and paper survey that received over 1,500 responses.

Tuesday’s presentation outlined a plan for using the first half – $75 million – of the total expected federal funds. The City is required to spend all $150 million by the end of 2026. The plan includes five key areas of focus:

Recovery from the Pandemic – $6 million

• Further vaccination/education collaboration
• Expansion of critical city communication tools (digital boards, text alerts system, multilingual)
• Sanitization and disease prevention
• Public health equity, including feasibility study for City-operated public health department

Direct Assistance Programs – $16 million

• Financial stimulus for residents
• Reopening assistance to businesses
• Youth violence/sexual assault intervention programs
• After-school programs
• Early childhood education programs
• Digital literacy education
• Support food distribution efforts
• Emergency rental assistance and housing for the homeless

Public Health and Safety – $14 million

• Additional public green space
• Healthy food accessibility
• Increased homeless services by nonprofits
• Allowed improvements to existing parks, community centers and libraries
• Public restroom improvements to mitigate and prevent spread of virus
• Facilities to support child education, social health and mental health

Critical Infrastructure – $24 million

• Broadband infrastructure and affordable access
• Infrastructure improvements for safe and clean drinking water
• Sewer infrastructure improvements
• Facilities to reduce/filter storm water runoff
• Cyber security for critical infrastructure
• Ventilation improvements to public facilities

City Fiscal Health – $15 million

• Recover revenue losses to fund government services
• Restore staffing to pre-pandemic levels

Revive Santa Ana will continue to evolve as additional guidance from the federal government is received and priorities change. The City Council will consider a detailed spending plan at a future meeting. On Tuesday, Councilmembers requested to schedule a special meeting in the coming weeks to further discuss Revive Santa Ana and the City budget.

Learn more at www.santa-ana.org/revive-santa-ana.