Boulder County Putting Federal CARES Act COVID Relief Funds to Use

Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Joe Neguse shared information on how Boulder County has allocated nearly $28 million in federal CARES Act funding to support the Boulder Community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bipartisan CARES Act, signed into law on March 27th, provided stabilization funds for states and larger communities across the country. In May 2020, Governor Polis distributed $275 million of Colorado’s funding to smaller local governments, including Boulder.

Congressman Neguse has been an outspoken advocate for direct stabilization funds for local city and county governments and was successful in ensuring that Boulder County will receive direct funds through the American Rescue Plan, along with other cities and counties in Colorado. He first introduced the Coronavirus Community Relief Act in April 2020, calling for direct local aid. Boulder County is expected to receive $63 million from the American Rescue Plan, the City of Boulder will receive an additional $20.5 million.

“The immediate investments passed in the bipartisan CARES Act early on in the pandemic brought needed resources to our communities, to families, workers and small businesses,” said Congressman Joe Neguse. “Boulder County has been able to put these resources to use through public health services, child care, support for small businesses, local food banks and more. I’m grateful we were able to authorize additional direct stabilization funds for our cities and counties through the American Rescue Plan, which communities like Boulder will be seeing soon. We will not stand by and expect our communities to weather this crisis alone. I will continue to advocate for the resources Boulder County needs to make it through this moment and recover.”

“Last year the CARES Act assistance that Congressman Neguse helped secure made a real difference in the lives of countless Boulder County residents and businesses,” said Matt Jones, Chair of the Boulder County Board of Commissioners. “With the new American Rescue Plan Act assistance, we plan to continue providing our community with essential relief while also supporting long-term pandemic recovery needs.”

Boulder County – in collaboration with its municipal partners – administered and distributed nearly $28 million* in program and grant funding awarded from the federal CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund in 2020. The funds, in addition to county-funded measures, have been used to respond to COVID-19 impacts on local residents and businesses. Boulder County allocated 45% of the funds directly to the towns and cities in the county, based on population. Each municipality, in turn, distributed its allocated portion of the money according to its own needs. Boulder County retained $16,135.618 to distribute through its own programs and through the efforts of its non-profit partners for pandemic relief, and utilized the Government Alliance for Racial Equity Tool to help prioritize its decisions.

Some of the larger programs CARES Act funds helped support include:

• Public Health $2.0 million: CVRF funding was utilized to support local testing efforts, mobile testing within communities that have been disparately impacted, contact tracing, supporting businesses’ compliance with public health orders, PPE, public communication in English and Spanish, vaccine distribution, and other response efforts. In addition to the CVRF resources distributed by Boulder County to the public health response, Boulder County Public Health received direct support from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to respond to the pandemic.
• Community Support $4.4 million: The Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services (BCDHHS) distributed funding to local food banks, health care centers, and Family Resource Centers. As food supplies dwindled in late 2020 due to pressures in the supply and delivery chain, Boulder County awarded $500,000 to Community Food Share, the primary supplier for local food banks.
• Childcare $3.4 million: Boulder County and local municipalities worked together to support 100 current childcare providers to manage expanded services, increased costs, and lost revenue during the pandemic. Having access to quality, safe, and supportive childcare during the pandemic has been crucial for many families with children, and especially working parents in essential job functions who have been impacted.
• Economic and Business Support $1.3 million: Boulder County provided relief grants to 43 small businesses in unincorporated Boulder County that were directly impacted by the pandemic, increased Workforce Boulder County staff to answer calls and support people in applying for unemployment insurance, provided PPE and education on their workplace rights and protections to frontline and essential workers, implemented the “Step Up Boulder County/Echale Ganas” public communication campaign with small business owners asking our community to comply with public health orders to keep businesses open, and provided free PPE, sanitation supplies, and other resources to 612 small businesses county-wide.
• Providing Public Service During the Pandemic $4.7 million: Boulder County closed most in-person services on March 16, 2020, in accordance with the Colorado Stay-At-Home-Order. The county quickly adapted its workforce, offices, operations, and frontline services to the realities of the Coronavirus pandemic. The county invested in Plexiglass barriers, enhanced cleaning protocols, personal protective equipment (PPE), remote work hardware and software, improved cybersecurity and improved call center service and communication to better provide continuity of county services to the public. Funding was also allocated to provide increased staffing to support people applying for unemployment insurance, to improve communication with Spanish-speaking community members, for direct community member outreach to identify key needs, and to support staffing needs in other key areas of the response.
• Digital Divide $360,000: Boulder County provided equipment and technology-based services to individuals and families to support a myriad of services. For examples, funds were used to increase family engagement opportunities in children’s schools, remote learning for young children in Head Start, remote learning for adults working towards high school equivalency, and to support clients in complying with criminal justice related requirements.

See more info on allocation here.

Funds provided by the county to numerous organizations helped them and the people they serve in many ways, including assisting with utility bills, ensuring childcare was available, and by getting food and medicines to those who couldn't pick it up themselves. Without the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CVRF) funding, many community organizations that provide invaluable assistance to Boulder County residents may not have survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Three examples include:

• Sister Carmen helped provide households with food and financial assistance for electricity/gas bills and also used CARES money to support digital literacy classes that connect underserved families and individuals with affordable technology and training on basic computer skills.
• Boulder Day Nursery was able to increase health and safety practices that allowed them stay open throughout 2020 in order to continue providing the highest quality care to those families who most needed childcare services during the pandemic.
• Without people to transport, Via, a mobility assistance organization, shifted gears and started offering free pick-up and delivery of prepaid groceries and prescriptions to numerous county residents experiencing COVID-19-related hardships.

###