The City of Columbia expects to receive $25 million from the American Rescue Plan. It’s designed to help communities recover from the effects of COVID-19. Residents have ideas for how that money should be spent.
From mental health and climate change to transportation and childcare, Columbia residents were lined up Monday night with ideas for Columbia’s city council. They’d like the $25 million in fiscal recovery funds to address a range of issues. But most of the public’s ideas focused on the city’s homeless population.
Patrick Finney said nonprofits have shouldered the burden for too long. And it’s time for the city to step up.
"Charity and mutual aid organizations cannot cover all of the bases any longer," Finney said. "The people on the streets and in the woods have a home, they just don’t have a house – and their home is Columbia, Missouri, and it’s time that the city make real provisions for them.”
One of the more concrete ideas presented came from Ed Stansberry. He’s executive director of the Voluntary Action Center.
He said he’d like the city to help fund a concept – The Opportunity Campus – which would also serve the homeless. And unlike most of the ideas presented Monday night, Stansberry had a price tag: about $5 million.
“Though the cost of the project is significant," said Stansberry, "we believe the campus will create savings to our health care system, our justice system and our police department that will far outweigh the cost of the project."
The city plans more opportunities for feedback on how to spend the $25 million in the coming weeks.
