The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on July 27 approved a $975 million American Rescue Act Phase One spending plan that invests federal recovery funds in hard-hit communities and advances a broad range of equity-focused programs.

The plan invests heavily in disadvantaged communities and programs to address entrenched challenges ranging from homelessness and poverty to the unique needs of immigrants, small businesses, justice-involved individuals and survivors of trauma, including domestic violence and hate crimes.

More than $468 million will be allocated for housing and related services for people experiencing homelessness, services to prevent people falling into homelessness and development of affordable housing. Approximately $290 million will be used in direct community investments and partnerships with community-based organizations.

The supervisors approved more than $89 million to expand the system of care and reduce reliance on incarceration, support justice-focused community organizations, create jobs for justice-involved individuals and address trauma and violence in communities. The ARP funding includes $47.1 million for Care First, Jails Last programs, which will augment $100 million in additional county funding for Care First and Community Investments.

Approximately $12.5 million will support immigrants and immigrant-focused community-based organizations that provide a broad range of services, including legal representation, wealth-building assistance and organizational capacity building — in addition to a broad range of other ARP-funded assistance, from nutrition to childcare to health outreach, intended to benefit immigrant and other high-need communities. Another $70 million will benefit small businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofits impacted by the pandemic.

The funding represents Phase One of a $1.9 billion allocation under the American Rescue Plan, with the remaining funding to be provided to the county in May 2022. In addition, ARP funding has also been awarded to each of Los Angeles County’s 88 cities, for a grand total of more than $4.5 billion across all jurisdictions.

For information, visit Recovery.LACounty.gov.