FAIRBORN — The Fairborn City Council has approved a resolution to set aside CARES Act funding for local nonprofits. The Fairborn CARES Act Economic Relief Program, passed on Nov. 2, authorizes the city to carve out a chunk of state funding to reimburse nonprofit agencies for COVID-related expenses.
To date, the City of Fairborn has received a total of $2.7 million in CARES Act funding from the State of Ohio. Under CARES Act provisions, the city can use this money to directly support citizens whose lives and incomes have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nonprofit organizations in Fairborn provide that direct financial support to such individuals and families. Therefore, any nonprofit expenditure that provides financial or other support is reimbursable.
Expenses from March 1, 2020 to Dec. 30, 2020 can qualify for the program. The resolution also extends the reimbursement period beyond the original December 2020 deadline.
According to City Manager Rob Anderson, the city came to this course of action in cooperation with local organizations. Nonprofits like the Fairborn FISH pantry and Mary, Help of Christians Church provide monetary aid to help people with Fairborn’s utility bills, among other things. After Fairborn restarted shutoffs in September, they observed that those organizations were seeing an increase in requests from residents.
“We had talked about using CARES money in this way for a good 30 to 45 days, at least,” Anderson said. “When we resumed shutoffs in September we wanted to find a way to help residents who were having problems because of COVID. So we were trying to figure out the best method to do that.”
Rather than constructing a different way to disseminate funds from the city, Fairborn decided to use existing channels to disburse the money more quickly.
“Nonprofits are already supporting people,” Anderson said. “They have those connections.”
This news is particularly a boon for nonprofits, who have often come last in line for coronavirus relief funds. Nonprofits were ineligible for the $1 million Greene County CARES grant for Small Businesses, which closed on Oct. 20. The Ohio Controlling Board announced on Oct. 27 that it approved another $419.5 million in CARES Act funding, $45 million of which is for nonprofits and arts organizations. Applications for that funding are available as of Nov. 2.
