Each year, the National Association of Regional Councils honors organizations and regional leaders for exceptional programs, service delivery and impact on their respective region. We are pleased to announce that Centralina was honored with the 2023 Major Metro Achievement Award for our work on the ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program. This is an outstanding recognition of the collaborative work of staff in various departments including Government Affairs & Member Engagement, Centralina Community Economic Development and Finance who offered their technical expertise to support our member governments with the complex ARPA funding requirements.

Communities in Need of Support

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) brought approximately $800 million in federal funding to the communities within the Centralina region. Local governments receiving these funds were faced with making strategic spending decisions while navigating complex federal guidelines. For those communities with limited staff capacity and little experience in managing federal funding, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity quickly became a daunting endeavor. Recognizing the range of challenges local governments could encounter in administering their ARPA fund allocations, Centralina Regional Council responded to these needs by launching its ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program.

Innovating & Executing the Program

Centralina uses an innovative approach to execute the ongoing work of the ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program by remaining responsive and adaptable to local government needs and evolving federal ARPA guidance. The program included a variety of presentations, webinars, roundtable discussions and educational materials to keep local government staff and elected officials informed and updated on ARPA-related topics. Some of the major components included:

Peer Consortium

The Peer Consortium is a local government peer-learning group for resources, strategic support and best practice sharing. The idea developed as a result of a local government survey designed to identify topics they were most interested in delving into. The result was a series of 11 virtual sessions featuring a mix of presentations, group discussions, interactive exercises and one-on-one advisement. Each session focused on a specific ARPA-related issue so participants could expand their knowledge and build their internal capacity in areas such as spending plan development, policies and procedures, financial management, elected official engagement, community engagement and public information sharing. The interactive webinars and presentations on ARPA subject matter has provided a platform for building regional relationships and facilitating collaboration across community lines.

Technical Assistance

Centralina offers customized services for individual communities including spending plan strategy development, ordinance and policy document drafting, monitoring oversight to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and reporting support. Technical assistance services follow a standard framework that is easily customized to meet the unique position and priorities of each local government. Some communities need support in developing a plan for strategically investing their ARPA funds, which they achieve through discussions facilitated by Centralina. Others have sought Centralina’s help in establishing documentation requirements so they could implement a structure for ARPA financial management and record keeping.

Community Partnerships

Centralina has also leveraged its partnerships with other public organizations and state agencies to deliver the ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program. Specifically, Centralina worked with the University of North Carolina’s School of Government to develop content for the Peer Consortium sessions. Also, staff from the North Carolina Pandemic Recovery Office regularly provide informative and timely ARPA briefings to the Centralina Board and the Regional Managers Group. 

Looking Back

Through the ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program, Centralina is working to affect positive outcomes in local government ARPA management. The program, which leverages the skills and expertise of Centralina and local government staff in areas such as public administration, financial management, communications, community engagement and grant award management, is helping inform local government strategic decision-making by identifying allowable ARPA investment projects based on eligible uses and local needs. In addition to the monitoring oversight technical assistance support and the Peer Consortium, Centralina developed several resources to aid in ARPA planning and implementation that include:

• ARPA Planning Playbook
• Project & Expenditure Report Quick Guide
• Monitoring Guideline Checklist and Financial
• Audit Best Practices Guide

Through 25 ARPA briefings and ongoing outreach and engagement activities, the program’s regional ARPA information exchange component has reached 80 local governments — 100% of Centralina’s membership plus more than 10 additional communities within the region. To date, Centralina has also provided individual support to 19 local governments, helping to steward more than $62 million in ARPA funding and ensure compliance with federal monitoring and reporting guidelines. Also, by lifting up local governments’ lessons learned and sharing those stories with others, the program promotes the great work communities across the region are undertaking in managing ARPA funding.

Feeback from Peer Consortium Participants:

• “Centralina’s overall support to members and extra support received by consortium participants helped us make sure we had a good process for talking through the decision to use our ARPA funding in the revenue replacement category with our staff and board, as well as formulate a project list for supplanted funds. The biggest impact so far was the technical assistance provided leading up to the first report and all the policy/compliance assistance. We really appreciated working with your team on this.” – Peter Franzese, Town Manager for the Town of Spencer 
• “Explaining our processes to others reinforced my knowledge and served as a kind of revaluation at the same time. My peers asked questions from perspectives that I may not have initially seen, which made me better prepared for answering similar questions from our board and residents. The one-on-one sessions with the monitoring team helped the most” – Chase Norwood, Finance Officer for the Town of Landis  

Looking Ahead

Before the launch of the ARPA Fund Implementation Support Program, local governments in the Centralina region had several sources to turn to for ARPA information. Centralina’s program, however, was the first to offer them a regionally based opportunity for support tailored to their specific needs. Centralina continues to evolve the program and provide ongoing assistance to local governments in managing their ARPA allocations through the duration of the federal funding opportunity. Not only can the program be replicated in other regions, but the framework can also be adapted to convene, assist and educate local governments on other complex topics.

If you were unable to participate in the Peer Consortium or other aspects of the ARPA program and would like assistance, please reach put to us at info@centralina.org. You can also access the information covered and aforementioned resources via our Member Portal.   

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Housing and Home Improvement funds cover a variety of updates within the home including security enhancements, minor home repairs and mobility and accessibility improvements. Improvements can include the repair, replacement or purchase of appliances and heating and cooling units. The service limit has recently been raised from $1,500 to $7,000 per household, allowing for more impactful projects to be completed. The Chore Enhanced Program covers more intensive services outside the home, such as tree removal, pest control, sidewalk repair, light yardwork and more. The service limit is $2,500 per household. 

The services provided through Chore Enhanced have not been offered in any counties in our region until now, while the Housing and Home Improvement Program has only been offered in one county. Both programs are now available to individuals 60 and older who live within Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly or Union County. As both programs expand their reach throughout the state, more older adults across North Carolina will be able to utilize the services they both provide. 

“Centralina Area Agency on Aging is excited to offer these non-traditional services,” says Linda Miller, Centralina AAA Director. “Although the programs are still new, we are already seeing the benefit of helping to create home environments that offer increased safety, security and peace of mind for older adults in our region.”     

Both programs will only be offered within the region until September 30, 2024, or when ARPA funds are depleted. The Administration on Community Living and North Carolina stakeholders are exploring ways to continue funding these essential service programs. Centralina AAA will collect data on these programs to evaluate, improve and identify additional services needed for older adults in our region. 

If you know an adult aged 60 and older living in the region who could benefit from these services, contact the Centralina AAA toll-free hotline at 800-508-5777 to see if they qualify. You can also send an email with your name, phone number, the county you live in and what the need/requested service is to Kelly Mach at Kmach@centralina.org  

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At this time, only aging and disability organizations are eligible to sign up for this program. Centralina AAA has distributed over 6,200 kits as of February 25, 2023, and the demand continues. Test kits have been distributed to a variety of our partners such as senior centers, Departments of Social Services, non-profit agencies, housing authorities and nutrition and transportation providers. Any agency is eligible if they provide services and support to people with disabilities, older adults and or their families and caregivers. Test kits are also directly provided to partnering agencies’ staff and volunteers.  

Test kits have been an important tool in managing the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years. Centralina Area Agency on Aging Director, Linda Miller, explains, “This initiative allows Centralina to help local provider agencies save administrative time and cost while also better preparing their clients, clients’ family and caregivers and staff through the use of COVID tests.”   

With the end of the Public Health Emergency on May 11, 2023, Medicare and many other insurances will not cover at-home kits free of charge. Having test kits available continues to be valuable for older adults and their families as they remain a high-risk population for contracting COVID-19. 

If you, your agency or organization is interested in partnering with Centralina to distribute COVID test kits, please contact Caitlin McElrath at cmcelrath@centralina.org  

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Here are a few tips to help you get ready: 

• If your ARPA point of contact has changed since April 2022, ensure that you have access to your community’s username and password. If your user ID and password are not active and accessible on SAM.gov then your reporting may be delayed. Log on to SAM.gov for verification. 
• Do you have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI)? Units will not be able to access the portal and report if their SAM.gov registration does not have the UEI. You will need to apply as soon as possible, as the UEI will take 10-12 days to receive.  
• Gather all your programmatic and financial support documents. You will need these when you enter the portal to complete your 2023 annual reporting requirement. 
• Reach out to Lenessa Hawkins, Grants & Contract Administrator at Centralina, if you need assistance or have questions. You may contact her at lhawkins@centralina.org . 

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1. The updated guidance released from the U.S. Treasury on July 27 is only relevant if your community elected “Revenue Loss” as your ARPA spending category. This includes if you are spending the funds on salaries and benefits and/or other general government services. This guidance is also relevant if your community is planning on spending the funds on equipment/infrastructure under the revenue loss category.
2. Under this new guidance recipients may update their Revenue Loss election, in future reporting cycles through the April 2023 reporting period (US Treasury Final Rule FAQ 3.1)
3. If you’re considering changing your spending within the Revenue Loss category, you should keep in mind your jurisdiction’s staff capacity as you would need to amend your grant project ordinance and follow procurement protocols for this change. This could be strategic if for some reason your community needs funds quicker however, you should always have a backup plan for various scenarios (i.e., if your equipment is backlogged, if the infrastructure project fails or if someone quits)
4. There are no subawards required under the Revenue Loss category (FAQ 13.15) and excluded from some requirements in Uniform Guidance – Procurement (FAQ 13.15)
5. If you chose Revenue Loss: Salaries and Benefits, Centralina still recommends this category as it has the least number of requirements.
6. Regardless of how your community chose to spend the funds it’s important to practice good governance by following all state and federal procurement protocols, increasing transparency, communication and engagement with your citizens

Remember, Centralina is here to help! We provide services for all members including but not limited to: strategic planning, community engagement and outreach, document review and monitoring and reporting.

You can watch the entire Centralina Learns session for more information on this topic. Look under the COVID section of our Member Portal.

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According to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, “North Carolina lost around 867,000 employed workers at the height of the COVID-19 recession, between February and April 2020. However, only a fraction of those who lost work looked for another job: the number of jobseekers in our state increased only 147,000 by May 2020.” 

Centralina  Workforce Development Board (WDB) and our NCWorks team worked together to help provide a solution to the labor shortage in the region. The team, consisting of NCWorks Centralina Project Director Kim Carpenter, NCWorks Career Center Leader-Stanly County Gus Vanegas and former Centralina WDB Business Service Leader (now Centralina Economic Development Specialist) Anna Lu Wilson, created the monthly Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace 29-hour hiring event, a nontraditional way for employers to meet and chat with job seekers during a designated timespan.

Anna Lu Wilson shared that, “The Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace is a great way for jobseekers to make connections with local employers. Hiring managers are online at each event which gives the jobseeker the opportunity to ask questions about employment before they apply for the position.”

The intent of the 29-hour virtual hiring event is to give employers an increased opportunity to obtain staff while simultaneously creating convenience and accessibility for job seekers to utilize employment services and resources available to them with the Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace tool. Centralina WDB and our NCWorks team believes that this tool meets people where they are and presents a positive and solution-driven way to eliminate obstacles that time and location may present to job seekers, as well as for employers.

The Centralina Virtual Career Marketplace 29-hour online hiring event is held on every fourth Wednesday beginning at 12 p.m. and running through the fourth Thursday at 5 p.m. As part of this event, job seekers can chat with employers from 12 – 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Thursdays. Job seekers can also upload their resume prior to the event and should be prepared to interview via TextChat or video call with employers during aforementioned times.

Local NCWorks Career Centers and their staff are ready to assist job seekers with registering for the event or aid in preparing for the hiring event. Job seekers and employers can get additional information and register at http://Centralina.EasyVirtualFair.com. For other workforce resources and opportunities, visit https://centralinaworks.com.

Written by: Vaquacious Queen Lundy, Centralina WDB Communication Coordinator

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