“Every jurisdiction that we have talked to has indicated that they plan to use the entirety of their CARES Act funds,” said Mike Brill, the communications and community engagement manager with the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office. “There are only a handful of jurisdictions we have not heard back from yet, and we expect to hear from them later this week.”
On Wednesday night, Dayton City Commission approved awarding $3 million to 19 arts and cultural organizations and $1.5 million to 22 community nonprofits.
Applications for relief funding were reviewed and scored by a third-party evaluation team, and all 41 requests were deemed eligible and received awards, said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
The money will help local groups during the pandemic continue services and operations despite revenue shortages, launch new programs that serve the community and reimburse costs for facilities and safety upgrades meant to fight the spread of the virus, Dickstein said.
The evaluation criteria considered organizations’ community impact, financial stability and presence in the city, she said.
“The objective process met our goal of being impactful to these organizations and our community, and ensured a fair and equitable distribution of funds, Dickstein said.
Between the two grant programs, nearly half of the applicants received the full amount of money they requested, she said.
Some of the top recipients of the cultural relief funding were the Dayton Dragons (awarded $300,000), the Dayton Society of Natural History ($298,448), the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance ($294,478) and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Co. ($290,507).
The largest awards for nonprofits will go to Daybreak Inc. ($107,203), Equitas Health ($107,203), YWCA ($103,771) and Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence ($102,677).
Many nonprofits have struggled during the pandemic because they are seeing increased demand for their services, even though giving has declined and there are fewer opportunities for fundraising events.
Arts and cultural organizations have had to cancel countless concerts, plays, musicals and other events, and some venues and groups have not reopened their doors since closing in mid-March.
The city commission on Wednesday also approved a resolution declaring that first-responders including police and fire workers are critical to mitigating and responding to the coroanvirus pandemic.
The resolution says up to $15 million of its current and future public safety payrolls should be eligible for CARES Act reimbursement. The city says it wants to use any current, additional or remaining federal stimulus funds to help cover some these costs.
Dickstein said the commission’s approvals on Wednesday night means the city has met the legislative deadline for spending or encumbering its three rounds of CARES Act funds.
But the city hoped if it could spent all of its money, it might be in line for a nice chunk of leftover and unspent funding.
In the last funding round, the Montgomery County Auditor’s Office distributed about $6.6 million to local communities.
Funds that are not spent or encumbered by today (Friday) are supposed to be returned to the auditor.
Dayton will be eligible for additional money, but except for Perry Twp., no other jurisdiction has indicated they will be unable to spend all of distributions, said Brill, with the auditor’s office.
Perry Township did not request its funding ― nearly $167,000 ― so the auditor’s office never sent it out, Brill said.
“At this point, we expect to have very little funding to redistribute,” he said. “But they (Dayton) will at least receive a very small amount of additional funds, because we will definitely be redistributing Perry Twp.’s portion.”
Arts and cultural groups that received funding include:
Palisades Arcadia Baseball LLC (Dayton Dragons), $300,000
Dayton Society of Natural History (Boonshoft Museum, SunWatch Indian Village), $298,448
Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, $294,478
Dayton Contemporary Dance Co., $290,507
Victoria Theatre Association (Dayton Live), $278,595
The Dayton Art Institute, $266,483
K12 Gallery for Young People, $158,824
The Human Race Inc. (theater company), $158,824
Friends of Levitt Pavilion Dayton, $154,853
CultureWorks, $146,912
Dayton Movies Inc. (The Neon) $138,511
The Muse Machine Inc., $136,915
Women’s Club of Dayton Foundation, $119,118
The Contemporary Dayton (formerly Dayton Visual Arts Center), $100,000
Dayton International Peace Museum, $68,167
Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra Inc., $46,430
Shango: Center for the Study of African-American Art and Culture, $18,257
The Dayton Playhouse Inc., $14,680
Dayton Theatre Guild Inc., $9,800
Community organizations that received funding:
Daybreak Inc., $107,203
Equitas Health, $107,203
YWCA, $103,771
Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence, $102,677
Set the Banquet Table (Miami Valley Meals), $88,041
YMCA, $80,947
Rebuilding Together Dayton Inc., $80,920
Humane Society of Greater Dayton, $79,231
WestCare Ohio, $77,802
OneFifteen Recovery, $77,515
Crossover Community Development, $74,055
Greater Dayton Union Cooperative Initiative, $61,785
Dayton Public Radio (Discover Classical), $60,800
Ronald McDonald House Charities Dayton, $52,000
Clothes That Work, $56,636
The Grandview Foundation, $50,014
Dayton Public Access Television Inc., $50,000
Catholic Social Services of the Miami Valley, $50,000
Miami Valley Community Action Partnership, $50,000
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Miami Valley, $30,400
Bike Miami Valley, $30,000
House of Bread, $29,000
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