Medford To Award Over $500K In ARPA Funding To Local Nonprofits

MEDFORD, MA — The City of Medford will be awarding over $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to 17 local nonprofits that are assisting and supporting the community in several key areas related to COVID-19 recovery, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn announced Wednesday.

Medford is utilizing a portion of its remaining federal funds to award the one-time grants. In the spring, the city launched its subrecipient application process and has been reviewing project proposals over the last few months to ensure that its funding will have the most impact.

“The effects of the pandemic are still being felt in our community and it’s our hope that this grant program will allow for more robust services and programmin to help people recover,” Mayor Lungo-Koehn said in a statement. “Our residents identified what areas they wanted to see investment in, and I’m thrilled we were able to fund organizations that directly address critical needs in our community like food access, housing stability and transportation.”

Over the summer of 2022, Medford launched its community survey to solicit community feedback and help inform priorities for its subrecipient program. Based on the data collected from the survey, the city identified several areas that were selected for investment. Over 60 percent of respondents said they would like to see money allocated to social services including food assistance and housing services.

The following nonprofits were awarded funding:

• West Medford Community Center
• Sanctuary UCC
• Medford Invitational Tournament
• Action for Boston Community Development
• Rotary Club of Medford
• Mystic Valley Elder Services
• Bread of Life
• Somerville Community Corporation
• Immigrant Learning Center
• Medford Family Network
• Food Link
• Winchester After School Program
• Communitas
• Mystic Valley YMCA
• Housing Families
• Magan Transport
• They Will Need Foundation

In addition to the subrecipient funding, the Lungo-Koehn administration has been allocating additional ARPA funding to assist the Housing Authority with the building and renovation of additional affordable units at 121 Riverside and support current and future funding for the Walkling Court project.

The mayor, working with Director of Planning, Development and Sustainability Alicia Hunt, Housing Planner Danielle Evans, and the Medford City Council, developed an Affordable Housing Trust ordinance that enables a selected board to buy small properties and secure land to turn into affordable housing.

The Affordable Housing Trust ordinance was passed by the City Council in April.