Somerville Needs Residents To Serve On ARPA Advisory Committee

SOMERVILLE, MA — Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne is inviting residents to apply to serve on they city’s ARPA Advisory Committee.

The committee will be comprised of a diverse group of 15 members who will work with Ballantyne to co-create broad funding guidelines for Somerville's American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) program.

These guidelines will not only be used by ARPA staff to solicit and judge applications, but will also help the public and project applicants have a transparent view of how the funding will be spent and what the city’s priorities are.

The ARPA Advisory Committee will do the following:

• Review the findings of the ARPA community engagement process
• Create a statement of community values for all ARPA projects to adhere to
• Establish the Mayor's ARPA Funding Priorities, which will provide broad guidelines for how the City will allocate ARPA funds between different eligible uses
• Provide feedback on the ARPA funding criteria/request for proposals

The ARPA Advisory Committee will not review any ARPA funding applications and its members may not submit any ARPA funding applications during their time on the Advisory Committee.

Committee meetings are scheduled for Wednesdays from August 17 through September 14 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. This is a volunteer position and all Advisory Committee members will be confirmed by the mayor.

Applications are due Friday, July 29. To apply, submit a statement of interest and complete a brief questionnaire online at somervillema.gov/arpa. To request a printed copy of the application, contact ARPA Specialist Erica Satin-Hernandez by phone at 617-729-5042, by email at eshernandez@somervillema.gov, or by mail at Erica Satin-Hernandez, ARPA Office, 93 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA 02143.