title
A resolution appropriating $1,820,585 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Fund #30216 to expand critical immigrant legal services in Davidson County.
body
WHEREAS, on June 15, 2021, the Metropolitan Council passed Resolution RS2021-966, a resolution which accepted grant funds for local government support from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ("ARP Funds") from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson Count, which was subsequently signed into law by Mayor John Cooper on June 16, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, Resolution RS2021-966 established a COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee ("the Committee") whose role is to collect, consider, and recommend appropriate uses of the ARP Funds as designated by the Metropolitan Council disbursement plan. The Committee will submit its reports and recommendations to the Mayor, the Director of Finance, and the Metropolitan Council not later than June 30, 2025; and,
WHEREAS, there are federal requirements for use of ARP Funds that require that these funds be expended or obligated on or before December 31, 2024; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that Davidson County is home to a diverse and vibrant immigrant population, many of need high-quality, low-cost immigrant legal services; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that Davidson County is an immigrant legal services desert, with only six pro-bono organizations that offer only limited services for immigrant cases in Nashville; and,
WHEREAS, changes in immigration policy in recent years and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the negative effects of insufficient immigrant legal services for families across Davidson County; and,
WHEREAS, the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition ("the TIRRC"), a statewide, immigrant and refugee-led collaboration, has proposed a two-year pilot program that will provide essential services to keep families uni...
Click here for full text