title
A resolution appropriating $621,750 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Fund #30216 to The Nashville Food Project for the Feedback Nashville Project, a community-engaged systems transformation initiative that drives Nashville’s food system towards equity, justice, and sustainability by facilitating increased collaboration and collective impact between non-profits, businesses, governments, and community members.
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 County, 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 food insecurity is a complex challenge that negatively affects hundreds of thousands of Nashville residents; and,
WHEREAS, The Nashville Food Project, proposes the Feedback Nashville Project, as described in Exhibit A, a community-engaged systems transformation initiative that drives Nashville’s food system towards equity, justice, and sustainability by facilitating increased collaboration and collective impact between non-profits, businesses, governments, and community members; and,
WHEREAS, it is to the benefit of the citizens of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County that this resolution be approved.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. The Metropolitan Council accepts this resolution as a recommendation of the COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee.
Section 2. That $621,750 from the Covid-19 American Rescue Plan Fund #30216 is hereby appropriated to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee as fiscal sponsor for the Nashville Food Project, to be used to administer the program described in Exhibit A.
Section 3. Quarterly reporting from The Nashville Food Project to the COVID-19 Oversight Committee is required. The required information includes but is not limited to the following:
a. Accounting of all grant funds, including identification of grant fund recipients
b. Use of funds and balance of funds remaining from the $621,750 allocation
c. Activities & results toward each goal outlines in the scope of work outlined in Exhibit A
Section 4. This resolution shall take effect from and after its final passage, the welfare of the public requiring it.
Agenda Analysis
Analysis
This resolution appropriates $621,750 in American Rescue Plan Act (“ARP”) funds from Fund #30216 to be allocated to the Nashville Food Project for the Feedback Nashville Project.
The funded work be used over two years to address food insecurity in Nashville and Davidson County. The Feedback Nashville Project will seek to facilitate increased collaboration and collective impact between nonprofits, businesses, governments, and community members. The program will seek to:
• Diagnose the root causes and effects of food insecurity in Nashville to identify barriers to and opportunities for food systems transformation;
• Facilitate inclusive opportunities for community members and food system stakeholders to create visions and solutions for a just and sustainable food system for Nashville; and
• Establish capacity and governance among Nashville community members to lead the city’s transition to a just and sustainable food system in the present and future.
ARP funds will be used to hire a systems transformation consultant; hire a systems coordinator; provide translation and interpretation services; provide outreach including partnership stipends, community participant stipends and bus fare reimbursement; provide materials and supplies; and for a fiscal sponsor agent fee.
The Nashville Food Project will be required to report quarterly to the COVID-19 Oversight Committee. The required information includes, but is not limited to, accounting of all grant funds, including identification of grant fund recipients, the use of funds and balance of fund remaining from the original allocation, and program activities and results toward each goal outlined in the resolution.
Fiscal Note: This $621,750 appropriation, along with the appropriations per Resolutions No. RS2023-2143, RS2023-2144 and RS2023-2146 would be the 50th, 51st, 52nd and 53rd resolutions appropriating from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARP) Fund for a cumulative total of $255,784,599. The total grant award is $259,810,600. The first half of this amount was received in July 2021 and the second half was received in July 2022. The grant award must be obligated by December 31, 2024 and expended by December 31, 2026.