On Saturday, the city of Harrisonburg held its first community conversation to get the public’s ideas on how to spend federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[Sound of conversations]
About 60 people sat in circles of 10 in the gym at the Lucy F. Simms Continuing Education Center on Saturday afternoon, with more trickling in throughout the two hour event. They talked about how the pandemic has affected their lives, and longer-standing local issues. One woman worried that her young children's social skills have been stunted because of the pandemic. Another lamented having to stay in the Open Doors homeless shelter, and walking around downtown during the hours when all the nonprofits are closed.
In each group, a facilitator took notes on people's needs and their ideas for how federal funding could address those needs. Harrisonburg has been awarded $23.8 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, and the city is working with JMU's Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue to determine how to spend it. Lori Britt directs the institute.
JMU's board of visitors holds WMRA's operating license, and JMU sponsors our programming. That does not affect our coverage.
LORI BRITT [on mic]: Sometime in April, we'll take all of that data. We'll sort it, we'll sift it, we'll organize it, and then we'll come back to the community with all of those lists, by category of types of funding, and then say, "what are the priorities? How would you prioritize these needs?" Obviously, it sounds like a lot of money. It's not going to be able to go as far as we hope that it would, but we have to make informed decisions … And then we will be putting together a final report for city council about all of this information.
They plan to have an official report to the city council by June.
LORI BRITT [over the phone]: We want to reach people who don't normally come out, or don't think that their voice is important, and we want everybody to understand that their voice is important in this process … What do they think the city's priorities need to be in terms of investing this money, this ARPA money, almost $24 million in our community? And then, what do we think of long term – what could we do that could transform our community? What can we think about investing in now that would transform us for being really resilient and sustainable for the next generation?
At Saturday's event, after a round of general pandemic talk, topical groups were set up for people to discuss issues including community health, public facilities, and the job market. A separate circle was set up with a translator for those who primarily spoke Spanish. Their conversation included the struggle to find affordable housing and the need for trustworthy information about immigration and citizenship.
So many people wanted to discuss neighborhood investments that two discussion groups were set up for that. They brought up sidewalk repairs, places where it's dangerous to cross the street to get to a bus stop, and flooding in the Newtown Cemetery. Based on maps on the wall where participants could indicate where they lived, the majority of attendees appeared to be from the northeast and northwest neighborhoods of town.
The Reverend Kim Young, the pastor at Bethel AME Church, said her priority was to listen, since she lives in Northern Virginia but ministers here.
KIM YOUNG: … to really hear from the community, so that was my number one goal. My number two goal was to be able to understand the systems and how they operate, and then give input to how systems can be improved to operate better.
Katrina Didot, the owner of A Bowl of Good restaurant, said she came to talk about –
KATRINA DIDOT: … job training and job development opportunities. I'm a licensed clinical social worker that's spent a lot of time working in community mental health, and I also happen to be a business owner that believes that those two things – meaningful work often leads to meaningful and enhanced mental health. And so I'd like to see us doing things that are supporting our community, creating jobs, creating opportunities, and in a way that can, yeah enhance, enhance mental health.
The next city-wide event is scheduled for March 28th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Keister Elementary School.
