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Spokane City Council directs more coronavirus aid to business, childcare, and tenant support

Visitors to Spokane City Hall enter through the Post Street doors Thursday May 26, 2011. There is a consideration before the City Council to upgrade the security of the buidling. CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON chrisa@spokesman.com (Christopher Anderson)
By Adam Shanks adams@spokesman.com(509) 459-5136

The Spokane City Council released its third round of coronavirus relief funds on Monday, mirroring its initial priorities.

The city will divide the $1.5 million in federal aid between nonprofits that will aim to support local businesses, child care providers and rental assistance programs.

The money was divided between three nonprofits that already have contracts with the city.

LiveStories was awarded $1 million to further bolster its small business assistance program, Community-Minded Enterprises was given $225,000 to continue its support for child care providers, and the Spokane Workforce Council received a $200,000 boost to continue its rental assistance program.

The funding was allocated to Spokane and numerous other cities in September from the state’s portion of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Spokane received $3.3 million in the new funding announced by the state Department of Commerce, adding to the $6.6 million it had already been awarded earlier this year.

The city opted to divide the third round of funding between nonprofits that had already launched programs with the first round, eschewing a third request for proposals and allowing the city to pump funding into the community more quickly.

“We have additional money beyond that, that we haven’t figured out how we’re allocating yet,” Council President Breean Beggs said on Monday.

Prior to Monday, the city had split its CARES Act allocations into two rounds of funding.

First, it gave $2.9 million to nonprofits that could administer social support programs, including LiveStories, Community-Minded Enterprises and the Spokane Workforce Council.

In a second round of funding announced two weeks later, the council poured money into direct support for Spokane-based nonprofits, predominantly those that serve young people and families.

Spokane Public Schools was awarded $155,000, while the YMCA of the Inland Northwest won $134,000. The Northeast Youth Center, West Central Community Center, Southwest Community Center and Martin Luther King Jr. Outreach Center each received grants ranging from $30,000 to $67,000.

The remainder of the funds has also been used to cover the expense of the city’s own coronavirus response, with costs including staff overtime and personal protective equipment.

The state dished out $300 million from its pool of CARES Act funds to local governments in May. Then, in September, Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state would give another $125 million to cities, towns and counties that did not already qualify for direct assistance.

Because its population exceeds 500,000 people, Spokane County received $91 million in CARES Act funds directly from the federal government earlier this year and did not have to rely on the state for support, as Spokane and Spokane Valley did.