CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Council gave final approval to spending roughly $34 million in COVID-19 stimulus money on broadband, workforce development, lead remediation, COVID-19 response and stabilizing Irishtown Bend.
The expenses, approved during a Tuesday meeting, are funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which is the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 federal stimulus package.
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The second largest expense, $9 million, is for workforce development, an idea championed by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. The grant money was awarded to Fund for Our Economic Future of Northeast Ohio, which would function as the fiscal agent of private-public partnership Cuyahoga County Workforce Funders Group.
That $9 million for workforce development will be split several ways. Of that, $5 million will pay for a manufacturing sector partnership that would fund training programs for manufacturing careers in an effort to feed the labor-starved manufacturing industry in the county. The goal is to get 2,750 people into the manufacturing industry. $3 million of the workforce development money was allocated for a K-12 program that helps children prepare early on for a career path. The remaining $1 million of the workforce development money will help fund internships in the manufacturing industry.