ARPA Dashboard

About the Program

Category: Financial Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provided $215.6 million to Mecklenburg County to help manage the public health challenges and negative economic impacts from COVID-19. To help identify community needs and funding priorities, Mecklenburg County conducted a community survey to gather feedback from residents. The survey results were used by the County Manager and the Executive Leadership team to create an investment strategy for ARPA funds. The recommended plan to allocate ARPA funds to local organizations and projects was approved by the Board of County Commissioners. County leadership prioritized the following five priority areas in which to focus ARPA spending: • Behavioral Health & Health Equity • Affordable Housing & Homelessness • Workforce & Economic Development • Parks, Environment & Infrastructure • Childcare & Early Childhood Development Due to the significant community investment and impact, Mecklenburg County’s Finance Department developed a public facing, interactive dashboard to track performance and expenditure data, promote public awareness and provide transparency in a centralized location accessible to all residents. The ARPA Dashboard not only tracks how funds are spent but also demonstrates how funds are addressing critical needs and challenges faced by Mecklenburg County residents. The ARPA Dashboard is located on the Mecklenburg County COVID-19 Recovery website (https://cares-act-arp-meckgov.hub.arcgis.com/) (Exhibit A) and has a call out for users to easily access to the dashboard from a computer or mobile device (Exhibit B).