Grant awards for another new program to help economic survivors of the pandemic were announced at Tuesday’s Nevada County Board of Supervisors meeting. The nearly two-million dollars comes from a 19-million dollar allotment the county received earlier this year from the American Rescue Plan Act. It’s part of the Board’s April dedication of nearly six-million dollars, of that allotment, for Community and Economic Resiliency projects. Projects Administrator Caleb Dardick told the Board the largest percentage of grants, or 26-percent, goes to safety net organizations. That’s by 22-percent for arts and cultural groups…

click to listen to Caleb Dardick

One of the recipients was Bright Futures for Youth. Executive Director Jennifer Singer thanked the Board for providing another boost for homeless youth that they serve…

click to listen to Caleb Dardick

But as another indication of the ongoing financial impacts of the pandemic, 73 applications were received, with requests totalling nearly five-million dollars. Dardick says that amount would have been even higher, without the 100-thousand dollar cap for grants. 32 groups were awarded. Meanwhile, the county receives the second of three portions of the 19-million dollar allotment in June of next year.