American Rescue Plan Act Funds

In March, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law. The bill gives emergency funding for state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to provide relief to support public health response work and equitable economic recovery. 

Deschutes County will receive more than $38 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. The Deschutes County Commissioners have now allocated all ARPA funds, you can read about some of those investments below.

• Initial $2.85 million ARPA investment
• $1.45 million investment for water conservation
• $4.9 million in investments to support: NeighborImpact food bank expansion project, Cleveland Commons supportive housing project, Giving Plate expansion project
• $6.6 million investment to expand access to child care and train new child care workers 
• $1 million investment to support homeless outreach programs
• $7.8 million in investments to support affordable housing
• $425k in investments to support shelters and services for people experiencing homelessness
• $1.3 million in investments to support: temporary housing options in partnership with the City of Bend, Circuit Court off-site facility rental, La Pine Rural Fire Protection District

Eligible uses of ARPA Funds

Learn more about general ARPA eligibility guidelines 

While federal guidance about eligible uses of ARPA funds continues to be clarified, investment areas that funds can be used toward include supporting local public health, addressing negative economic impacts, providing services to disproportionately impacted communities, replacing public sector revenue loss, providing premium pay for essential workers, addressing water and sewer infrastructure, and supporting broadband infrastructure.

ARPA Grant Award Subrecipient Information

If your organization is an ARPA award sub-recipient, this section has important information for you:

• Sub-recipients must register with https://sam.gov and maintain eligibility to receive federal funds.  You will be asked to provide proof of registration before award money is disbursed.
• Subrecipient New Vendor Set-up Forms – If you are not set up as a Deschutes County vendor, we cannot disburse funds until these forms are completed and returned to us:
  • Deschutes County Vendor Authorization Form
  • W9
  • ACH Authorization Form
• Quarterly Reporting form and directions - This form must be completed and returned to Deschutes County each quarter to meet the reporting requirement.  This form is due by the tenth of each month following the end of the calendar quarter:
  • Sub-recipient Quarterly Report Template
• Deschutes County’s Federal Subrecipient Compliance Guide - Subrecipients administering projects funded by the ARPA SLFRF program on behalf of Deschutes County are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations. This document highlights several compliance considerations specifically applicable to SLFRF subrecipients:
  • Subrecipient Compliance Guidelines 2022

All Deschutes County ARPA funds have been allocated as of August 23, 2023. If you have an ARPA-related question, please email arpa@deschutes.org.