Thank you for taking the time to review and provide feedback on Albany County’s Strategic Investment Plan for our second tranche of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) recovery funds. The last three years have been an unprecedented challenge for our County, but we are proud to say that our community met that challenge head-on. Albany County is committed to utilizing our ARPA funds in a fair and impactful manner to address the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and position our County on a path toward health, equity and prosperity. We were all impacted by COVID-19 in different ways, and your feedback is vitally important to our process.

This Strategic Investment Plan outlines the ‘rules of the road’ set by the Treasury Department, explains the County’s process, establishes a timeline for next steps, and provides information on how we propose to invest these funds into our County and community. As you will see in the summary pages below, the $29.4 million in ARPA funds that are the focus of this plan are divided into three categories: Economic Recovery and Growth; Community Development and Public Health; and County Infrastructure and Workforce. In the coming months, we will be soliciting applications for funding in each of these categories, and it is our hope that these funds will serve as a catalyst to encourage further investment in our community.