Polk County to launch daycare, scholarships for mental health workers

Polk County has allocated nearly all the $95.2 million it received under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021.

• The money must be spent by the end of 2026.

By the numbers: About $25 million helped make up for county government pandemic losses.

• The rest was mostly allocated to affordable housing ($21.2M), programs to improve economic stability among families ($10.6M), water quality initiatives ($13.3M) and mental health programs ($9.1M).

Zoom in: Last week's grants focused largely on mental health programs, including:

• $1.8 million to establish a mental health tuition reimbursement and scholarship initiative.
• $1 million to help ChildServe construct a neurobehavioral clinic in DSM.
• $600,000 to Link Associates to launch an on-site and low-cost daycare for the children of safety net providers, an effort to address worker shortages.

Of note: The news comes about a week after the state forfeited millions in federal emergency housing funds.