The federal government has given North Carolina $3.5b to spend on COVID relief. In our first week back in session, we spent $1.5b of it.
There were 47 different items. Here’s a sentence on each one:
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
$70 million for government operations including unemployment office staff, overtime costs, and IT needs (much needed, as you know if you’ve tried to file a claim)
$300 million to local governments
$20 million to offset revenue losses for state agencies
$300 million to NCDOT to replace funds lost from a collapse in gas tax revenue that otherwise would have indefinitely delayed roughly 100 projects that often come with dramatic re-start costs (and several bridges were on the list)
K-12 SCHOOLS
$75 million for school breakfast and lunch programs. Parents can text FOODNC to 877-877 to locate nearby pick-up and drive-thru free meal sites while schools are closed.
$1 million to purchase extended-reach hotspots and install them in school buses
$11 million to provide community and home hotspots
$30 million to purchase computers for students
$5 million to purchase computers for school personnel
$4.5 million increase cybersecurity for schools
$10 million to provide mental health and physical health services for students
$70 million to provide supplemental summer learning programs for students
$1.488 million to expand remote instruction software for local schools
$3 million to provide non-digital remote instruction resources to students with limited internet access
$15 million in grants for schools which have had extraordinary costs associated with providing extended services to exceptional children
$660,029 for school nutrition, cleaning, and sanitizing, and digital and non-digital remote learning resources for the Morehead School for the Blind, Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf and North Carolina School for the Deaf
$5 million for a high quality, validated program, and student support for at-risk students
UNIVERSITIES AND COMMUNITY COLLEGES
$25 million for the community college system (with another $120 million from the federal government)
$44.4 million for the UNC system (with another $180 million from the federal government)
$20 million for private colleges
HEALTH CARE
$50 million for personal protective equipment
$15 million to the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute to develop a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine
$29 million to UNC’s North Carolina Policy Collaboratory for vaccine and treatment research and community testing initiatives
$15 million to Brody School of Medicine at ECU to treatment research and community testing initiatives
$6 million to the Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine for a community and rural-focused treatment and testing
$20 million to Wake Forest University Health Services to expand its COVID-19 study on contact tracing and antibody testing
$20 million to DHHS to support local health departments, rural health providers, the State Laboratory of Public Health and behavioral health and crisis services
$6 million for the 6 food banks in NC – prioritizing purchasing food from NC farmers and vendors
$290,000 for the LINKS program, a foster care support program
$25 million for financial assistance for facilities licensed to serve Special Assistance recipients
$50 million to provide for health and critical services for rural and underserved communities
$5 million to free and charitable clinics
$1.5 million to offset costs for prescription assistance
$5 million to North Carolina Community Health Centers Association to cover some health services
$25 million to DHHS for expanding testing, contact tracing and trends tracking
$20 million to DHHS to provide behavioral health and crisis services
$19 million to DHHS to fund increases in food, safety, shelter and child care services
$1.8 million for rural and African American communities outreach, health education and testing
$65 million for grants to rural hospitals
$15 million for grants to teaching hospitals
$15 million for grants to general hospitals
$2.25 million for supplemental payments to foster care
$100,000 to reimburse Wake Forest University Health Services research
SMALL BUSINESS
$125 million for small business loans through the Golden Leaf Foundation (with restrictions to make sure those funds are *actually* going to small businesses)
OTHER
$9 million to to expand broadband access
$5 million for visit NC research and marketing
More soon,