St. Louis Selected As A Stimulus Command Center For American Rescue Plan

From the City of St. Louis:

March 12, 2021

Mayor Lyda Krewson today announced that the City of St. Louis is proud to have been selected as a Stimulus Command Center based on its historic response to the COVID 19 pandemic and extremely successful efforts to distribute prior federal relief dollars in an effective and meaningful way.

“I am so honored that the City of St. Louis is being recognized in this way on the national stage. My Administration is deeply committed to maximizing and deploying this unprecedented federal investment, which will be transformative for our community,” said Mayor Krewson. “I look forward to working with these other stakeholders to direct resources to drive a local recovery that creates good jobs, is resilient and racially inclusive, and seeds innovation for the next generation.”

The Stimulus Command Centers are an 18-month partnership through the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Accelerator for America, and Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab. They serve as executive-level task forces comprising of leaders from the public, private, and civic sectors and will be the local go-to points for planning, prioritizing, and coordinating federal relief and recovery investments from President Joe Biden’s $1.9T American Rescue Plan.

The City of St. Louis anticipates receiving approximately $500 million in direct financial assistance from the ARP. Mayor Krewson has already begun developing preliminary framework for investing this crucial funding in the community to meet the immediate and continued health, humanitarian, and socioeconomic needs of residents and businesses.

Other cities selected as Stimulus Command Centers include Louisville, KY, Los Angeles, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Birmingham, AL, and Dayton, OH.

Goals of the partnership include:

1. Communicating what federal investment is coming – and when – to local leaders nationwide
2. Providing actionable frameworks and strategies for maximizing the impact of the federal investment
3. Working directly and closely with six first-mover cities to implement recommendations 4. Providing advice and technical assistance to USCM mayors
4. Advocating for federal policy change that facilities an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable metro recovery.

The partners will follow a model similar to what was established to help cities act upon federal Opportunity Zones legislation. They will focus on engaging with the first group of six cities and then build out a cohort of additional cities to advance a broader metro agenda and share local priorities as they emerge with the Biden Administration.

Mayor Krewson has already participated in one virtual meeting with those involved to being to develop actionable strategies for maximizing federal investment and optimizing recovery.

This press release was produced by the City of St. Louis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.