OVER $6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds have not been disbursed to non-governmental organizations or nonprofit organizations, according to Sen. Edith E. Deleon Guerrero.
In an email inquiry to Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig, the senator asked for a most recent award list of ARPA funds to NGOs or NPOs, pursuant to the Open Government Act.
She noted that based on the Office of the Secretary of Finance’s latest responses, for Fiscal Year 2021, $750,000 in ARPA funding was allocated to NGOs or NPOs, and for Fiscal Year 2022, roughly $2.3 million was allocated.
“Based on both communications from your office, $6,921,006 remains to be awarded out of the $10M allocation of ARPA funds for NGOs/NPOs,” Deleon Guerrero told Atalig.
In January, Atalig said nonprofits and small businesses would receive ARPA funds, with $10 million set aside for nonprofit organizations and $20 million for small businesses.
He said these funds were provided under Section 602(a) of the ARPA and would require the organizations to submit requests to the Office of the Governor.
Copies of these requests should also be provided to the Department of Finance so it could be aware of which groups were seeking assistance, Atalig said.
He noted that most nonprofit organizations had requested help to meet payroll.
At the time, the Department of Finance had already received requests for assistance from at least 10 nonprofit organizations, he said.
One of the defined uses of the ARPA funding is to support nonprofits.
