Survey to assess impact of virus on community
With the goal of helping community organizations and business owners survive the coronavirus pandemic, Berks County will launch an online needs assessment to better understand the financial challenges facing those groups and effectively determine what is needed to speed the recovery process.
The assessment will be available on the county website for two weeks beginning on Monday, June 29.
Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt said the information gathered from the survey will help officials decide how to distribute the $38 million in federal CARES
Act funding the county is slated to receive next month and will help them build their case that additional funding is needed at both the state and federal levels.
The assessment is designed to target the needs of the following groups: municipal governments, public health providers, social services providers, public education providers and local business owners.
“We really want to capture what is needed in the community before we receive this money,” he said. “We know $38 million is not going to go very far so we need to have a complete picture to make the best decisions moving forward. That money is going to arrive here and we want to get it out to the people who really need it.”
Barnhardt stressed that it will take the efforts of the entire community to help those impacted by this global health crisis.
“It will take a village to understand the enormity of the expenses that have been accrued during this crisis and we are here to do the best we can to support you financially through this difficult time,” he said. “We need to remember that we are all in this together.”
The commissioners have expressed frustration over coronavirus-related federal funding.
Berks is slated to get $38 million in federal funding, but as one of 60 Pennsylvania counties that did not get direct funding from the federal government the money is being funneled through the state. Only counties with populations of about 500,000 received direct federal funding.
The commissioners have criticized the process, saying counties that got direct federal payments are receiving much larger amounts. They have cited Lancaster County as an example, pointing out that the county is just slightly larger than Berks but is getting $95 million.
“Part of this assessment is to really prove the case that we have been underfunded when it comes to CARES Act funding,” Barnhardt said.
He noted that a portion of the funding will be used by the county to facilitate extensive contact tracing, rebuilding the local economy and purchasing much-needed personal protective equipment for those on the front lines. But he added that the balance of the money will be distributed to the community groups.
The commissioners have also been working with an outside firm, Witt O’Brien, to find and procure additional grant money that might be available to assist local organizations and county residents with coronavirus-related costs.
“We know that in a pandemic we don’t have the bandwidth here to pursue and secure all of the grants that are coming through the state and Washington, so we are hiring this firm to shepherd those for us,” Barnhardt said when the board decided to hire the firm. “There should be a lot of money out there that could be coming to Berks County, and we don’t want to leave any stone unturned.”