Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution authorizes the reallocation of $80,000 in available ARPA-SLFRF funds. No additional City appropriation required.
A total of $102,181 in unused ARPA-SLFRF funds are currently available in the ARPA - Summer Youth Employment '22 project (Munis project 13985) in the Community Development Division's (CDD) Operating Budget. If adopted, this resolution would authorize the reallocation of $80,000 from this existing project to a new project for the Madison-Area Out of School Time (MOST) Program Finder Upgrade.
Title
Amending the Community Development Division's 2024 Adopted Operating Budget to authorize the use of $80,000 in American Rescue Plan Act State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (ARPA-SLFRF) for the upgrade of the Madison-Area Out-of-School Time (MOST) Program Finder. (Citywide)
Body
Background
MOST is a citywide collaboration involving the City of Madison, the Madison Metropolitan School District, Dane County, United Way, the Madison Community Foundation and about 40 different youth serving community organizations that seeks to help close Madison's opportunity gap by ensuring that all children and youth in Madison have access to comprehensive, high-quality out-of-school time programs that contribute to positive youth development; educational achievement; and career, college, and community readiness.
The MOST Program Finder is a web-based search tool created to enable families and youth to more easily find quality programs that are available before and after school, or during summer and holiday breaks for Madison-area children and youth. The tool currently operates on old website software and the system needs to be rebuilt. When re-built, the finder will include over 100 out-of-school time programs in the search tool.
The City's IT department budgeted $80,000 to work with a contractor to rebuild the site, however, the cost of the project is now projected to be $160,000. Community Development Division staff recommends filling this gap by drawing $80,000 from remaining, unused and uncommitted ARPA-SLFRF funds. These ARPA-SLFRF funds were previously authorized by the Common Council to support contracts on summer youth and violence prevention activities. Those contracts, and their expansions, have concluded.
Action
WHEREAS, on July 6, 2021, the Madison Common Council adopted RES-21-00487, accepting and allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) awarded to the City of Madison; and,
WHEREAS, within that adopted resolution, the Council authorized up to $650,000 in ARPA-SLFRF funds to support "Summer Youth Employment" efforts to fund an array of employment and internship programs to reengage youth; and,
WHEREAS, the Community Development Division allocated those funds among a group of community programs to expand or undertake desired programming and, upon completion of those efforts, approximately $100,000 of ARPA-SLFRF funds remain; and,
WHEREAS, the MOST Program Finder system is a web-based search tool that was developed for use by families and youth to help them learn about and connect to programs and activities available in the City during out-of-school time hours; and,
WHEREAS, City IT staff determined the software and system supporting the MOST Program Finder is outdated and must be replaced in order to preserve its function; and,
WHEREAS, while the City IT Department budgeted $80,000 in 2024 to rebuild the website, current cost estimates prepared by IT staff, and the emergence of costs not anticipated when the original budget was prepared, now put the project cost at $160,000; and,
WHEREAS, funds needed to pay the uncovered costs to rebuild the system are available in the Community Development Division's 2024 Operating Budget; specifically, remaining ARPA-SLFRF funds previously authorized by the Council to support expanded youth employment and engagement initiatives;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council authorizes the reallocation of $80,000 of unused and uncommitted ARPA-SLFRF funds within the Community Development Division's 2024 Adopted Operating Budget to cover the added costs of rebuilding the web-based system that supports the MOST Program Finder; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Community Development Division's 2024 Adopted Operating Budget be amended as necessary to reflect the approved changes.