More money added to Springfield residents COVID relief funds – WWLP.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) An additional $2 million has been allocated to help Springfield residents who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of approximately 19,000 applications, over 7,100 households have been approved for assistance. Due to the high demand, Mayor Domenic Sarno has added an additional $2 million from the American Rescue Plan Act funds to the citys direct assistance for households account.

Applications for the ARPA Household Direct Assistance Program closed onJanuary 15th. Those who were approved were sent an eligibility letter from Public Partnership, LLC followed by a Money Network Debit Card within 7-10 business days.

A total of $12 million has been allocated to help Springfield residents who were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Those eligible had to provide proof of residency and show documentation that the household was receiving some form of programed assistance, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), unemployment benefits, etc.

Public Partnership, LLC reviewed all applications and noted that over 1,000 applications have been flagged as either fraudulent or duplicate requests.

Mayor Sarno states, Originally my administration had allocated $10 million into our Direct Assistance for Household applications, however, due to the high volume of completed and eligible applications, I am allocating an additional $2 million to process and award as many eligible household applications that meet the award and federal criteria as possible. This now brings the total amount allocated into our Direct Household Assistance to $12 million. I want to thank everyone for their continued patience, as we continue to have our third party, Public Partnership, LLC (PPL) carefully review and process all of the applications received. To guard against potential fraud, which we have already flagged over 1,000 applications that do not meet the federal requirements, we have asked PPL to thoroughly review all applications and submitted materials to ensure they meet the eligibility criteria and to make sure that only our Springfield residents that meet the requirements are approved.

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More money added to Springfield residents COVID relief funds - WWLP.com