Lake County Gazette

Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart recently highlighted the beneficial projects that Lake County has undertaken using the $135.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding it received. Hart was attending an event at the White House, which aimed to discuss the positive impacts of President Biden's Investing in America Agenda.

According to a Lake County news release, Hart said, "We have been able to expand behavioral health services, mitigate flooding, improve public safety, increase job training resources, improve transportation, upgrade voting services, and much more, as a result of these once-in-a-lifetime investments."

Hart discussed one of the projects funded by ARPA - the Lake County Gun Violence Prevention Initiative. According to another Lake County news release, this initiative is among many ARPA-funded programs that the county has invested in. The Communities In Action forum gathered leaders to share success stories. The county initiative employs Peacemakers - teams of violence interrupters - in targeted communities such as Waukegan, Zion, and North Chicago.

In addition to violence prevention initiatives, Hart also shared information about efforts made by the Lake County Stormwater Management Commissions and local partners to alleviate flooding across the county. This project utilized $30 million in ARPA funding and protected more than 2,400 properties across 12 projects on 23 primary and 84 secondary roadways from flooding.