Bangor city councilors will need to make hard choices about which of the 60 applications competing for the city’s pandemic relief funding to reward — a process likely to extend into July, they said Monday.
Heart of Maine United Way, which was charged with evaluating applications for funding and making recommendations to the council, shared its findings Monday night.
Councilors will review data and feedback from 45 volunteers, split into six panels, who scored the projects before diving into a deeper discussion about how to award the money. They agreed it won’t happen immediately because the city also needs to approve its municipal budget this month.
In early April, Bangor launched an application process for organizations to receive American Rescue Plan Act funds, which closed after three weeks. This came nearly two years after the city received the first round of its $20.8 million in COVID relief funds in May 2021.
Although the 60 applications requested nearly $38 million total, the city only has about $16.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding remaining to give them. Projects address Bangor’s top issues, including housing and mental health, but also areas that were more creative, said Matt Donahue, Heart of Maine United Way’s chief impact officer.
“I think you have a lot of good proposals to pick from, and you’ve got your work cut out for you,” he told councilors.
Homelessness and child care saw the largest funding requests, compared with five other categories, requesting $8,939,880 and $8,924,608, respectively. The third largest area was housing, with requests totaling $7,004,979.
The other categories were job training, mental health, substance use disorder and other. These were priorities previously outlined by the council, along with aid to nonprofits and small businesses. Eighty percent of applicants were nonprofits.
“Other” meant a project didn’t fall directly into the council’s focus areas, like the Penobscot Theatre Co.’s request for $178,000 to support its 50th anniversary and educational programming. Applicants chose which category their project fell under, Donahue said, so it’s possible that of the 14 proposals, some relate to more specific categories.
United Way, which is seeking $800,000, did not score itself, and City Manager Debbie Laurie recommended that councilors follow the process of volunteers to assess the organization’s request.
Bangor paid the organization $9,850 to do the work, which Laurie has said would come out of the city’s ARPA administrative allowance.
Volunteers scored applicants based on the project’s details and how clearly it addresses a community need, accounting for 50 percent; budget and plans for sustainability, 20 percent; and capacity to meet outcomes and be successful, 30 percent. They also looked at funding, particularly whether a project would be in the long-term interest of the city and its residents.
Bangor Area Homeless Shelter’s $10,000 request for a diversion program scored the highest among the 59 applications that were reviewed, landing above 93. The shelter had more than one application. A $365,000 request from 850 Broadway LLC scored the lowest at just above 35.
“Scoring is important, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture,” Donahue told councilors. “Something that scores well may not have glowing reviews or vice versa. Something that didn’t score very well may have a lot of optimism.”
He encouraged councilors to weigh both scores and feedback from volunteers. They listed positives and negatives, asked questions and touched on whether a project is proactive or reactive and “really moves the needle,” he said.
If Penobscot County has already funded a substantial portion of an organization’s request for funding, the council should think about whether it wants to add or support something else, Councilor Jonathan Sprague said.
United Way’s findings will be available for the public to view on Bangor’s website on Wednesday, Laurie said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the amount of American Rescue Plan Act funds that Bangor has remaining.