Funding will Assist Organizations Working to Improve Access to Food, Transportation, Housing Supports and More 

The City of Medford will be awarding over $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding to 17 local nonprofits that are assisting and supporting the community in several key areas related to COVID-19 recovery, Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn announced. The City is utilizing a portion of its remaining federal funds to award the one-time grants. 

In the spring, the City launched its subrecipient application process and over the course of the last few months has been reviewing project proposals to ensure that its funding will have the most impact.  

“The effects of the pandemic are still being felt in our community and it’s our hope that this grant program will allow for more robust services and programming to help people recover,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. “Our residents identified what areas they wanted to see investment in, and I’m thrilled we were able to fund organizations that directly address critical needs in our community like food access, housing stability and transportation.” 

Over the summer of 2022, the City launched its community survey to solicit community feedback and help inform priorities for its subrecipient program. Based on the data collected from the survey, the City identified several areas that were selected for investment. Over 60 percent of respondents said they would like to see money allocated to social services including food assistance and housing services, specifically affordable housing. 

The following nonprofits were awarded funding: 

  • West Medford Community Center 

  • Sanctuary UCC 

  • Medford Invitational Tournament 

  • Action for Boston Community Development 

  • Rotary Club of Medford 

  • Mystic Valley Elder Services 

  • Bread of Life 

  • Somerville Community Corporation 

  • Immigrant Learning Center 

  • Medford Family Network 

  • Food Link 

  • Winchester After School Program 

  • Communitas 

  • Mystic Valley YMCA 

  • Housing Families 

  • Magan Transport 

  • They Will Need Foundation 

 

In addition to the subrecipient funding, the Lungo-Koehn administration has been investing additional ARPA funding into priorities that align with the community’s goals. The Mayor has allocated hundreds of thousands to assist the Housing Authority with the building and renovation of additional affordable units at 121 Riverside and the city has also supported current and future funding for the Walkling Court project. The Mayor, working with Director of Planning, Development and Sustainability Alicia Hunt, Housing Planner Danielle Evans, and the Medford City Council developed an Affordable Housing Trust ordinance that creates a selected board and enables it to buy small properties and secure land to turn into more affordable housing. The ordinance was passed by the City Council in April.