Section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), established the Coronavirus Relief Fund (Fund) and appropriated $150 billion to the Fund. Under the CARES Act, the Fund is to be used to make payments for specified uses to States and certain local governments; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories; and Tribal governments. Hennepin County received a direct payment out of the Fund from the U.S. Treasury. 

The CARES Act provides that money from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that:

1. are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19);
2. were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
3. were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020 and ends on December 30, 2020.

The federal guidance on the Coronavirus Relief Fund indicates that allowable expenses include technical assistance to local authorities or other entities on mitigation of COVID-19-related threats, as well as expenses for acquiring and distributing medical and protective supplies, including sanitizing products and personal protective equipment, and expenses to facilitate compliance with COVID-19 public health measures, so long as the County determines these are necessary expenditures. Allowable expenses also include responding to second-order effects of the emergency, such as providing economic support to those suffering from business interruptions due to COVID-19-related business closures, or “the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures,” or “to benefit small businesses that close voluntarily to promote social distancing measures or that are affected by decreased customer demand as a result of the COVID-19 public health emergency.”  Finally, federal guidance provides that a county may transfer funds to a city, town, or school district within the county, provided that the transfer qualifies as a necessary expenditure incurred due to the public health emergency and meets the other criteria of section 601(d) of the Social Security Act outlined in the Guidance.

On June 11, 2020, Hennepin County allocated $1,000,000 in CARES Act funding to support summer youth programs and organized youth sports (Resolution 20-0228, as amended), to provide technical assistance and emergency funding for costs incurred to enable compliance with COVID-19 public health precautions while providing summer youth programs. Under Governor Walz’s Emergency Executive Order 20-74 (June 5, 2020), Youth Programs and Organized Youth Sports are permitted to operate but must adhere to public health guidance and restrictions. Organizations have incurred new and additional costs to offer traditional programming and to develop new programming, in order to enable compliance with public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., personal protective equipment, additional cleaning and disinfection, signage and facility adaptations to promote physical distancing, additional equipment to reduce group size and sharing). 

Current Request: The request seeks allocation of an additional $2,000,000 in Federal CARES funding to support the network of municipalities, private non-profits, and community organizations that provide summer youth programs and organized youth sports. Funding would be allocated for new and additional costs incurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including but not limited to facility adaptations, signage, additional equipment, technology, supplies, cleaning expenses, and personal protective equipment needed to safely provide youth programs and organized youth sports during the COVID crisis in compliance with public health measures.