Opting to commit the remaining funding set aside for the group in late 2021, Hamilton County commissioners decided Wednesday to distribute $200,000 of federal pandemic relief funds to a local youth mentorship organization called the Lighthouse Collective.
In November 2021, commissioners voted to allocate $100,000 to the organization for community violence reduction efforts with the option of providing two more increments of $100,000 over the following years for a total of $300,000.
At the suggestion of Commissioner Greg Beck, D-North Brainerd, commissioners instead decided to Wednesday provide the Lighthouse Collective with all the remaining funding earmarked for the organization.
Beck's amendment to the resolution passed 8-2 with commissioners Steve Highlander, R-Ooltewah, and Mike Chauncey, R-East Ridge, voting no. The amended resolution passed 10-0. Commissioner Jeff Eversole, R-Ooltewah, was absent.
Last week, Beck questioned why the Lighthouse Collective was the only nonprofit the county has required to come back and request further installments of American Rescue Plan Act funding from the county, noting that the group's founders have worked for years with young people.
The American Rescue Plan Act was a spending package passed by Democrats in Congress in 2021. It included billions of dollars distributed to local governments across the country.
"They just reached the level where they could even ask local governments for money," Beck said Feb. 22. "So I just don't feel that's fair that they have to keep running in here with hat in hand, and no one else has to come."
Hamilton County has distributed $71.4 million of American Rescue Plan funds to various organizations and projects.
Hamilton County Finance Administrator Lee Brouner told commissioners last week that the Lighthouse Collective was the only organization slated to receive the dollars over an extended period of time.
"This was the first of the allocations of the ARPA money, so it was handled a little bit differently than those subsequent to this," Brouner said.
Led by co-founders LaDarius Price, Montrell Besley, Troy Rogers and Chris Sands, the Lighthouse Collective organizes a series of community events geared toward youth.
Last summer, they held a series of weekly block parties at Miller Park called No Smoke Sundays, and they are preparing to host the 2023 Boys Leadership Summit on April 29 on the campus of Chattanooga Preparatory School.
They are also taking on a five-week summer enrichment program for rising sixth graders through eighth graders.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.