The Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF) provides a unique opportunity for local governments to make strategic investments in long-lived assets, to enhance financial stability, and to cover temporary operating shortfalls until economic conditions and operations normalize. City budget and finance staff play a critical role in ensuring that these funds are prudently implemented within the parameters established by the Federal government.

Join this 75-minute learning session – hosted in partnership with the Government Finance Officers Association – to learn key responsibilities for finance and budget staff, guiding principles to build ARPA recovery fund plans and incorporate equity, potential challenges and pitfalls, and strategies to overcome and manage them. Each participant will receive 1 NLCU credit for participation.

Learning Objectives

  1. Learn where to start and how to build a plan for strategically using ARPA funds;  
  2. Explore ways to ensure you are meeting the community ARPA goals;  
  3. Learn how to address challenges and opportunities in planning and using funds;   
  4. Ensure you are exploring equitable application of funds with ARPA .

Trainers

Shayne Kavanagh is the Senior Manager of Research for Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and has been a leader in developing the practice and technique of long-term financial planning and policies for local government. He started GFOA’s long-term financial planning and policy consulting offering in 2002 and has been working with governments on financial planning and policies ever since. Shayne has worked with many governments of different sizes and types on financial planning and policies across the United States and Canada. Prior to joining GFOA, Shayne was the Assistant Village Manager for the Village of Palos Park, Illinois, where he was responsible for managing all aspects of financial management operations, including budgeting, utility billing, payroll, and accounting. He received his MPA degree from Northern Illinois University.

Mehreen Haroon is a Federal Policy Associate with GFOA’s Federal Liaison Center where she tracks rapidly developing legislation and leads just-in-time trainings on policy implementation. She organizes materials and tools to effectively conduct legislative and regulatory advocacy campaigns on GFOA’s priority issues and concerns. Mehreen holds a Master of Professional Studies degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from Georgetown University.