BOSTON– On November 10th, Senator Sal DiDomenico announced he successfully secured a total of $1 million in funding for local community non-profit organizations in the cities of Everett, Chelsea, Cambridge and Charlestown. These funds will give essential aid to non-profits working in these communities.  

DiDomenico’s amendment was included in S.2564, An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery needs, also known as the ARPA Spending Bill, released by the Massachusetts Senate. This bill makes critical investments into key economic sectors in the Commonwealth such as housing, workforce development, schools and health care systems, using federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and FY21 state revenue surplus funds. 

During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Everett and Chelsea were among the top five hardest-hit communities in the Commonwealth, with Chelsea being ground zero. This funding is crucial to help boost communities that were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator DiDomenico expressethe inclusion of his amendment in the ARPA Spending Bill. “I am extremely pleased to have secured this funding for our community. The $1 million in funding will create tremendous opportunities for local community non-profits in the cities of Everett, Chelsea, Cambridge and Charlestown and I am thrilled to provide my support for these essential organizations.” 

The following organizations will be funded via Senator DiDomenico’s amendment: 

• Eliot Family Resource Center

• Latinos Unidos en Massachusetts (LUMA)

• The Joint Committee for Children’s Health Care

• Transition House

• Everett Haitian Community Center

• The Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition

• Greenroots, Inc. in Chelsea

• La Colaborativa

• Special Townies of Charlestown

• The Neighborhood Developers

• La Comunidad, Inc.

• Portal to Hope

• The Everett LGBTQ+ Youth Space and Resource Center

• Food for Free

• The Kennedy Center of Charlestown

• The Everett High School Band Program

• Community Action Programs Inter-City, Inc. (CAPIC)

• Grace Food Pantry

• The Cambridge Economic Opportunity Committee, Inc. (CEOC)

• ROCA

The Senate version of An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery will be reconciled with a similar version passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives and sent to the Governor for his signature. 

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BOSTON– During the Massachusetts Senate’s recent debate of its $3.82B ARPA spending bill, Senator Sal DiDomenico successfully negotiated the inclusion of nursing facility representation on the Essential Employee Premium Pay advisory panel proposed under the Senate bill. This massive spending package includes $500M for bonuses for Essential Employees who served during the pandemic and tasks an advisory panel with determining who would be eligible for these bonuses. Recognizing that there was inadequate representation of elder-care providers on the proposed Premium Pay panel, Senator DiDomenico filed an amendment to the Senate bill that added a member of the Mass Senior Care Association to represent nursing facility employees on the advisory panel.

The overwhelming majority of staff within the nursing facility community worked overtime to ensure adequate care coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic to protect their residents. The nursing facility community’s perspective on the establishment of the Essential Employee Pay program is necessary to reflect the key role of these workers. 

“Massachusetts elder-care nurses have been working overtime on the frontlines all throughout the COVID-19 pandemic”, said Senator DiDomenico. “The adoption of this amendment is crucial to providing the nursing facility community with a voice on this panel, especially given all of their hard work and dedication to keeping their residents safe and healthy.” 

This $3.82B bill was unanimously passed by the Massachusetts State Senate on November 10th and directs federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to assist the Commonwealth’s ongoing recovery. It particularly focuses on making equitable investments and ensuring that communities disproportionately impact by the COVID-19 pandemic are prioritized. Using this framework, the bill delivers targeted, transformational supports to critical sectors such as health care, mental and behavioral health, housing security, environment, and workforce development.  

The Senate version of An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery will be reconciled with a similar version passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives and sent to the Governor for his signature.

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BOSTON– Senator DiDomenico is proud to report out the adoption of his amendment, #254, which directs a $2 Million reserve for vendors of Early Intervention (EI) programs. Early Intervention programs are for children birth to three who have developmental delays or are at risk of a developmental delay. The services provided by such programs are meant to help support families and caregivers and to enhance the development of infants and toddlers through individualized, developmentally appropriate activities within the child’s and family’s everyday life.

This targeted investment of $2M helps EI programs by infusing immediate funding to address the staffing crisis and address unreimbursed costs associated with the workforce shortage. The funding will be distributed based on the number of children served by each provider, so EI programs serving more children will receive more funding for their workforce needs. In summary, this amendment will provide immediate relief to the 59 Early Intervention programs in Massachusetts by helping providers stabilize and begin rebuilding their workforce to support vital services for children and families across the Commonwealth. 

“Early Intervention has been one of my top priorities since I entered the Legislature”, said Senator DiDomenico. “Early Intervention is a critical service the Commonwealth provides to 40,000 children statewide and over 1,000 families in my district alone. Through the four EI programs in my district, I have seen its effectiveness and the tremendous difference it has made in the lives of the children who need extra help early in their lives. It is my sincere hope this additional $2M go a long way towards supporting our incredible EI providers and families.”

This amendment was part of $3.82 billion bill, unanimously passed by the Massachusetts State Senate on November 10th , that directs federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to assist the Commonwealth’s ongoing recovery, with a particular focus on making equitable investments and ensuring that communities disproportionately impact by the COVID-19 pandemic are prioritized. Using this framework, the bill delivers targeted, transformational supports to critical sectors such as health care, mental and behavioral health, housing security, environment, and workforce development. 

The Senate version of An Act relative to immediate COVID-19 recovery now needs to be reconciled with a similar version passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

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