Rhode Island will receive an infusion of $7.2 million in federal funds during the next two years to replenish the workforces of the state’s public health, school-based health, and community-based organizations to continue the response and recovery to COVID-19.
The funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease, Control and Prevention is designed to help ensure the continuity of personnel in public health in Rhode Island through “surveillance, prevention, laboratory testing, and coordinated intervention activities,’’ according to a statement released Thursday by U.S. Sen. Jack Reed’s office.
It’s part of $2 billion the CDC has granted to 65 recipients of the COVID-19 Crisis Response Cooperative Agreement which began July 1 and runs through June 30, 2023, according to the CDC website. The CDC funds are aimed at helping communities prepare for, respond to and recover from the public health consequences of hazards including epidemics, chemical, biological, radiological or natural disasters.
The CDC guidelines say that at least 25% of the funding should support school-based health programs, including nurses or other personnel. Of the remaining funds, at least 40% should “support local hiring through local health departments or community-based organizations.”
In Rhode Island, the latest CDD funding may be used to support school-based health initiatives, continued staffing COVID-19 operations, the statement said, and ensure the state’s designated “health equity zones” have funding for local community health efforts.
Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the state’s health director, said in a statement that “investing in our community based public health workforce is how we ensure that every Rhode Islander in every ZIP code throughout the state has access to the resources that promote healthy living, and it’s how we ensure we’re resilient in the face of a crisis like COVID-19.’’
State health officials have until Sept. 1 to submit a plan for how the federal funding will be spent.
Sen. Reed, a Democrat and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, helped include the funds in the 2021 Appropriations law. The federal funding, he said, will “help bolster our health workforce and infrastructure and save lives by enhancing local public health preparedness and response capabilities.”
Health reporter Lynn Arditi can be reached at larditi@thepublicsradio.org. Follow her on Twitter @LynnArditi
