In May of 2021, the City of Buffalo received a $331 million allocation from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP). The purpose of these funds is to help local governments quickly recover from the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while also addressing some of the long-term and systemic reasons why the pandemic disproportionately impacted certain communities—especially low-income and communities of color—more than others.
In July of 2021, Mayor Byron W. Brown introduced a draft plan based on meetings with stakeholder groups and responses from a public online survey. The plan went through several revisions based on conversations with the members of the Common Council and public feedback through an online comments section. A spending blueprint was unanimously adopted by the Common Council in August of 2021.