Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — One of the on-going projects from fiscal year 2022 for the ASG’s Criminal Justice Planning Agency (CJPA) is financial aid to non-profit organizations in American Samoa impacted by COVID-19 in order to sustain and advance necessary services and programs to direct beneficiaries in the territory during the pandemic.

In March of last year, the ASG’s American Relief Plan Act Oversight Office, designed CJPA as the government agency for the “Assistance for Non-Profit Organizations” funded through the territory’s share from the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021.

Last year, CJPA submitted its proposed to the Oversight Office outlining the use of $4.5 million under the “ARPA Non-Profit Assistance Program” which is intended to help these nonprofit organizations get back on their feet if they've been put on hold due to the pandemic and sustain their services in hopes that it will eventually lead to enhancement of their services provided.

CJPA issued a notice of accepting non-profit proposals for funding.

According to the Governor’s State of the Territory Comprehensive Report, selection of awardees comes from the pool of applicants that are eligible for this grant funding per requirements set by the ARPA Oversight Office.

Their proposals were put through a competitive selection process that is both reviewed and approved by a panel of ARPA-NAP board members.

And a total of twenty-four applicants submitted applications and proposals. Out of the 24, twenty-two of them were found eligible and approved for funding.

“These nonprofit organizations provide services that range from long-term health care to providing moral support and basic food items to families to educational after-school programs and so much more,” CJPA explained.

Many of these nonprofit organizations have been around for years and many are also fairly new having started up their organization within the past five (5) years.

“We did not wish to limit the access of these funds to only the veteran organizations but to spread the assistance to any organization that is making both apparent and small, good differences in the daily lives of our community,” CJPA said.

“It is our hope that these funds will alleviate some of the financial struggles that they are enduring,” the agency said and cited as an example of the awardees — renovations to a new wing of a facility that serves terminally ill patients whose families cannot provide the intense 24-hour care themselves. This will benefit not only these current patients and families but also the ones to follow.

Funds were also allocated to aid organizations that help families of children with special needs that wish to ensure that their children will be able to live a better life despite the obstacles they are presented with, and to enhance their capability and capacity to live happy and healthy lives as adults.

“Although a specific and small community, they are part of our community nonetheless and provide services that are almost nonexistent on our island,” CJPA explained.

It also notes that there are over a dozen more narratives with each nonprofit organization that have needs to help continue their good work.

“It is our objective to give aid to these nonprofit organizations with a specific need in mind to keep them doing their good work despite having been on pause due to the pandemic,” said CJPA, noting that disbursement of the funds to the awardees is well underway.

The Comprehensive Report does not provided the names of the awardees, or the amounts awarded to them.

Another COVID-19 related project overseen by CJPA is the Village Aumaga-Aid project, and it’s part of the CJPA Community Based Policing project.

The project is funded under the 2020 Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding (CESF) of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice.

The Village Aumaga aid project was implemented to support the American Samoa Government COVID-19 Emergency response.

To date, 37 villages have received funding assistance to strengthen the Aumaga's assistance to government efforts in controlling and preventing the spread of COVID -19.

No other information was provided in the Comprehensive Report on funding amount given the villages, or the villages that received the funds