Projects
Recovery and Reinvestment in Colorado
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is designed to energize the economy by creating jobs and investing in infrastructure projects and growth industries. At the same time, the act designates significant dollars to support services for schools, health care, job training and unemployment benefits, and housing. In other words, the goal is to support the vulnerable and stabilize communities while pushing the economy forward. The funds are divided into many different categories, including direct allocations to local agencies and states and competitive grants and loans.
Get more details on "What it means for Colorado "
New Energy Economy
Building a More Sustainable Colorado
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act presents an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen Colorado's New Energy Economy and create new green jobs across the state.
The act designates more than $42 billion for energy programs, mostly for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. These funds are spread across multiple federal and state agencies. ARRA also provides more than $20 billion in energy tax incentives for individuals and businesses, again mostly for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.
Transportation Projects
Improving Colorado's Transportation Infrastructure
The recovery act designates $27.5 billion for modernizing roads and bridges, and for improvements to public transit, rail and port projects. The funds have tight deadlines, including the requirement that states obligate at least half of the highway/bridge funding within 120 days. The act provides $1.5 billion for multimodal transportation, $8.4 billion for investments in transit, $8 billion for high speed and light rail projects, and more than $1 billion for construction work at federally-supported airports.
Colorado will receive over $500 million for transportation projects statewide. Part of that money is expected to go to about 60 projects that will do a wide range of work, from replacing traffic signals to highway resurfacing and bridge replacement.
Broadband
Connecting Colorado in the 21st Century
The recovery act provides $4.7 billion through the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for broadband enhancements to unserved and underserved areas across the nation through competitive grants.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture also is awarding $2.5 billion in grants under the Distance Learning Telemedicine and Broadband Program. Seventy-five percent of these competitive grants are to be allocated to rural areas.
Education
Preparing Colorado for Tomorrow
The recovery act allocates $53.6 billion for the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, including $39.5 billion for elementary, secondary and post-secondary education and $8.8 billion in flexible funds for states to use at their discretion for public safety, education and vital services.
The bill also provides $13 billion for Title I schools, $12.2 billion through IDEA for special education, $1.1 billion for Early Head Start and $1 billion for Head Start, and a raise in the maximum Pell Grant by $500.
All of the funds below will help the state and local school districts fill some of budget shortfall from declining revenues and meet increasing demand for services in schools. The funding will be distributed over the next three school years.
Race to the Top - an initiative to transform Colorado's K-12 education.
Health IT
Connecting Colorado in the 21st Century
Better Value in Health Care through Health Information Technology
The recovery act provides $2 billion nationally through the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC-HIT) and other offices to improve the use of information technology in health care to improve the lives of patients. The Colorado Regional Health Information Organization (CORHIO) has been designated by Governor Ritter as the state-level entity to receive these federal funds to improve care for all Coloradans.
An additional $34 billion nationally will begin to be available in 2011 to health care providers through Medicare and Medicaid incentives for those that use health information meaningfully.