A White House representative got an earful Friday from leaders of four local projects, but it was good news.
 
Tom Perez, currently director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (OIA) and formerly Secretary of Labor during the Obama Administration, visited Wilmington Friday. His mission: to get a first-hand look at how pandemic-related American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds helped launch or support projects addressing community needs.
 
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo led a tour of the four project sites; he also gave Perez a close-up look at the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, whose future replacement project has attracted $242 million from the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
 
Wilmington is one of several North Carolina sites visited by Perez as part of an OIA tour to see what impact ARPA and other federal funds have had, according to Saffo. One thing that attracted Perez’s attention, the mayor believes, is that the city and county “got ARPA funding right.”
 
“It’s how the funding was distributed, how we engaged with our local nonprofits and other partners,” he said Friday.
 
After viewing the aging bridge Friday morning, the tour stopped at Cinespace Studios to learn how ARPA funds kick-started the Film Partnership of North Carolina’s workforce training program in 2021. That year, ARPA funding of $400,000 from the city of Wilmington and $600,000 from New Hanover County spurred the initiative, which provides paid, on-the-job training to residents 18 and older in an array of film crafts. The program seeks to diversify and broaden the pool of skilled, job-ready professionals to support a thriving film industry throughout the state.
 
There are seven Film Partnership interns working at Cinespace Studios on Amazon’s new eight-part TV series The Runarounds, according to Courtney Smallwood, the partnership’s spokeswoman.

“In partnership with our IATSE Local 491, so far we have funded over 140 interns and 35 local professional crew members with paid on-the-job training, to more than 12 film and/or television productions in the region,” Smallwood said Friday. “In 2023, the state of North Carolina provided an additional $500,000 to the Film Partnership and we have taken the program statewide as of January 2024.”

Film Partnership CEO Susi Hamilton expressed her thanks to Perez for the ARPA jump-start.

“Thanks to this support, we were able to launch our program designed to grow the crew base, break down barriers and open doors for aspiring film and television professionals,” she said, noting the program’s emphasis on increasing the number of minorities and women in film crews. “Our program provides hands-on training on professional sets, mentorship opportunities and specialized training tailored to various aspects of production.”

Perez’s tour highlighted the impact of ARPA monies on two other nonprofits: The Wilmington branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina and Lakeside Reserve, an affordable housing initiative of Good Shepherd Center.

What message did Beth Gaglione, director of the Food Bank's Wilmington branch, hope Perez would take away with him?

She wanted him to understand that the American Rescue Plan wasn't just an injection of funds; it was a spark for broader community partnerships in the area that already pay huge dividends.

“The city's initial investment through ARPA brought new partners to the table and helped us engage existing partners in new ways,” Gaglione said. “Our partnership with Cape Fear Community College is a perfect example: our commercial kitchen keeps us storm-ready and we work with the college to host a culinary program to offer a one-of-a-kind experience students need to succeed in restaurant and commercial food jobs. American Rescue Plan funds have done so much more than meet immediate needs. They've helped us build a stronger, more resilient community together.”

Katrina Knight, executive director of Good Shepherd, said Perez’s visit was partly a “celebration of things in this community that have been made possible through ARPA funding.”

The nonprofit, whose mission is focused largely on solutions that create permanent housing for people who have been chronically homeless, showcased Lakeside Reserve, a new development that is home to 40 people. Knight and other Good Shepherd team members also told Perez about SECU The Sparrow, a similar project that will house and provide onsite support for an additional 32 residents, many of whom have disabilities that limit their income and their ability to hold a job. The city of Wilmington is conveying a one-acre parcel on Carolina Beach Road for the new development that Knight said is a focused intervention to end long-term homelessness and should break ground later this fall.

“ARPA funding through the state and the city of Wilmington of $7 million has allowed us to move forward more quickly to move people from chronic homelessness to homes,” Knight said Friday. “The SECU Foundation made up the majority of the remaining $5 million needed, and they secured naming rights.”

The tour also stopped to view progress at Starway Village, a 278-unit apartment complex on Carolina Beach Road that is designed to bring affordable housing to the area. Saffo said it’s the largest affordable housing project in city and county history. The development, a project of Kelly Development, has received more than $5 million in combined American Rescue Plan Act funds from the city of Wilmington and New Hanover County, along with an additional $750,000 in gap financing approved by city leaders last fall.

Saffo, interviewed between stops on his tour with Perez, said he’s impressed the federal government sent the OIA official down for a personal look, and he’s proud of what Wilmington and New Hanover County had to show him.

“These are all impressive projects we have worked on with the state and county,” the mayor said. “They address critical needs of hunger, affordable housing and job training for the 21st century.”

This version of the story has been updated to include comments from Beth Gaglione, director of the Wilmington branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.