CLEVELAND — The pandemic significantly affected education. To continue to bounce back, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb proposed using money from the American Rescue Plan Act to help improve education. 

“We’re really proud and excited to be investing 'American Rescue Plan' dollars into education and into fueling the success of our young people,” said Holly Trifiro, Cleveland’s chief of education.

The American Rescue Plan Act was established to relieve some of the issues that came along with the pandemic. Trifiro broke down what areas the money will be going to.

“One category for us is around coordinated supports to catch students up and that is specifically about $10 million,” she said.

There will also be money to improve the wellness of children.

“We also are putting forward an integrated health initiative that will support student wellness, both physical and mental health resources inside of schools, and that’s $3.75 million,” she said.

Finally, the third main area will target encouraging people to further their education.

“We also have a category around education pathways to good jobs that will support GED access, supports for people who are maybe exited higher education during the pandemic and want to be able to come back and finish those degrees and that’s $2.8 million,” she said.

Trifiro explained another important topic for the city to focus on is literacy.

“When we think about just the long-term success of our kids, reading is the foundation of all of that,” she said.

She said that the city wants to create programs that target personalized tutoring as well as school based.

“Our investment in literacy is really focused on bringing resources around high-dosage literacy tutoring to our kids,” she said.

Cleveland City Council still needs to approve the proposal before it is implemented.