<p>How would you spend $1.1 billion? The question sounds like something that most of us only dream about, but it’s a very real question with real implications that Rhode Island faces as leaders decide how to spend the $1.1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.</p><br><p>Guest co-hosts Jonathan Womer and Lisa Vura-Weis spoke with <a href="https://ripec.org/about-ripec/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Michael DiBiase</a>, President and CEO of the RI Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) and <a href="https://www.economicprogressri.org/index.php/meet-our-staff-2/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Linda Katz</a>, Co-Founder and Policy Director of the Economic Progress Institute, who helped author a Rhode Island Foundation report called “<a href="https://rifoundation.org/community-investments/make-it-happen-investing-in-rhode-islands-future" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Make it Happen: Investing for Rhode Island’s Future</a>”.</p><br><p>This episode dives into the report, which is a combination of policy analysis and public stakeholder input, and presents a set of spending recommendations including housing, behavioral health, workforce development, and more.</p><br><p>About our guest co-hosts: <a href="https://thepolicylab.brown.edu/about/team/jonathan-womer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jonathan Womer</a> is a Senior Advisor and Head of Budgeting at The Policy Lab, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisavuraweis/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lisa Vura-Weis</a> is a Partner and Associate Director at Boston Consulting Group.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>