Representative Sherrill Touts American Rescue Plan at Events Across District, Completing Tour of All Four NJ-11 Counties

Rep. Sherrill Meets with Local Officials, Small Business Owners, Community Leaders, Constituents to Discuss How the ARP Will Help Distribute Vaccines, Get Kids Back in School, Aid Main Street Businesses, &  Support Working Families

Parsippany, NJ — Representative Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) completed a series of events across all four NJ-11 counties, making stops to talk to constituents and local officials about the impact the recently enacted American Rescue Plan will have on New Jersey families, small businesses, and communities in the coming weeks and months. This week’s events in Morris, Essex and Passaic Counties were part of a broader tour across North Jersey, which began last week with stops in Morris, Sussex and Essex Counties.

“Over the past week and a half I visited all four counties in NJ-11 and heard directly from constituents and local officials about how important the American Rescue Plan is for our local communities,” said Rep. Sherrill. “With the direct state and local aid I fought for, our counties and municipalities will have the resources they need to recover from this ongoing crisis. With the federal push to distribute more vaccines, New Jersey is wasting no time in getting shots in arms and finding innovative ways to equitably increase availability. And with expanded support and PPP loans, our small businesses will be able to keep their doors open and find new ways to serve their community. That’s exactly the kind of help we envisioned when passing the American Rescue Plan in Congress. Now that the ARP has been signed into law, I will continue to work with the US Treasury Department to ensure that these funds get to our communities quickly and support the projects that will most help our towns. I’m excited to see the positive impact in NJ-11 as funds begin to be distributed in the coming weeks.”

Among additional provisions, the American Rescue Plan includes $20 billion to expand national vaccine distribution efforts, $350 billion for direct state and local aid, $7.25 billion in additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program and an expansion of eligibility, more than $28 billion for a Restaurant Revitalization Fund, $130 billion to help K-12 schools to reopen safely, and additional direct stimulus payments, extensions of supplemental unemployment benefits, and expansions of the Child Tax Credit.

This week, to highlight how these provisions and others in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) will impact communities, Representative Sherrill:

• Visited the Essex County-sponsored pop-up vaccination site at St. Paul Baptist Church in Montclair, a community site opened to improve vaccine access for communities of color, with Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and Reverend Dr. Bernadette Glover, to discuss the efforts and highlight the $20 billion included in the American Rescue Plan to support vaccine programs around the country.
• Toured the Lakeland Hills Family YMCA with Mountain Lakes Mayor Tom Menard and Deputy Mayor Lauren Barnett and sat down with members of their leadership team to discuss the YMCA’s community programs, how they reopened childcare programs safely last July, and how the provisions of the American Rescue Plan will support childcare and school reopenings.
• Joined County College of Morris President Tony Iacano for a tour of the college’s Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering Center, where President Iacono and his team provided an overview of this impressive new resource focused on building the pipeline of workers with the advanced manufacturing skills that local companies need to thrive in Morris County and New Jersey. State Senator Anthony Bucco and Morris County Commissioner Deputy Director Deborah Smith also joined the tour.
• Stopped by the Morris County COVID Testing Site at the County College of Morris, to discuss how the partnership between the county and CCM has been critical to providing access to testing in Morris County throughout the pandemic.
• Conducted a small business walk in Randolph with Mayor Mark Forstenhausler, Deputy Mayor Marie Potter, and other local officials to check in with the business owners of the Randolph staple Mt. Freedom Golf about how they are faring in the pandemic and to grab a vodka sauce pizza slice from Antimo’s Pizzeria.
• Updated the Morris County Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee at their April meeting about how the American Rescue Plan will impact the business community across New Jersey.
• Awarded owner of Verona Pizza Terminal & Restaurant Scott Rafferty with a Congressional Certificate for winning the first ever New Jersey Pizza Bowl competition and to discuss how the Restaurant Revitalization Fund helps ensure beloved main street institutions like this one can make it through the pandemic, along with Verona Mayor Jack McEnvoy.
• Conducted a small business walk in Little Falls with Councilmen Al Kahwaty and Anthony Sgobba to check in with business owners and to talk about the relief included in the ARP; these businesses discussed how PPP funding helped them sustain operations through the pandemic:
  • The Falls Kitchen, who found creative ways to safely run their restaurant, like installing a walk-up window on Main Street for takeout orders
  • Pencilworks Studio, who have shifted their art classes online while continuing to sell their beautiful prints of owner drawings
  • Ethan & the Bean, a nonprofit cafe opened in 2019 to provide life-changing employment opportunities for individuals with developmental & intellectual disabilities
• Toured the Wayne vaccination site at the former Macy’s to thank the volunteers running the site, speak with residents about their experience getting their shots, and highlight the $20 billion in American Rescue Plan funding to support vaccination efforts across the country with Wayne Mayor Christopher Vergano.
• Visited the West Orange mobile vaccination site at Washington Elementary School which is working to expand vaccine access in underserved communities in West Orange with Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Mayor Robert Parisi, Council President Cindy Matute-Brown, and other local officials.
• Toured the Livingston vaccination site at the former Sears at the Livingston Mall with Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, Essex County Commissioner Pat Sebold, and Councilman Al Anthony, which has the capacity to administer around 2,000 shots a day, averaging 47 shots every 10 minutes.
• Met with members of the executive team of Sanskriti of New Jersey, along with Commissioner Sebold and Councilmen Rudy Fernandez and Al Anthony, to discuss how the organization has adapted their services during the pandemic, including pivots to offer Sanskriti Indian School online, postcard outreach to new families in the area, and efforts to donate hundreds of pounds of non-perishable food to help combat food insecurity in the community.

Over the next several weeks and months, Rep. Sherrill and her team will continue to meet with local communities to answer questions, provide guidance, and generally assist with making sure these funds are getting to those who need them most. Rep. Sherrill’s website will continue to be updated with the most current information (Sherrill.house.gov).