Hunter
01/25/22
The Johnson County Joint Entities meeting was disrupted Monday night by protesters who say more resources from the American Rescue Plan funding need to be allocated to excluded workers.
The Daily Iowan reports that the Fund Excluded Workers Coalition requested ten minutes on the meeting agenda to voice concerns about the program. In an open letter to the Joint Entities, they said the county’s direct assistance plan is exclusionary.
The Iowa City city council is transferring $1.5 million of their federal funds to the county’s Direct Assistance Program, which selects applicants through a lottery system.
About 150 people stood in the doorway of the boardroom before Board of Supervisors chair Royceann Porter called a recess so that sheriff’s deputies could escort the protesters out of the doorway. They continued their protest outside the boardroom, with supervisors saying the protesters needed to be escorted out because their noise was preventing the meeting from proceeding.
A member of the public attending the meeting via Zoom kept interrupting, saying that the protesters deserved to be heard before they were removed from the Zoom.
The DI reports that the Coalition is demanding that the lottery system be abolished, and put excluded workers first. They say $32 million should be earmarked to give 16,000 excluded workers a $2000 check. They also want a meeting with the Joint Entities and the county’s American Rescue Plan Association to discuss the program.