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The money, more than $8 million in total, would pay for sheltering victims of domestic abuse, boosting pay for child care workers and helping poor families find fresh vegetables, among other things.

Cynthia Bennett, the CEO of trauma counseling nonprofit Journey Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse, is waiting for $25,000. It would pay for toiletries, job uniforms and hotel stays for women and children fleeing domestic violence.

“I guess the county is trying to make sure they cross their T’s and dot their I’s,” Bennett said. “I understand all of that. I just didn’t think it would take this long.”

Seven other groups are waiting too. Missouri advocacy group Child Care Aware will use $5.6 million to boost child care worker pay. A Red Circle in Wellston hopes $350,000 will help it give away fresh vegetables from their community gardens in food deserts. The nonprofit Refuge and Restoration eyes $500,000 to support its new economic hub in Dellwood, R&R Marketplace.

None knows when it will receive the money.

St. Louis County says it’s close to sending most of it. The county says the federal money came with so many strings attached that they have struggled to figure out how to use it.

The county would request documents from a nonprofit, only to find more questions as staff worked to interpret federal rules. The county hired a compliance firm, the global consulting company Deloitte, and asked both Deloitte and the U.S. Treasury Department for answers. Then the nonprofits would have to revise their approach.

The back-and-forth has gone on for almost a year.

“It is an incredibly complex issue,” said Kyle Klemp, deputy chief of operations for St. Louis County. “Our primary goal with this thorough design process is to mitigate risk. The county doesn’t want to be on the hook for having to reimburse these funds to the federal government, and we don’t want to put it on the subrecipients.”

Back to the drawing board

The county has been since July 2021, when it landed a $193 million grant under the federal American Recovery Plan Act.

It used nearly $12 million to pay for urgent public health expenses such as COVID-19 testing and vaccination. It set aside $11.5 million to pay Deloitte to help make sure the county’s spending is in compliance. It used $114 million to fill in a budget hole and allocated $6 million to demolish the crumbling Jamestown Mall, among other expenses.

By the time the county began choosing other projects, $66 million was left.

Councilmembers began introducing their ideas in late 2021. It took them a year to settle on their choices.

They dedicated $18.5 million largely for sewer improvements in South County and $23.8 million for a new police intelligence center. They decided to spend $11 million on demolishing abandoned properties in unincorporated territory; $4.5 million was aimed at addressing food insecurity in North County.

And a little more than $8 million was dedicated to eight nonprofit projects. St. Louis Survivors Legal Support would provide legal aid for victims of domestic violence. Rustic Roots Sanctuary would help feed North County from its sustainable community farm in Spanish Lake. Family Forward planned to help pay for its new developmental trauma center in northwest St. Louis County.

The nonprofits were delighted and grateful. Child Care Aware expected to have a contract finalized within a matter of months to begin helping child care workers. Family Forward settled into its new center, where children suffering from gun violence might find some peace. The Urban League planned to use the money to help pay for new senior housing in Dellwood.

But then the county and the nonprofits began encountering problems.

Two nonprofits had to go back to the drawing board because their proposals didn’t meet federal requirements, said Klemp, the county deputy operations chief: Family Forward and the Urban League wanted to spend the money on capital projects but then learned it wasn’t allowed under federal guidelines.

The county is helping those two groups decide on other ways to spend the money.

“We’re committed to taking all the necessary steps in the complex compliance that is required,” said Patrick Fox, chief financial officer for Family Forward.

‘Your office decided it was not important’

Last month, nonprofits expressed concern to the County Council about how long the process was taking.

Council Chair Shalonda Webb, a Democrat from unincorporated North County, organized a public hearing in late September meant to update ARPA recipients on progress.

“There are so many projects that are not at the state they need to be to move forward,” Webb said.

County Executive Director Sam Page’s departmental directors didn’t attend the meeting, nor did Deloitte, the firm ensuring compliance for the county.

Page’s chief operating officer, Deanna Venker, told Webb after the meeting that it wouldn’t have been a good use of the their time.

The directors’ and Deloitte’s time was better used addressing problems directly rather than talking about them in a meeting, said Doug Moore, Page’s spokesman. Nonprofits and councilmembers have been working privately with county directors and Deloitte for months, he said.

Webb said it was disrespectful for the directors to shirk the public hearing.

“Without notice to the Council, your office decided it was not important for St. Louis County residents to have this valuable information,” to Page dated Oct. 3. “While disappointing, it was not surprising. St. Louis County residents have become accustomed to this lack of transparency and accountability.”

It could be weeks or months before the county finalizes spending. It just opened up bidding last week for organizations to help it spend the last $4.5 million in pandemic aid, to address food insecurity in North County. Selecting a bidder can take months. And if the county doesn’t spend it all by the end of next year, it risks losing the cash.

Still, CEO Robin Phillips of Child Care Aware says she’d rather act deliberately than find out later someone messed up. The child care providers her group promised to help are relying on the money to come.

“I don’t want our agency or anybody else to be a headline that something was not thought through,” Phillips said. “We’re determined because it’s what the child care providers asked for and fought for.”

Editor's note: This story was updated Monday afternoon to correct the amount of funding A Red Circle will receive.