Pandemic relief funds set to expire

BRAWLEY, Calif. (KYMA) - COVID-19 relief funding that helped support schools and community serviced in the Imperial Valley is starting to run out.

During the pandemic, federal relief funds helped pay for tutoring, mental health services, food programs, and other community support. Now that funding is coming to an end.

Local schools and government agencies must decide whether to cut programs or find other ways to pay for them.

Residents may start to see fewer services or tighter budgets in the next one to two years.

"Hopefully they continue offering it because it puts a lot of like less stress on families," Grace Bernal told KYMA.

One Brawley resident we spoke to, Juliio Bracamonte, said most people haven't even heard of the extra funding or that it is expiring.

"There is funding there that's available, but I think that the majority of the people don't, just don't know about it," Bracamonte said.

He said he would like communities like Brawley to use any extra funds to fix the streets.

"Roads. You know a lot of cities have beautiful roads and it's a nice city. But when you let it go, you don't maintain it, that's what happens to all the lot of roads. In the Valley, it's good for that," he said.

Most remaining COVID-19 relief funds must be spent by the end of this year.