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Three years ago this February, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery Act, which has created over 500-billion dollars in federal funding. Portage County received $187,945,080 and is the 12th most funded county in Ohio. Kent organizations received $93,341,248 since the beginning of the American Recovery Act in 2009.

A majority of the money is funding programs at Kent State. A $2,756,719 training grant for aquatic research is just one of the many educational endeavors developed with the money. Dr. Laura Leff believes this new program will strongly benefit KSU doctoral students.

“We’re really trying to bring these students together from all these different areas, to give them common experiences and really help them understand kind of how to work across disciplines,” Leff said.

Programs like this one create a unique field of research that keeps the University’s programs competitive with other Ohio colleges. Doctoral student Margaret Gaglione chose Kent State University because of unique research opportunities.

“The funding itself has benefited me greatly,” Gaglione explained. “I’ve been able to focus on my research and focus on my interests almost exclusively.”

The stimulus package has provided Kent State University with $67,294,914 in additional funding, which covers research grants, Pell grants and general costs. Kent State is only one of many organizations in the city that has benefited from the Stimulus package.

Kent City Schools has received $3,780,338 to support special education, technology and general funding. The city of Kent has received more than $2,020,532 in support to fund building rehab, water facilities improvements and street light replacements. One of the largest grants awarded to the county is the TIGER grant, which provides $20,000,000 to fund the Kent Central Gateway, which is in the process of being built.

The stimulus money has helped develop many new programs and projects around Kent. Students like Margaret Gaglione will continue to enjoy the valuable experiences that the money has created.

“Just this whole process of being part of a group of people that have been drawn here from different disciplines who wouldn’t ordinarily be working together, without the stimulus money would never be working on the same project,” Gaglione said.

More than 300-billion dollars is still to be spent on recovery efforts according to President Obama’s plan.

{Note: Data in this article is from ProPublica.org’s Recovery Tracker}

Contact Nathan Edwards at [email protected].