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CAO confirms ARPA-funded immigrant services runway; council seeks $950K and $1.1M legal-service funding
Summary
Faith P. Leach said the mayor's office invested about $4 million in the Baltimore New Americans Access Coalition (BNAC) and language access using ARPA; ARPA funding runway is limited and council members urged the administration to identify ongoing funding for BNAC and legal services.
Council members pressed the administration about longer-term funding for immigrant services after Mayor Scott's FY26 recommended budget flagged risks to federal programs and protections. Faith P. Leach said the administration had invested roughly $4,000,000 in the mayor's office of immigrant affairs's programs, including the Baltimore New Americans Access Coalition (BNAC) and language-access work under ARPA.
Leach said the ARPA-backed programs have a limited runway: "what I understand we are right now with the funding for those programs is that we are, looking at a runway of about, you know, maybe 6 to 8 months or so when it comes to the ARPA funding that we have available to support those programs."
Council requests and needs
- BNAC: Council members said a recurring general-fund request to sustain BNAC is roughly $950,000 per year.
- Legal services: Council members and the CAO discussed an ongoing legal-services need estimated at about $1,100,000 annually; some private fundraising had already been secured for part of that amount.
Why it matters: Council members and city leaders said immigrant communities are driving population growth and school enrollment and face immediate harms from federal enforcement actions; both council members and the administration framed sustained funding for case assistance and legal services as an urgent local public-safety and human-services priority.
Next steps: Leach said the administration is open to continued conversations with the council about how to sustain these programs and identify funding sources during FY26 budget adoption and future fiscal planning.
