The Health and Human Services and Aging Committee advanced a District 11 ARPA award of up to $15,000 to Growing Right Over Wealth (GROW) for a project to expand access to background checks and hands‑on CPR training for low‑income mothers and kin caregivers across Cuyahoga County.

Ebony Spano, GROW founder and executive director, told the committee the proposal would purchase a mobile LiveScan fingerprinting system (quoted cost $9,800), CPR/AED training equipment ($3,000) and three to four adult and infant mannequins. Spano said the program will provide sliding‑scale or no‑cost services to caregivers who need background checks and CPR/AED certification to work as paid waiver providers, home health aides or childcare staff.

Spano presented Year 1 targets from the project budget: 200 background checks, 120 CPR/AED certifications completed, 320 direct participants served and more than 800 family members indirectly benefited. She said the project would be based from a donated physical office address in South Euclid to meet the state’s LiveScan requirements while using mobile equipment to serve all of Cuyahoga County. Implementation is planned to begin in January 2026.

Committee members asked about volunteer ambassadors, sustainability and certification logistics. Spano said outreach ambassadors will be volunteers using a pay‑it‑forward model, with stipends funded through other grants for travel and outreach; she said LiveScan vendors provide laptops and secure software and that operators must take the vendor training but do not need BCI certification for equipment operation. One councilmember asked colleagues to consider adding $5,000 to the request, but no formal amendment was recorded at committee.

By voice vote the committee approved moving Resolution R2025‑0309 to the full council on second reading; the chair noted the committee’s third reading is scheduled for Dec. 9.

Next steps: the full council will consider the ARPA award on its calendar; staff requested a progress report within a year to update the committee on implementation and outcomes.