The city of Youngstown received approximately $83 million dollars in American Rescue Plan funds and as of the end of September, $56 million has been expended.

Each council member received $2 million to better their wards to make them more aesthetically pleasing and the city a bit more inviting. Youngstown First Ward Councilman Julius Oliver rattled off a few of the places money went to in his ward.

"$5,000 went to the Butler Art Museum to help them retain their certification, help them get the vault that they needed so that we can continue to have a world class art museum here in Youngstown. $100,000 went to veterans havens for the... housing you see going in the corners of Warren and Hillman," Oliver said.

Second Ward Councilman Jimmy Hughes chimed in with where he awarded some of the funds.

"I took chunks of money and I gave it to organizations that was improving homes, doing work like roofs and windows and doors," he said.

Council members Oliver, Anita Davis and former council member Lauren McNally also teamed up to tackle sidewalk improvements.

Money went toward youth and seniors, demolition and blight, neighborhood and economic development, parks and public facility updates, public works improvements and health and wellness.

"$10,000 has been allocated for the Youngstown Skatepark project," Oliver said. "I believe that our youth need all kind of recreation and things to do so I was willing to invest those ARP dollars into Youngstown Skatepark," he said.

A council continued to list places they invested their $2 million, they also made it a point to address complaining in the community over how the money was spent. They said they took suggestions from people who showed up to meetings.

"What I want people to understand is a lot of times you have very few people in the city giving input monies that need to be spent or how they should be spent and then you get some people that get upset because they don't feel like it was spent they way they would like it to been spent but you didn't give your input, you didn't come to the council meetings nor did they come to the specific ward meetings and that's why forums like this are very important because we wanna hear from everybody, we wanna be able to speak to everybody," Oliver said.

"Transparency is absolutely our goal, we want you to know what we're doing. We're here, but I want you to go home and ask your neighbors, 'Where were ya'll,'" Davis said.

The remaining $26.5 million will be spent by the end of 2026. You can find a document showing where each dollar has gone, here the city of Youngstown website.