43. National Association of Counties' Jack Morgan ⇒ Strategies for resilient counties

Resilience might be defined as a practiced state of readiness. But what does that look like across the country? "We're finding that many of our rural communities were already working on strategies that served them well during the pandemic," says Jack Morgan, program manager for resilient economies and communities for the National Association of Counties (NACO). His work at NACO gives Jack a high-elevation view of the factors that position counties for success. NACo has launched the NACo COVID-19 Recovery Clearinghouse, which houses critical resources for counties, including allocation estimations, examples of county programs using federal coronavirus relief funds, the latest news and more. Since recording the episode, the U.S. Senate passed the American Rescue Plan Act on March 6th . The bill will now heads back to the U.S. House of Representatives for final consideration. The State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Funds legislation includes $65.1 billion in direct, flexible aid to every county in America, and other crucial investments in local communities. Some notes from this conversation: 2021 NACo Legislative Conference, March 8-24th NACo County Explorer   www.diversifyeconomies.org   Coal’s Decline Fosters News Thinking , NACo County News   Delta County, Colo. ENGAGE   www.solsmart.org