BUFFALO, N.Y. — ​A long-awaited announcement came from Mayor Byron Brown and the Buffalo Common Council on Wednesday.

After three months of hearing from the community, there's an offical spending blueprint for the $331 million received from the American Rescue Plan Act.

"Before COVID, there were already people in the city of Buffalo who were barely treading water. You know it was tough economically, tough in the education system, tough in housing. But when COVID hit, those same people started to drown," Darius Pridgen, Common Council president, said.

"This plan presents our city the best hope in over a generation to tackle the root causes of poverty, segregation, a growing wealth gap for working families and lack of income stability for many city residents," Mayor Brown said.

Brown says it's a first step to improve the quality of the community's public health. City officials plan to allocate funds to community based partners, cultural instutions and critical projects over the coming months. The blueprint includes $6 million toward public safety and violence prevention programs.

"The amount of money that we have allocated for this, takes both concepts, and all of those ideas from Congressman Brian Higgins, from the members of the council, and from members of the community into consideration," Mayor Brown said.

Other initiatives the funds will go to include wrap-around services for people enrolled in job training or upskilling programs, improvements to the city's water and sewer infrastructure system, safe and healthy community spaces, cultural and frontline arts organizations, affordable and healthy housing and inclusive economic development and targeted workforce training.

"We can rebuild Buffalo in a way that many of us have always wanted to," Mayor Brown said. 

In response to this announcement, Democratic nominee for mayor India Walton said, "Earlier this month, when we released a comprehensive agenda for getting serious about public safety in Buffalo by addressing the root causes of violence and Byron Brown took to the airwaves to depict it as dangerous and scary. Now it turns out he’s stealing our ideas and claiming them as his own, even though he has yet to release so much as an issues page on his website. While we’re glad our vision is becoming embraced more widely, the fact remains that Mr. Brown has had 16 years to take an evidence-based, data-driven approach to public safety, and he has abjectly failed to do so. You need look no further than the out-of-control gun violence in our city to know that much. Those living with violence every day see this Hail Mary for the desperate last-ditch effort it is, and know beyond a shadow of a doubt: it is time for a change.”

For more on the spending blueprint, head to city of Buffalo's website.