ALBANY COUNTY — The county dispensed the last of its federal pandemic funds — $7.8 million — in a ceremony on Tuesday morning heavy with congratulations.

“I was surprised and shocked,” said Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy. “We got over 100 applicants.”

The requests from those applicants totaled $37 million, which he called “mind-blowing.”

“It’s kind of alarming to some degree,” he said, “because you’re sitting there … hoping that everything’s moving in the right direction.”

In the end, 40 programs were selected to receive an average of $100,000 to $375,000 each, McCoy said.

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote as president of the Senate on the reconciliation bill passed by Senate Democrats. The House passed the bill, 219 to 209, with one Democrat joining all of the Republicans in opposition to the bill.

Albany County divided the $7.8 million it had earmarked for community development this way:

— $1.8 million to seven organizations for affordable housing and housing support;

— $1.6 million to six organizations for behavioral health, treatment of substance abuse, and telehealth;

— $1.3 million to six organizations for food access;

— $1.3 million to eight organizations for recreation and outdoor infrastructure;

— $800,000 to four organizations for preventing and responding to violence;

— $700,000 to seven organizations for youth services; and

— $400,000 to two organizations for senior services.

The allocations were heavy on city programs.

Two Guilderland organizations received funds, both under the recreation and outdoor infrastructure heading: the Altamont Fair and Guilderland Youth Lacrosse. The Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy also got funding in that category.

“Four years ago, we were in lockdown and afraid to go anywhere, and we were wondering whether or not we would ever go anywhere, we would ever go on vacations, we’d ever get back to work,” said Joanne Cunningham, the Democrat who chairs the county’s Democrat-dominated legislature.

“And here we are four years later, and we’re celebrating … because we not only came through a national crisis better and stronger than we did before, “ she said, crediting Democratic national leadership.

Deputy Chairwoman Wanda Willingham said, “There was a long road put in this and along the way we had some stumbling blocks where we used them as stepping stones to get where we are today.”

“The pandemic has had an enduring impact on housing and neighborhoods,” said Susan Cotner, director of the Affordable Housing Partnership of the Capital Region Inc.

She went on, “And we are receiving some funds to do home repair work here throughout the county, for city and rural poor alike. Lost income has resulted in deferred maintenance and poor quality housing.

“A leaky roof means that there’s mold that’s happening in attics and that’s exacerbating asthma, which is one of the chief health concerns of families in low-income communities in the city and rural parts of the county.”

She also noted that remote work, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, has enabled more people to move to Albany County, putting “additional pressures on an already extremely tight market for homeownership.”

Cotner said families are moving into vacant properties every day, “trying to turn on utilities, trying to just get a roof over their heads. They’re doubling up, tripling up in really severely overcrowded conditions. So we’re grateful again for the support to help stabilize housing” she said, noting that would also result in a stronger tax base.

Pastor David Traynham, founder and director of ALERT, the Albany Law Enforcement Resolution Team, said he was grateful his organization had received funds — in the violence-prevention category.

He founded the not-for-profit in 2015 after Michael Brown Jr., a Black man, was shot by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Traynham felt it was just a matter of time before a similar incident would happen in Albany and he wanted to bring law enforcement together with the community to have one city united.

Trynham and his wife, Brenda, had founded the New Horizons Church in Albany.

“Oftentimes,” he told the group on Tuesday, “we look at law enforcement and we throw the blame on the people that are enforcing the law, the people that are there to serve and protect us. But the reality becomes until the community becomes strong enough, where we’re going to take upon ourselves, our own responsibilities, we’re going to take our communities back and we’re going to work with law enforcement.

“We’re going to work with the legislature, we’re going to work with the city, we’re going to work with other organizations. That’s the only time where we’re going to see the peace and harmony that we used to see when we were growing up,” said Trayham, who grew up in Albany’s South End.

ALERT is event driven, he said, naming several events like Unite the City, which has “a carnival atmosphere” with free games and prizes and superheroes.

Traynham concluded, “Now it’s going to be Unite the County.