GREENFIELD — The Community Health Center of Franklin County will be expanding its COVID-19 vaccination and treatment operations, thanks to more than $1.6 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern announced Thursday that the Greenfield center at 102 Main St. is one of three community health centers in Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District to receive a total of $12.9 million in funding through the American Rescue Plan, which invests $6 billion nationwide to expand access to vaccines in underserved communities. Massachusetts operations receive a total of more than $144 million.

A press release from McGovern’s office explains the health centers can use the funding to expand COVID-19 vaccinations, testing and treatment for vulnerable populations; deliver preventive and primary health care services to people at higher risk for COVID-19; and expand their operational capacity during the pandemic and beyond, including modifying and improving physical infrastructure and adding mobile units.

“We’re really excited,” said Allison van der Velden, CEO of the Community Health Center of Franklin County, which has sites in Greenfield and Orange.

She said the $1,654,250 is “above and beyond” what the center normally receives for federal grant support each year. The center is preparing to submit a budget for fiscal year 2020 within the next 60 days, and is in the process of finalizing a plan for how it will use the money.

“The funding is to expand COVID-19 services, but it’s also left broad enough that we can use it in a way to bolster our regular services,” van der Velden said. “It gives us the flexibility to do what we need to do for our local community.”

She said health care centers across the country have “taken a big hit” while remaining responsible for some of the most vulnerable communities during the lasting COVID-19 pandemic, and managing indirect effects — including an expected increase in their base as patients nationwide are bumped off their regular insurance provider plans due to unemployment and seek new resources. Other indirect effects include increased substance abuse, and changes in mental health from increased depression and anxiety, or isolation and loneliness.

“We’ll definitely focus on COVID-19 effects, that’s the intention, but they do say in the White House fact sheet that we can use it to ‘expand operational capacity,’ which is huge,” van der Velden said.

The other two community health centers in Massachusetts’ 2nd Congressional District to receive funding are the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in Worcester, which gets nearly $6.3 million, and the Family Health Center of Worcester, with about $5 million.

“Community health centers play a vital role when it comes to expanding justice and equity in our health care system, and that’s never been clearer than in the vital role they have played in responding to COVID-19,” McGovern said in the release. “More help is on the way through the American Rescue Plan so they can redouble their efforts to get more shots in arms, support underserved and vulnerable populations that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and save more lives during this pandemic.”

Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com.