On May 10, the US Treasury Department issued announced the launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, to provide $350 billion in emergency funding for eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments. Treasury also released details on how these funds can be used to respond to acute pandemic response needs, fill revenue shortfalls among these governments, and support the communities and populations hardest-hit by the COVID-19 crisis. With the launch of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, eligible jurisdictions will be able to access this funding in the coming days to address these needs. Information issued on May 10 includes:  

Interim Final Rule, Fact Sheet, and FAQs 

Allocation for States, Territories, Counties, and Metropolitan Cities  

Tribal Allocation Methodology 

Defense, Manufacturing, Small Business 

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program, authorized under Section 846 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (PL 115-232), is designed to undertake long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, research and development, and small business support in order to strengthen the national security innovation and manufacturing base. The program also seeks to ensure complementarity of those communities so designated with existing Defense Manufacturing Institutes. Defense Manufacturing Institutes are manufacturing ecosystems established since 2014, with common manufacturing and design challenges revolving around specific technologies. To date, the Department of Defense has established nine (9) Manufacturing Institutes - https://defenseinnovationmarketplace.dtic.mil/business-opportunities/manufacturing-usa-institutes/ . (For complete roster of all existing manufacturing institutes, see link at https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes.) 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=332164 

Entrepreneurship, Innovation Ecosystems, Accelerators 

SBA seeks proposals from the nation’s innovation-focused entrepreneur support organizations (ESOs) that outline programs to speed the launch, growth, and scale of deep-tech small businesses across the country. 

Applicants should submit a 12-slide deck and a 90-second video, addressing the relevant elements of one of the following tracks, by no later than 4:00 EDT on July 2, 2021: 

• Track 1 Growth Accelerator Fund Competition (GAFC)—Prizes of $50,000 for efforts to provide focused assistance to STEM/R&D entrepreneurs, including support for company formation as well as awareness and education of SBIR/STTR programs. Contestants must focus their proposed efforts on one of the following groups: women entrepreneurs, minority entrepreneurs, or other target entrepreneurs identified by applicants (ie. rural, veterans, individuals with disabilities, etc.). Submission portal: http://bit.ly/GAFCTrack (link is external)
• Track 2 SBIR Catalyst—Prizes of $150,000 to scale collaborative partnerships, strengthen ties between stakeholders (including public, private, non-profit, and academic partners) in support of SBIR/STTR applicants and awardees.  SBIR Catalyst winners will help fulfill the SBA’s mission of addressing current gaps in access to the innovation economy for communities of color, women entrepreneurs, and rural communities. Submission portal: http://bit.ly/CatalystTrack (link is external)

Join a pre-application webinar June 2nd at 2pm EDT – register at http://bit.ly/GAFC21Webinar (link is external).  Recording to be posted 3-5 business days after the webinar. 

Entrepreneurship, Business Assistance 

This new initiative, established by the American Rescue Plan, will leverage a community navigator approach to reach our nation’s smallest businesses, with a priority focus on those owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, as well as women and veterans. SBA will accept applications through July 12, 2021, and anticipates making award decisions by August 2021.  

The Community Navigator Notice of Funding Opportunity will be open to applications from nonprofit organizations, state, local, and tribal governments, SBA resource partners, and other organizations.  Selected partners will engage in targeted outreach for small businesses in underserved communities to help small businesses get the resources and support they need to get back on track as the economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Competitive grant awards will range from $1 million to $5 million for a two-year performance period. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333792 

Entrepreneur, Rural, Job Creation 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Community Services (OCS) will award approximately $13.6 million in Community Economic Development (CED) discretionary grant funds to Community Development Corporations (CDC) for well-planned, financially viable, and innovative projects to enhance job creation and business development for individuals with low-income. OCS is encouraging applications from CDCs to target rural areas and underserved areas in states without current projects, as well as projects that align with the healthcare industry, rural communities with high rates of poverty, unemployment, and substance use disorder.  

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333377 

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program was established in the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act and amended by the American Rescue Plan Act to provide over $16.2 billion in economic relief to target industries. This SVOG portal is now open to receive applications. 

More info can be found here: https://www.svograntportal.sba.gov/s/  

Equity, Workforce Development, Innovation 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) seeks to support bold, ground-breaking, and potentially transformative projects addressing systemic racism in STEM.  Proposals should advance racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research (both fundamental and applied) and practice. Core to this funding opportunity is that proposals are led by, or developed and led in authentic partnership with, individuals and communities most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=332795 

Purpose of Program: The GEAR UP program is a discretionary grant program that encourages eligible entities to provide support, and maintain a commitment, to eligible low-income students, including students with disabilities, to assist the students in obtaining a secondary school diploma (or its recognized equivalent) and to prepare for and succeed in postsecondary education. 

Deadline: July-28-2021 

Funding Amount: $35,617,582 

Dept/Organization: Department of Education 

Website: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=ED-GRANTS-042921-001  

Eligibility: Partnerships consisting of (a) at least one LEA and (b) at least one degree granting IHE. Partnerships may include not less than two other community organizations or entities, such as businesses, professional organizations, State agencies, institutions or agencies sponsoring programs authorized under the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership Program 

Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE): Higher Education Under the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), Section 2003 of the American Rescue Plan Act, 2021 (ARP) Assistance Listing Number 84.425E 

Description: Continuation of the CRRSAA section 314(a)(1) program, which the Department implemented as two funding streams: (1) the Student Aid Portion (ALN 84.425E) for financial grants to students, and (2) the Institutional Portion (ALN 84.425F) for institutional uses of funds related to the coronavirus. 

Deadline: August-11-2021 

Funding Amount: $39,600,000,000 

Dept/Organization: Department of Education 

Website: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=ED-GRANTS-051321-001   

Eligibility: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education 

MS welcomes applications that meet LAMP goals to support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises, and value-added agricultural products and thereby support pandemic recovery in the sector.  

Deadline: June-21-2021  

Funding Amount: $38,500,000 with 25% match 

Dept: USDA/Agricultural Marketing Service 

Website https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021_FMPP_RFA.pdf  

Eligibility: AMS encourages applications that benefit smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged producers, veteran producers, and/or underserved communities. For grants intending to serve these entities, applicants should engage and involve those beneficiaries when developing projects and applications. 

Support the development, coordination, and expansion of local and regional food business enterprises to increase access to and availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products. 

Deadline: June-21-2021  

Funding Amount: $7,300,000 with 25% match 

Dept: USDA/Agricultural Marketing Service 

Website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021_LFPP_RFA.pdf  

Eligibility: AMS welcomes applications that meet LAMP goals to support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises, and value-added agricultural products and thereby support pandemic recovery in the sector. 

Agriculture, Trade Assistance 

The MAP is designed to encourage the development, maintenance, or expansion of commercial export markets for United States agricultural commodities and products through cost–share assistance. Assistance may be provided for either generic or brand promotion activities. While activities generally take place overseas, reimbursable activities may also take place in the United States. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333057 

Agriculture, Trade Assistance 

The EMP is established to develop, maintain, or expand markets for exports of United States agricultural commodities and to promote cooperation and exchange of information between agricultural institutions and agribusinesses in the United States and emerging markets. The EMP assists U.S. entities in developing, maintaining, or expanding exports of U.S. agricultural commodities and products by funding activities that enhance emerging markets’ food and rural business systems, including reducing trade barriers. The EMP is intended primarily to support export market development efforts of the private sector, but EMP resources may also be used to assist public organizations. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333059 

Agriculture, Trade Assistance 

The TASC program is designed to assist U.S. organizations by providing funding for projects that seek to remove, resolve, or mitigate existing or potential sanitary, phytosanitary, or technical barriers that prohibit or threaten the export of U.S. specialty crops. The TASC program is administered by personnel of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333039 

National Organic Certification Cost Share Program (NOCCSP) and the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) Organic Certification Cost Share Program, collectively referred to as the OCCSP, for fiscal year (FY) 2021. The purpose of the OCCSP awards is to defray the costs of receiving and maintaining organic certification. 

Deadline: June-30-2021 

Funding Amount: $943,000 for 15 projects 

Dept/Organization: Department of Agriculture/Farm Service Agency 

Website: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333355  

Eligibility: State Governments 

Support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises, and value-added agricultural products and thereby support pandemic recovery in the sector 

Deadline: July-6-2021  

Funding Amount: $15,300,000 with 25% match 

Dept: USDA/Agricultural Marketing Service 

Website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2021_RFSP_RFA.pdf  

Eligibility:  AMS encourages applications that benefit smaller farms and ranches, new and beginning farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged producers, veteran producers, and/or underserved communities. For projects intending to serve these entities, applicants should engage and involve those beneficiaries when developing projects and applications. 

Innovation, Technology, R&D 

NSF is partnering with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD R&E), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and a number of industry partners on a new program:  Resilient & Intelligent NextG Systems (RINGS). This program seeks to fund collaborative team research that transcends the traditional boundaries of individual disciplines to achieve the program goals. 

The RINGS program seeks to accelerate research in areas that will potentially have significant impact on emerging Next Generation (NextG) wireless and mobile communication, networking, sensing, and computing systems, along with global-scale services, with a focus on greatly improving the resiliency of such networked systems among other performance metrics. The RINGS program seeks innovations to enhance both resiliency as well as performance across the various aspects of NextG communications, networking and computing systems. This program seeks to go beyond the current research portfolio within the individual participating directorates by simultaneously emphasizing gains in resiliency (through security, adaptability and/or autonomy) across all layers of the networking protocol and computation stacks as well as in throughput, latency, and connection density. Approximately 36-48 awards are anticipated, each up to $1,000,000 total and up to 3 years in duration, subject to the availability of funds and quality of proposals received. 

PROGRAM SOLICITATION  NSF 21-581 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333129 

DOC’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced the availability of $288 million in grant funding for the deployment of broadband infrastructure. Grants will be awarded to partnerships between a state, or political subdivisions of a state, and providers of fixed broadband service. 

More information about the program, including requirements for grant applications, can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunity published today on grants.gov. NTIA is also holding a series of webinars to further inform the public about the program. The next Broadband Infrastructure webinars will be held on June 9 and 10. 

The support provided through this Program will first allow eligible schools and libraries to seek reimbursement for the reasonable costs they have already incurred in purchasing eligible equipment, including Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and connected devices, as well as advanced telecommunications and information services, to meet the remote learning needs of students, school staff, and library patrons who lacked access to connected devices and broadband connections sufficient to engage in remote learning during this unprecedented time.  

Deadline: We will adopt an application process that first provides for reimbursement to schools and libraries that have already purchased, during the pandemic, eligible equipment and services and provided them to students, school staff, and library patrons who lacked access to adequate connected devices, other eligible equipment, or eligible services. Then, if there are remaining funds, we will open a second application widow for schools and libraries to seek funding for eligible equipment and services provided to students, school staff, and library patrons who would otherwise lack access to adequate connected devices, other eligible equipment, or eligible services.  

Funding Amount: $7,170,000 ,000 

Dept/Organization: Federal Communications Commission 

Website: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-372069A1.pdf  

Eligibility: Schools, libraries, and consortia of schools and libraries that are eligible for support under the E-Rate Program are also eligible to request and receive support through the Emergency Connectivity Fund Program  

Planning, Technical Assistance 

Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants support the development of comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plans which focus on directing resources to address three core goals: Housing, People and Neighborhood. To achieve these core goals, communities must develop and implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. The Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333491 

Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants support the development of comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plans which focus on directing resources to address three core goals: Housing, People and Neighborhood. To achieve these core goals, communities must develop and implement a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization strategy, or Transformation Plan. The Transformation Plan will become the guiding document for the revitalization of the public and/or assisted housing units while simultaneously directing the transformation of the surrounding neighborhood and positive outcomes for families. 

Deadline: September-14-2021  

Funding Amount: $5,000,000 

Dept: Dept. of Housing and Urban Development 

Website https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=328120&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery  

Eligibility  Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), City or township governments, Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized) 

Equity 

The goal of the ORLP Program is to provide new or significantly improve recreation opportunities for economically-disadvantaged communities in larger urbanized areas (as designated by the Census Bureau) that are under-served in terms of parks and other outdoor recreation resources. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333434 

Planning, Technical Assistance 

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced the opportunity to apply for $10,052,572 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 and FY 2021 funding under the Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development Planning. The TOD Pilot Program is intended to fund comprehensive planning that supports economic development, increased transit ridership, multimodal connectivity and accessibility, improved transit access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and increased mixed-use development near transit stations, and addresses climate change, challenges facing environmental justice populations, and racial equity and barriers to opportunity. The TOD Pilot Program also encourages identification of infrastructure needs and engagement with the private sector. FTA is seeking comprehensive planning projects covering an entire transit capital project corridor, rather than proposals that involve planning for individual station areas or only a small section of the corridor. To ensure that any proposed planning work both reflects the needs and aspirations of the local community and results in concrete, specific deliverables and outcomes, transit project sponsors must partner with entities with land use planning authority in the transit project corridor to conduct the planning work. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=332992 

Infrastructure 

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) this week published a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to apply for $1 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 discretionary grant funding through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants. RAISE, formerly known as BUILD and TIGER, has awarded over $8.935 billion in grants to projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico since 2009. 

To provide technical assistance to prospective applicants, DOT is hosting a series of webinars during the FY 2021 RAISE grant application process. To register for the webinars visit www.transportation.gov/RAISEgrants/outreach. The deadline to submit an application is July 12, 2021 at 5pm Eastern. 

COVID Relief, Infrastructure 

Provides grants to eligible motorcoach companies, school bus companies, passenger vessel companies, and pilotage companies that have experienced annual revenue losses of 25 percent or more as result of COVID-19 directly or indirectly. The priority use of grant funds must be for payroll costs, though grants may be used for operating expenses and the repayment of debt accrued to maintain payroll. 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=333321