Source: Pennsylvania Downtown Center
EDA Announces American Rescue Plan Programs
Communities Across the Country will be able to Apply for $3 Billion in Funding Immediately
This EDA investment is the largest economic development initiative from the Department of Commerce in decades and will help communities across the country build back better.
Investing in America’s Communities includes:
- Build Back Better Regional Challenge ($1 billion) will capitalize on American ingenuity and American workers by providing a transformational investment to regions across the country to revitalize their economies.
- Good Jobs Challenge ($500 million) is designed to help get Americans back in good-paying jobs. The program will develop and strengthen regional workforce training systems and sector-based partnerships with a focus on programs targeted at women, people of color and historically underserved communities.
- Economic Adjustment Assistance ($500 million) grants will help hundreds of communities across the nation plan, build, innovate, and put people back to work through projects tailored to meet local needs.
- Indigenous Communities ($100 million) program will work hand-in-hand with Tribal Governments and Indigenous communities to develop and execute economic development projects they need to recover from the pandemic and build economies for the future.
- Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation ($750 million) program will focus on revitalizing the hard-hit travel, tourism, and outdoor recreation industries and accelerate the recovery of communities that rely on these sectors.
- Statewide Planning, Research and Networks ($90 million) grants include funding for state planning efforts as well as grants to build Communities of Practice to extend technical assistance to support EDA’s work with grantees.
As part of the six programs, EDA is making a Coal Communities Commitment, allocating $300 million to ensure support for these communities as they recover from the pandemic and create new jobs and opportunities, including through the creation or expansion of a new industry sector.
Find Out the Top Legal Issues for Small Organizations
Everything from important logistics and pre-event action items to the tools and tech you’ll need, and promotions and messaging to spread the word. Just download, print and refer to it throughout your planning.
Is Your Nonprofit Ready for Foundation Grants?
When reviewing grant requests, all grant funders can see which organizations are prepared, organized, and capable of managing grant funding. They can also quickly see which organizations are not ready.
Even if your nonprofit is ready, foundations are unpredictable and often change guidelines between grant cycles, and even change the sectors and missions they support. Last year, in response to COVID, numerous grant makers pivoted their core areas of focus to support COVID related causes. While the foundations changed their focus, nonprofits still required support to cover the financial obligations of their existing programs that depended on previously awarded grant funding.
Time, Will, Skill and….Well, Strategy
If your nonprofit is looking to secure foundation grants, it’s important to reflect and make sure you meet the Time, Will, and Skill test. Pairing these three tests with a solid strategy is a winning approach to grant funding.
America Walks wants you counted!
Does your organization promote safe, accessible, equitable places to walk and move as one of its priorities? Please complete this 10-minute survey to help America Walks document the strength and depth of their national movement.
In past surveys, over 500 local and state organizations were identified for promoting safe, accessible, equitable places to walk and move.
An Opportunity for Long-Term, Equitable Local Economic Vitality
Small businesses need affordable commercial space. Federal stimulus funds offer the chance for local governments to get involved in a variety of ways — including becoming landlords themselves.
Local governments are finally getting help from the federal government in the form of more than $130 billion provided by the American Rescue Plan. The first priority for city, county and tribal governments will be to restore basic services and support their most vulnerable residents. But after these immediate needs are met, the federal money offers an unprecedented opportunity to lay the foundation for long-term equitable economic vitality.
There is a dizzying array of opportunities for local governments, from improving broadband infrastructure to launching small-business training programs. But it is the built environment that needs smart, innovative investment. Downtowns and their small businesses have been decimated not only by the pandemic but also by decades of exploitive tactics of online and big-box retailers.
Main Street Now 2022: Call for Session Proposals
Submit a session proposal for next year’s Main Street Now Conference in Richmond, Virginia, held May 16-18, 2022!
At next year’s conference, celebrate the community resilience and reinvestment championed by Main Street programs through the COVID-19 pandemic and begin envisioning strategic opportunities to strengthen and expand our commercial districts as we emerge into a new economic future. Conference themes include:
- Main Streets for the New Economy
- Community Preservation and Expression
- Housing and Small-Scale Development
Submissions due August 15.
Digital Divide Grant
The National Football League Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of those touched by the game of football – from players at all levels to communities across the country. The NFL Foundation and its members, the thirty-two NFL clubs, support athletes’ health, safety, wellness, youth football, and the communities that support the game.
To that end, the foundation is accepting applications for its Digital Divide Grant application. According to the foundation, the ability to access computers and the internet has become increasingly important to completely immerse oneself in the economic, political, and social aspects of America and the world. Since not everyone has access to this technology, the NFL Foundation will award up to $30,000 per NFL Club to earmark work with local nonprofits that help bridge the digital divide in their communities.
NFL Clubs and nonprofits or schools working in the digital divide space in a club market with NFL Club approval are eligible.
For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the National Football League Foundation website.
Deadline: September 1, 2021
T-Mobile Hometown Grant Program
Don’t miss the chance to apply for a $50K grant for your community! Submit your application for the T-Mobile Hometown Grants Program by Sept. 30.
Small towns with populations less than 50,000 are eligible to apply for grants of up to $50K to fund projects to build, rebuild, or refresh community spaces that help foster local connections in your town.