December 05, 2023

It's the season for grants!

Welcome to Congressman Lou Correa’s federal grant newsletter! This monthly newsletter will include a list of recent federal funding awards, federal funding opportunities, and resources related to federal funding that can help you or your organization better uplift our community. To stay updated on the latest news and information, subscribe to his newsletter HERE. 

Grants.gov has a new look designed to make grant applications easier and more accessible. If you need assistance navigating the new website, our team can help facilitate a workshop to make sure you are able to identify and access the grants you need. 

HIGHLIGHTED FEDERAL FUNDING AWARDS TO OUR DISTRICT 

  • The County of Orange received $610,401 from the California Department of Housing and Community Development through the 2023 Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG). The 2023 ESG program Department receives federal ESG funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the purposes of eliminating homelessness by focusing on assisting individuals and families to achieve economic and social independence through rapid rehousing assistance, emergency shelters, homelessness prevention and street outreach services as well as supportive services including counseling, substance abuse treatment, and job training. 
  • The Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs awarded the City of Anaheim and Waymakers OC $750,000 to implement the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF). The OCHTTF is designed to leverage the expertise of local service providers and law enforcement to ensure that victims are identified as supported and perpetrators are held accountable. The OCHTTF proposes to implement the project through the co-leadership of the Anaheim Police Department and Waymakers. 
  • The Orange County Bar Foundation received $990,000 under the Department of Education’s Transitioning Gang Youth to Higher Education Program. The funding will serve 30 underserved, gang-involved youth, ages 16-24 to help them address their unique needs and barriers and provide them with resources, services, and assistance needed to enable a successful career pathway.  
  • California State University - Fullerton received a $399,999 grant award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the school’s U-Acre Project. The U-Acre Project’s primary goals are to provide support and experiential learning opportunities to students to create awareness of career opportunities at the USDA and other governmental and non-governmental organizations, while building a formidable and resilient skillset to address future needs and challenges. 

FEDERAL AGENCY GRANT SPOTLIGHT  

U.S Department of Agriculture

Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Education Grants Program

  • Application deadline: February 8, 2024
  • Eligible entities: Hispanic-serving institutions (HSI) of higher education with a minimum of 25% undergraduate full-time Hispanic enrollment. 
  • The purpose of the HSI Education Grants program is to encourage innovative teaching or education proposals with potential to impact and become models for other institutions that serve underrepresented students at the regional or national level.

Centers for Disease Control

Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program

  • This is a forecasted opportunity with an estimated application deadline of April 11, 2024.
  • Eligible entities in District: city or township governments, county governments, nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, private institutions of higher education, for profit organizations, public and state controlled institutions of higher education, nonprofits that do not have 501(c)(3) status, and independent school districts.
  • The purpose of the program is to establish and strengthen collaboration to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent youth substance use.

U.S Department of Health and Human Services

Community Economic Development Planning Grants

  • This is a forecasted opportunity with an estimated application deadline of May 23, 2024.
  • To be eligible to apply for a CED Planning grant, an applicant must meet the following three conditions:
  • Applicant must be a private, non-profit CDC with 501(c)(3) status;
  • Applicant must have articles of incorporation or bylaws demonstrating that the CDC has a principal purpose the planning, developing, or managing of low-income housing or community economic development activities; and
  • The Board of Directors must have representation from each of the following: community residents, business leaders, and civic leaders. 
  • The Administration for Children and Families is providing $1.5 million in grants to eligible Community Development Corporations to stimulate new economic project development through administrative capacity building.  

U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development

The Youth Homelessness System Improvement (YHSI) Grants

  • Application deadline: February 15, 2024
  • Eligible applicants: city governments, public housing authorities, county governments.
  • Through this funding opportunity, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is awarding grants to support selected communities develop and implement systems infrastructure to better address youth homelessness. The grants will focus on systems change to create and build capacity for Youth Action Boards; collect and use data that work with at-risk youth; develop strong leaders within a community; and improve the coordination, communication, operation, and administration of homeless assistance projects to better serve youth, including prevention and diversion strategies. 

National Endowment for the Arts

Translation Projects

  • Application deadline: January 18, 2024
  • Eligible entities: individual translators.
  • The National Endowment for the Arts supports projects for the translation of specific works of prose, poetry, or drama from other languages in English. The work to be translated should be of interest for its literary excellence and merit. 

National Endowment for the Humanities 

Humanities Connections 

  • This is a forecasted opportunity with an estimated application deadline of September 05, 2024
  • Eligible entities: Private institutions of higher education Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
  • This program seeks to expand the role of the humanities in undergraduate education at two- and four-year institutions by encouraging partnerships between humanities faculty and their counterparts in other areas of study.

Institutes for Higher Education Faculty Institutes for K-12 Educators

  • Application deadline: February 14, 2024
  • Eligible entities: private institutions of higher education, public and state controlled institutions of higher education, nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, city governments and county governments.
  • The National Endowment for the Humanities Division of Education Programs is accepting applications for the Institutes for Higher Education Faculty and Institutes for K-12 Educators programs. NEH Institutes are professional development programs that convene higher education faculty or K-12 educators from across the nation to deepen and enrich their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching. 

BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW (BIL) FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 

U.S. Department of Energy

Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing

  • Application deadline: March 19, 2024
  • First round concept papers deadline: January 9, 2024.
  • Eligible entities: unrestricted (open to any entity).
  • To apply for this funding opportunity, applicants must register with and submit application materials through the Clean Energy Infrastructure (S3) Exchange at https://infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov/.
  • The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will invest more than $7 billion in the battery supply chain over the five-year period encompassing fiscal years 2022 through 2026. The activities to be funded under this opportunity will strengthen critical domestic manufacturing and supply chains to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition. Batteries are a critical element of the ongoing transition to an energy economy that is decarbonizing and lowering energy costs to American families and businesses, and also critical to national competitiveness - for grid storage, for the resilience of homes and businesses, and for electrification of the transportation sector. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products Grant Program

  • Application deadline: January 16, 2024
  • Eligible entities: businesses that manufacture, remanufacture, and/or refurbish construction materials and products, and nonprofit organizations that will support such businesses. 
  • In support of the Inflation Reduction Act, the goal of this grant program is to support businesses that manufacture construction materials and products to develop and verify Environmental Product Declarations. This program seeks to improve transparency and disclosure of embodied greenhouse gas emissions data associated with construction materials and products to facilitate the procurement of lower embodied carbon construction materials and products throughout the United States. 

U.S. Department of Transportation

Innovative Finance and Asset Concessions Grant Program

  • This is a forecasted opportunity with an estimated application deadline of January 15, 2024.
  • Eligible entities: city and county governments
  • The Department of Transportation is making available $38.86 million to be awarded on a competitive basis to assist eligible public entities in facilitating and evaluating public-private partnerships and to explore opportunities for innovative financing and delivery for eligible transportation infrastructure projects, including highway, transit, passenger rail, certain freight facilities, certain port projects, rural infrastructure projects, airports, and transit-oriented development projects. 

Innovative Coordinated Access and Mobility Pilot Program

  • Application deadline: February 13, 2024
  • Eligible entities: state departments of transportation, local governmental entities that operate a public transportation service or their eligible subrecipients that have the authority and technical capacity to implement a regional or statewide cost allocation pilot. Private entities that provide shared-ride on-demand service to the general public on a regular basis are operators of public transportation and are therefore eligible subrecipients.
  • The Federal Transit Administration announces the opportunity to apply for $4.7 million in funding. This funding opportunity seeks to improve coordination to enhance access and mobility to vital community services for older adults, people with disabilities, and people of low income. 

U.S. Department of the Interior

WaterSMART Grants: Water and Energy Efficiency Grants

  • Application deadline: February 23, 2024
  • Eligible entities: city governments, nonprofit organizations, county governments.
  • This program provides funding for projects that result in quantifiable water savings, implement renewable energy components, and support broader sustainability benefits. These projects conserve and use water more efficiently; increase the production of renewable energy; mitigate conflict risk in areas at a high risk of future water conflict; and accomplish other benefits that contribute to sustainability in the Western United States. 

GRANT ASSISTANCE FROM CONGRESSMAN CORREA 

Congressman Correa’s Grants Webpage

Federal grants are vital to the success and growth of our communities, and the organizations that make them strong. If you are interested in learning more about what federal grant opportunities are available to you or your organization, you should visit my grants webpage HERE. 

Letter of Support

Many federal funding opportunities require or allow for letters of support. Should you need a letter of support for a federal grant application, please let my staff know by contacting our Grant Coordinator, Monica Garcia, at (714) 559-6190 or by email at Monica.Garcia@mail.house.gov.

RESOURCES + UPCOMING WEBINARS 

The Grants.gov learning center is your key to federal grants. Some examples include the grants 101 and grant policies topics. These topics cover everything from a grant lifecycle and management to law and regulations for federal awards. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be hosting a webinar on December 4, 2023 at 10:00 am PT to help grant applicants learn how to find and successfully apply for competitive EPA grants. The agency will also provide an overview of the application process from application through evaluation. You can find more information here.

The JustGrants team hosts weekly sessions providing an opportunity for users to receive topic-specific training, direct technical assistance and support on JustGrants system functionality. For more information, please visit the website.