Welcome to the Friday Update from the Federal Funding Hub!
This message is all about sharing information so that our region can make the most of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other federal funding.
EDA News
Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation Program: January 31, 2022 marked the suggested deadline for EDA’s competitive Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program. EDA received application submissions that were about 6 times above appropriations, totaling $1.38 billion in demand across the country. Due to the high volume of responses and EDA’s limited available funds, EDA is no longer accepting applications for the Travel, Tourism, and Outdoor Recreation program.
Economic Adjustment Assistance and Indigenous Communities Programs. Due to the high volume of applications, EDA strongly recommends that applicants contact their local Economic Development Representative to discuss their region’s availability of funds. While the Notices of Funding Opportunity for the Economic Adjustment Assistance and Indigenous Communities programs advise to submit applications no later than March 31, 2022, EDA strongly recommends applicants to submit proposals as soon as possible for these programs.
Federal Funding News – National
Broadband Investment: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $65 billion in broadband investment, of which $42.45 billion is directed toward physical network infrastructure in unserved and underserved areas of the United States.
Community-based Partnerships: Strategic partnerships have been critically important to the success of Emergency Rental Assistance using ARPA dollars.
ARPA Tracking: Read about how the Local Government ARPA Investment Tracker captures recovery plan data from 41 large cities, 104 large counties and seven consolidated city-counties, representing roughly $18.4 billion in planned investment
Federal Funding News – Minnesota
Bonus: Ramsey County will give $500 to $1000 pandemic bonuses to public health nurses, parks workers, social workers, financial-assistance workers and nursing home staff, using some of the $108 million in federal aid as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to cover the bonuses.
Upcoming Webinars
Join Route Fifty on February 15th for Follow the Money. Financial leaders and budget officers will discuss how they're managing the influx of federal funds and developing processes and structures to ensure these funds can create generational change.
ARPA-related Jobs
The City of Saint Paul is hiring a Housing Director. Applications due February 17th.
Please reach out with questions and ideas regarding federal funding in our region! Also let me know if you have any news or resources you’d like to share.
Allison Bell