Guide to Local Recovery Update: Sept. 14
The federal grant portal, Grants.gov, will be unavailable the last week of September due to planned maintenance. The downtime will not affect application progress. However, several key grant programs — including those funded by the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act — are due during or around this time. Additionally, the National League of Cities and the Local Infrastructure Hub recently released resources to help cities develop competitive federal grant applications.
Federal grant portal down, Sept. 23-30
The federal grant portal will be unavailable from Sept. 23 to Sept. 29 due to planned maintenance. During the downtime, site engineers will deploy multiple performance, reliability, security, and user upgrades. Applications will be saved and available when the site comes back online on Sept. 29 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
After the update is complete, notification emails will come from do_not_reply@grants.gov. Applicants should update any email rules and check their spam folder to ensure they are still receiving notifications. Any unexpected issues or changes to the downtime schedule will be posted to the Grants.gov Alerts page.
Applications for several grant opportunities close during or around this time, including:
- Coastal Habitat Restoration and Resilience Grants for Underserved Communities
- Enabling Middle Mile Broadband Infrastructure Program
- Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program
- Community Wildfire Defense Grant
- Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program
All federal grant applications must be submitted through Grants.gov.
New NLC webinar and resources
The National League of Cities (NLC) hosted a webinar on how small and mid-sized cities can maximize federal energy efficiency, renewable energy, and greenhouse gas reduction grant programs. The webinar was part of the Ready to Rebuild series, which is available to watch on-demand after airing.
NLC also released an overview on how cities can use the federal infrastructure package to improve equitable access to nature for children. Greater access to nature has several benefits, including better academic performance and reduced obesity.
These funds are distributed via states and metropolitan planning organizations. Local leaders should monitor related deadlines and application processes; cities that have potential projects ready to propose often have the best chance of winning a share of these infrastructure funds.
White House officials to highlight best practices at Local Infrastructure Hub webinar
The Local Infrastructure Hub, a partnership between NLC and other civic organizations, is hosting a series of webinars with White House officials and policy experts. These sessions focus on elevating best practices to help cities create competitive outcome-driven applications. The Sept. 27 webinar will focus on how to build resilient infrastructure and communities using the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s hazard mitigation program.
City officials looking for additional information about the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, or additional recovery tools can visit the Cal Cities Guide to Local Recovery portal.