U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

                       

U.S. Department of Agriculture Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Community Facilities Grant Program CFDA Number: 10.766

Community Food Projects Program CFDA Number: 10.225

Farmers Market Promotion Program CFDA Number: 10.168

Local Food Promotion Program CFDA Number: 10.172

Self-Help Section 523 Technical Assistance Grants CFDA Number:10.420

Housing Preservation Grants CFDA Number: 10.433

Rural Community Development Initiative CFDA Number: 10.446

 

U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)

U.S. Department of Commerce Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Economic Development Assistance Program CFDA Numbers: 11.300; 11.302; 11.303

USDOC's Role

The U.S. Department of Commerce promotes job creation, economic growth, sustainable development and improved standards of living for all Americans by working in partnership with businesses, universities, communities and our nation's workers. As part of President Obama's commitment to strengthening the middle class, fighting poverty and building ladders of opportunity for all, Commerce's 11 bureaus provide business-focused programming, grants, data and technical assistance that help create the conditions for a sustainable and robust 21st century economy.

President Obama's Promise Zones Initiative aligns with Commerce's mission by promoting targeted community and economic revitalization at the local level. Through its multitude of business and economic development resources, DOC is eager to join with 11 other agencies to help Promise Zone communities create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities and improve public safety.

The Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) – an official Promise Zone partner - plays a particularly critical role in fostering regional economic development efforts in communities across the nation. EDA's programs provide economically distressed communities and regions with comprehensive and flexible resources to address a wide variety of economic needs, and are designed to lead to the creation and retention of jobs and increased private investment. Because Commerce is a Promise Zone partner agency through EDA, communities designated as Promise Zones automatically meet EDA's economic distress eligibility criteria for specific economic development grants.

In addition to EDA's work, the Commerce Department is working on a number of fronts to support the Administration's efforts to expand economic mobility, fight poverty and build ladders of opportunity. Our Minority Business Development Agency runs a nationwide network of business development centers that work with local minority-owned businesses to help them grow and create jobs. The Census Bureau, also part of the Commerce Department, produces data that helps federal, local and private sector entities allocate critical resources in communities nationwide. In 2010, for example, Census developed a supplemental poverty measure to take into account the effect of government programs on poverty not included in the official poverty measure. Adding to this, the Commerce's recently released “Open for Business Agenda” makes skills training a key policy priority for the Department. We plan to partner with federal agencies to transform workforce development, ensuring that skills training programs are driven by industry needs. These efforts are crucial for helping the millions of underemployed or unemployed Americans get the skills needed to fill open jobs now and the millions more that will open in the future.

As the Promise Zones Initiative expands to more communities around the country, Commerce looks forward to continuing its engagement in and support of this important work to promote economic growth and job creation at the local, regional and national levels.

 

Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)

Corporation for National and Community Service Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

AmeriCorps VISTA

Social Innovation Fund CFDA Number: 94.019

CNCS' Role

As a member of the Promise Zones Initiative, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) will deploy up to five AmeriCorps VISTA members to each of the first five zones participating in the program. In addition, another CNCS program, the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), will host a grant competition to foster innovative solutions to challenges in these areas and foster economic opportunity.

The first five Zones -- located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma -- have each put forward a plan on how they will partner with local business and community leaders to make investments that reward hard work and expand opportunity. In exchange, these designees will receive the resources and flexibility they need to achieve their goals.

The AmeriCorps VISTA members will deploy to each of the Promise Zones to support each community' goals and recruit and manage volunteers. These AmeriCorps VISTA members will work to build the capacity of the Promise Zone to work with federal agencies, coordinating key stakeholders, and creating the community' project evaluation.

Our AmeriCorps VISTA members have been committed fighters in the "war on poverty" since its creation nearly 50 years ago. These AmeriCorps members focus their efforts to build the organizational, administrative, and financial capacity of organizations that fight illiteracy, improve health services, foster economic development, and otherwise assist low-income communities during their year-long term on each project.

The SIF has recognized the importance of the Promise Zones initiative in its funding competitions. During the latest SIF grant competition, the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) outlined the consideration of service to the Promise Zones Initiative as a factor in the scoring for the grants. The funding notice emphasized a priority for eligible grantmaking institutions with high-scoring applications that will contribute to Presidential priorities that expand access to opportunity for low-income individuals and distressed communities.

CNCS will continue to work with partner agencies as the Obama Administration names additional Promise Zones.

 

U.S. Department of Education (ED)

U.S. Department of Education Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

School Climate Transformation GrantsCFDA Number: 84.184F/G?

Project Prevent Grants CFDA Number 84.184M

GEAR UP CFDA Number: 84.334A/S

Charter Schools Program Replication & Expansion GrantCFDA Number: 84.282M

Full Service Community Schools Grant

ED's Role

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is a federal agency that establishes policy for, administers, and coordinates federal assistance in public education. ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

Early in the Obama Administration, ED adopted a "place-based" approach in a few of its signature programs and initiatives, including its Promise Neighborhoods program. This approach recognizes that the federal government can better support strategies to achieve improved outcomes for students and families by taking into account where investments are made and how those investments interact with out-of-school conditions for learning. In 2012, ED released Impact in Place: A Progress Report on the Department of Education's Place-Based Strategy to report on these efforts. It speaks to ED's early efforts to explicitly use "place"; as a mechanism for combating the causes of low student achievement.

In 2013, ED became one of the core partners in the Promise Zones initiative. ED's efforts with the Promise Zones initiative help ensure that comprehensive, community-led revitalization strategies in high-need areas have strong schools in their center. This approach reflects the Administration's acknowledgement that strong schools are fundamental to strong communities. ED has directly supported the first five Promise Zones by prioritizing select new grants to organizations that focus on Promise Zone communities, and offering Promise Zone designees technical assistance and feedback regarding their revitalization approaches.

 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Assets for Independence: CFDA Number 93.602

Community Economic Development Program: CFDA Number 93.570

Community Economic Development - Healthy Food Financing Initiative Program: CFDA Number 93.570

Community Health CentersCFDA Number: 93.224

Community Services Block Grant CFDA Number: 93.569

Healthy Start CFDA Number: 93.926

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program CFDA Number: 93.297

 

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Funding Opportunities Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant CFDA Number: 14.892

Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant CFDA Number: 14.889

Community Development Block Grant Program for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages (ICDBG)

 

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)

U.S. Department of Justice Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program CFDA Number: 16.817

COPS Hiring Program

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

U.S. Department of Labor Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Reintegration of Ex-Offenders - Adult CFDA Number:17.270

Reintegration of Ex-Offenders – Youth: CFDA Number 17.270

Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training CFDA Number:17.282

YouthBuild CFDA Number: 17.274

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts Website

NEA's Role

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. In addition to grant making, the NEA extends its work through partnerships with other federal agencies, local governments and leaders, and the philanthropic sector.

As a grant maker, convener and national thought-leader, NEA supports a network of practitioners and communities that are positioning the arts as a driving force for creating opportunity and building stronger communities. For example, since creating the Our Town grant program in 2011--the only dedicated arts and community development program in the federal government--NEA has made 256 grants totaling more than $21 million in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to support arts-based community development work ranging from asset mapping, to transportation planning, to housing development and cultural district planning, to vocational training, to public space design, among others. And the Challenge America Fast-Track program, which supports small and mid-sized organizations with relatively small amounts of funding to extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations--those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability--has been a flexible resource for communities linking arts stakeholders and other community development practitioners.
Collectively, this community-driven work has demonstrated that arts stakeholders are fundamental players in a community's transformation, and arts-based community development can be done in a way that is uniquely authentic, equitable, and supportive of existing community assets.

As a member of the Promise Zone Initiative, the NEA will provide targeted technical assistance and staff support for communities seeking to leverage their arts and cultural assets in building great community opportunity. This support will take four forms:

  • Technical assistance for designees      seeking to link their NEA Our Town grant to their housing, public safety,      economic development, transportation, land-use and other systems efforts;
  • Assistance in creating new      partnerships among arts stakeholders and other community development      leaders pursuing more opportunity-rich communities;
  • Through webinars, convenings and      other fora, share best practices and innovative strategies that have      provided critical support for long-term community transformation,      including current research on how arts stakeholders can drive improved      neighborhood social and economic capital;
  • Consideration of a Promise Zone      designation in reviewing applications for Our Town grants.

NEA stands ready to support Promise Zone designees that seek to identify and foster more effective ways of engaging with their arts stakeholders and leveraging their arts and cultural assets

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

U.S. Small Business Administration Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

Micro Entrepreneurship Initiative

HUBZone Program CFDA Number: 59.055

Women's Business Centers CFDA Number: 59.043

Office of Native American Affairs Technical Assistance

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)

U.S. Department of Transportation Website

USDOT's Role

The U.S. Department of Transportation strongly supports nationwide efforts to ensure a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system, designed to meets our vital national interests, while enhancing the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future. By working to increase connectivity and accessibility across all modes of transportation, USDOT is able to shape and enhance the quality of life for Americans. As local, regional and nationally significant transportation projects and programs continue to come online, the Department aims to complement programs providing ladders of opportunity, including efforts to promote demand-driven training, support good jobs, expand affordable housing, provide access to jobs and services or connect Americans with quality education.

Transportation plays a critical role in connecting Americans and communities to economic opportunity. The choices that are made regarding transportation infrastructure at the Federal, State and local levels are able to significantly strengthen communities and improve the quality of life of the people in those communities. It is USDOT’s job to ensure that we are helping to build a network that provides new and greater opportunities for all Americans.

As a member of the Promise Zones Initiative, USDOT will bring resources to bear to assist communities across the country to meet their transportation challenges, particularly where opportunities to integrate projects and programs well with those of our interagency partners. Across the country, the Department has invested significant resources into the Nation’s transportation system—including in this program’s first five designated Promise Zones: San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

While all federal resources are subject to statutory requirements, where the Department is able to maximize the return on investments made in these and future Promise Zone communities— through increased communications, program and technical assistance, peer exchanges, or enhanced coordination– USDOT will make every effort to help communities carry out their strategic plans.

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. Department of the Treasury Website

Funding and Technical Assistance Opportunities

New Market Tax Credit Program