Funding Opportunities

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

FY 2016 Community Development Block Grant Program for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages Program

The purpose of the ICDBG program is the development of viable Indian and Alaska Native communities, including the creation of decent housing, suitable living environments, and economic opportunities primarily for persons with low- and moderate- incomes.

Single Purpose Grants: Projects funded by the ICDBG program must principally benefit low- and moderate-income persons (24 CFR 1003.208). These are competitive grants and are the subject of this NOFA.

Imminent Threat Grants: You may also apply for ICDBG funds to address issues that have an immediate negative impact on public health or safety of tribal residents.

HUD is making available approximately $56,000,000 through this NOFA for Community Development Block Grant Program for Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages.

HUD expects to make approximately 75 awards from the funds available under this NOFA.

Bonus Points
In support of certain inter-agency initiatives, HUD awards bonus points to projects where the preponderance of work will occur in a designated zone, community or region. These points will be awarded only if the application otherwise meets or exceeds the Program's minimum fundable score based on the rating factors of this NOFA.

HUD encourages activities in communities with Preferred Sustainability Status (PSS) and/or Promise Zones (PZ). HUD will award two (2) points for qualified activities within a designated zone or area and supporting either or both initiative(s). In no case will HUD award more than two bonus points for these activities.

Please refer to page 32 of the application for more information.

Application Deadline: June 14, 2016

Read the NOFA.

More information is available on the HUD website.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

FY 2016 Jobs Plus Initiative Grant Program

The purpose of the Jobs Plus program is to develop locally-based, job-driven approaches that increase earnings and advance employment outcomes through work readiness, employer linkages, job placement, educational advancement, technology skills, and financial literacy for residents of public housing. The place-based Jobs Plus program addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling employment through earned income disregards for working families and a set of services designed to support work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational advancement, and financial counseling. Ideally, these incentives will saturate the target developments, building a culture of work and making working families the norm.

The Jobs Plus program consists of the following three core components:

• Employment-Related Services
• Financial Incentives - Jobs Plus Earned Income Disregard (JPEID)
• Community Supports for Work

HUD is making available approximately $15,000,000 through this NOFA for Jobs Plus Initiative.

Bonus Points
In support of certain inter-agency initiatives, HUD awards bonus points to projects where the preponderance of work will occur in a designated zone, community or region. These points will be awarded only if the application otherwise meets or exceeds the Program's minimum fundable score based on the rating factors of this NOFA.

HUD encourages activities in communities with Preferred Sustainability Status (PSS) and/or Promise Zones (PZ). HUD will award two (2) points for qualified activities within a designated zone or area and supporting either or both initiative(s). In no case will HUD award more than two bonus points for these activities.

Please refer to pages 28-29 of the application for more information.

Application Deadline: June 13, 2016.

Read the NOFA.

More information is available on the HUD website.

Department of Health and Human Services

Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma Program

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2016 Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma. The purpose of this program is to assist high-risk youth and families and promote resilience and equity in communities that have recently faced civil unrest through implementation of evidence-based, violence prevention, and community youth engagement programs, as well as linkages to trauma-informed behavioral health services. The goal of the ReCAST Program is for local community entities to work together in ways that lead to improved behavioral health, empowered community residents, and reductions in trauma and sustained community change.

For the purposes of this funding opportunity announcement, civil unrest is defined as demonstrations of mass protest and mobilization, community harm, and disruption through violence often connected with law enforcement issues. Communities that have experienced civil unrest share similar characteristics:

• Barriers to access and lack of social services, health care, legal and political representation, housing, employment, and education;
• Current and historic strains in community and public sector relationships, e.g., law enforcement, school, health, and/or housing and community relationships; and
• Racial/ethnic minority and marginalized populations with experiences of poverty and inequality.

The ReCAST Program closely aligns with SAMHSA’s Recovery Support and Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiatives. More information on these Initiatives is available on the SAMHSA website.

Application Deadline: June 7, 2016

Application materials are available on the SAMHSA website.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Value Added Producer Grant Program

USDA is soliciting applications to make up to $44 million available to farmers, ranchers and businesses to develop new bio-based products and expand markets through the Value-Added Producer Grant Program.

Value-Added Producer Grants may be used to develop new products and create additional uses for existing ones. Priority for these grants is given to veterans, members of socially disadvantaged groups, beginning farmers and ranchers, and operators of small- and medium-sized family farms and ranches. Additional priority is given to applicants who seek funding for projects that will create or increase marketing opportunities for these types of operators.

More information on how to apply is on page 20607 of the April 8 Federal Register. The deadline to submit paper applications is July 1, 2016. Electronic applications submitted through grants.gov are due June 24, 2016. Additional information and assistance is available through the USDA Rural Development Office serving your county.

JP Morgan Chase Foundation

PRO Neighborhoods: A Request for Proposals for CDFIs

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation is soliciting proposals from CDFI Collaboratives organized around a shared community development objective to address a documented challenge within their service area or areas. Successful applicants will be eligible for a three-year grant of up to $5 million. This grant has three primary objectives:

• To create access to greater and more sophisticated streams of capital for local and regionally focused CDFIs with less than $75 million in net assets by pooling balance sheets, technology and talent;
• To seed creative and collaborative problem-solving to address persistent community development challenges in JPMorgan Chase footprint cities and areas; and
• To deploy capital to low- and moderate-income (LMI) neighborhoods and to serve LMI individuals and small businesses (with revenue under $1 million).

Community Development Challenges
This program allows applicants to use data and other evidence to define the local problem and encourages creative and entrepreneurial partnerships and solutions in response. For example, key challenges we will consider include (but are not limited to):

• Commercial and residential blight in chronically distressed neighborhoods;
• An insufficient number of affordable housing units connected to economic opportunities;
• A deficit of healthy food and other healthcare resources;
• Disconnection of low-income individuals from key opportunity drivers such as employment, quality schools and transportation; and
• High barriers to accessing capital for traditionally underserved and underrepresented small businesses.

Funding Uses
At least 51 percent of the funding must be used to leverage another capital source, including, but not limited to, public funding, balance sheet capital dedicated to the grant activities, private debt or other philanthropic investment. Other eligible uses of the remaining funds include:

• Technology or other systems development;
• Operational expenses related to executing grant activities; and
• Partnership activities.

Deadline: Proposals are due by May 16, 2016 at midnight PT.

Read the Request for Proposals.

More information is available on the JP Morgan Chase Foundation website.

Upcoming Webinars

Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma Grant Program

Pre-application Technical Assistance

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is announcing a series of informational technical assistance conference calls and webinars for applicants interested in applying for the Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma Grants. Conference calls and webinars will be held on the dates and times listed below. Interested parties may participate by using the respective dial-in numbers, pass codes, and links.

Webinars

April 20, 2016
Time: 3:00 – 4:30 PM EDT
Dial-In Number: 888-942-9713, Participant Passcode: RECAST
RSVP for this webinar.

May 20, 2016
Time: 3:00 – 4:30 PM EDT
Dial-In Number: 888-439-9713, Participant Passcode: RECAST
RSVP for this webinar.

Conference Calls

May 6, 2016
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET
Dial in number: 888-928-9713
Participant passcode: RECAST

May 25, 2016
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET
Dial in number: 888-928-9713
Participant passcode: RECAST

June 3, 2016
Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET
Dial in number: 888-928-9713
Participant passcode: RECAST