Opportunities

The ESG Program is designed to assist people with quickly regaining stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness.

What does this program do?

This program provides grants to repair essential community facilities in rural areas that were damaged by Presidentially Declared Disasters in Calendar Year 2022 or to repair or replace essential community facilities damaged by Presidentially Declared Disasters in CY 2023 and Other Disasters in CY 2023. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

What does this program do?
This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings.

Calendar Year 2022 Disaster Water Grants help eligible communities pay expenses related to damages to rural water systems as a result of events (Presidentially Declared Disasters) that occurred between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022.  For the purposes of this program, the term “water” refers to all water resource infrastructure, including drinking water, wastewater, stormwater drainage, and solid waste facilities.

This U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program seeks to address and reduce homelessness by adding new units of permanent supportive housing through new construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation.  Eligible entities include state and local governments, tribal governments, non-profits, and public housing authorities.  Funding is between $1M and $10M per award.

This program invests in environmental and climate justice activities that benefit disadvantaged communities.  Projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges are all eligible for this funding opportunity.  Eligible entities include those with a partnership between two community-based non-profit organizations (CBOs) or a partnership between one CBO and one of the following: a federally recognized tribe, a local government, or an institution of higher education.

Grant guidelines are now available for the U.S. EPA’s Fiscal Year 2025 Assessment, Revolving Loan, and Cleanup Grants. These grants may be used to address sites contaminated by petroleum and hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants (including hazardous substances co-mingled with petroleum). 

NPS Chesapeake Gateways recently announced two grants: Linking Tourism and Economic Development Grant and Event Support Grant.  These grants support: (1) community collaboration projects that link local nature, culture, history, and/or recreation-based tourism to economic impact of the community (2) the development and implementation of community events that celebrate the rich cultural, historical, natural, or recreational legacy and ongoing story of the Bay as a way of engaging with residents and visitors.

The Recreation Economy for Rural Communities (RERC) planning assistance program helps communities identify strategies to grow their outdoor recreation economy and revitalize their Main Streets.  If selected, the process involves developing a local steering committee in each partner community and pairing them with a team of federal agency partners and consultants, who then work with the community over several months. The team supports the steering committee to identify the community's vision, goals, and actions they wish to take to boost outdoor recreation, revitalize their Main Streets and promote equitable access to the outdoors for residents and visitors alike. The selected communities develop a Community Action Plan, which identifies actionable next steps.